Blog of Interest

An evidence blog located here has several good articles of interest.  Several of them address issues which are still unresolved and on the cutting edge of legal theory. 

Cert Grant of Interest

The Mississippi Supreme Court granted cert in Perriece Collins v. Toikus Westbrook, M.D.  yesterday.   The link is to the Court of Appeals opinion.  From reading the opinion and the cert request, it looks like an extension should have been granted to me.  This was the case where the father Dr. Westbrook was served instead of the son Dr. Westbrook.  The trial court originally granted a motion to dismiss finding that the defendant had not been served and there was not good cause to extend the time for service. The Miss. Court of Appeals affirmed. In doing so, the Court stated, “While this Court may not have made the same decision as the trial court, we cannot say the trial court abused its discretion.”   The Court of Appeals opinion was split.  I would predict a reversal. 

Trial Course

Trial Theater offers one of the better trial courses.  A link to it is here.  For the money, this is the best one I have found.

Amendment of Pleadings

In amending pleadings, the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure difference slightly from the Federal Rules.  The Federal Rules permit one (1) amendment as a matter of right before any responsive pleading is filed.  However, the Mississippi Rules place no such limitations according to the comments.  As such, if no responsive pleading has been filed, in theory you could file as many amendments as you want. 

Irreconcilable Differences

Parties can always divorce by irreconcilable differences in Mississippi.  I am always amazed at people who want a divorce, insisting it be granted to them on fault based grounds.  All an irreconcilable differences divorce does is guarantee the parties a divorce.    I heard about a case yesterday where both parties pleadings were dismissed with no award (including custody) of any kind to either party since one party insisted on a fault divorce. 

Engagement Ring

The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Lomax v. Lomax last week located here.  The issue in the case was whether an engagement ring was martial property.  The court ultimately found it was separate property given before the marriage.  It had all the criteria of a gift.  This was despite the fact that the husband claimed it was a family heirloom that the wife was only to keep temporarily. 

Discovery Issue in Divorce

The Mississippi Supreme Court granted cert yesterday in Moseley v. Smith which presents an interesting issue regarding whether there is a discovery rule (tolling the statute of limitations ) for violations of a divorce agreement.  The Court of Appeals founds that there is a discovery rule.  Here’s the COA opinion.  Here’s the cert. petition.