I cannot get excited about the Mississippi Supreme Court decision list today. There are two reported cases. The first holds that car rental company breaches no duty to the public when it fails to force a motorist with a valid drivers license to buy their insurance. It’s a Randolph opinion. In the other case, a bail bondsman sued Tunica County and its sheriff because the sheriff was refusing bonds from the bondsman on the (erroneous) belief that there were three outstanding warrants for individuals the bondsman had bonded out. The Supreme Court held that the sheriff had a limited discretion to do so. Lamar wrote this one. In both opinions today, everyone joined, although Graves joined in the result only.
Not very exciting stuff substantively, but the sheriff/bail bondsman case provides an interesting illustration of rules of statutory construction for my classes. I’m always grateful when any court makes my lesson plans a bit easier. It’s especially nice here where so often there is so little of value coming from these opinions.
BTW, NMC – Thanks for continuing the Supreme Court analysis.