Mississippi Case Laws
Click on the below to read Mississippi Case Laws for the following years:
2011
2009
2007
Mississippi Case Law 2011
In Liberty Bail Bonds and Legal Services, LLC v. State, 2011 WL 2315203 (Miss.App. June 14, 2011) the defendant was released on bond pending trial. He pled guilty and was sentenced. He asked to be allowed to surrender himself the following Monday to begin serving the sentence, and the court agreed. He was not formally remanded to the custody of the sheriff. The defendant absconded, and the court eventually forfeited the bond.
The Court of Appeal reversed and held that the condition of the bond was satisfied when he pled guilty and was sentenced. If he was to remain free after sentencing, either a new bond was required or the surety had to consent to the additional condition on the existing bond. The Court concluded, “a surety on a pretrial appearance bond is discharged by law when the defendant is adjudicated guilty and sentenced.”
Mississippi Case Law 2009
Tunica County v. Hampton Company National Surety, LLC, 2009 WL 1232704 (Miss. May 7, 2009) held that a county sheriff has discretion to refuse acceptance of bail bonds from a duly licensed limited surety agent. The agent and a professional surety company sued the sheriff after the sheriff removed them from the county’s bail bonding roster. The trial court granted declaratory and injunctive relief, and the county and sheriff appealed. The professional bondsmen argued that the sheriff had to accept anyone duly licensed by the insurance department. The Court reviewed statutes governing bail bonds and concluded that they gave the sheriff discretion but that the sheriff could not act arbitrarily or capriciously in exercising that discretion. The Court reversed the declaratory and injunctive relief and remanded the case to give the plaintiffs an opportunity to try to prove that the sheriff acted in an arbitrary or capricious manner.
In Acor Bonding v. Lee County, Mississippi, 2009 WL 2151139 (N.D.Miss. July 14, 2009) two sureties sued the County Sheriff, among others, claiming that the Sheriff’s refusal to reinstate their right to write bonds in Lee County deprived them of protected legal rights. The defendants moved to dismiss the case. The court found that under Mississippi law the Sheriff had limited discretion to accept or reject bail bonds but could not exercise that discretion arbitrarily or capriciously. The complaint alleged enough facts to support a claim that the Sheriff was arbitrary and capricious, and so the court denied the motion to dismiss.
Mississippi Case Law 2007
Stringer v. American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, 969 So.2d 113 (Miss.App. 2007) affirmed dismissal of a pro se suit by a criminal who complained that his bond was revoked in 1989. The Court held that a 2002 dismissal of the same claims barred his attempt to re-assert them.