The Mississippi Department of Mental Health asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to remove Rankin County Chancellor John McLaurin from a case as the defendant in the case is his former court reporter.
St. Dominic filed suit against Candice Crane, Tiffany Simmons, the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, and other state agencies on May 27, 2015. Ms. Crane is the sister of Ms. Simmons. Ms. Crane is the legal conservator for her sister and her sister's estate. Ms. Simmons suffered from a brain injury and apparently requires institutionalized care. Ms. Crane admitted her sister to St. Dominic in April but the hospital does not offer long-term care that is required by Ms. Simmons. Ms. Simmons was kicked out of Methodist Specialty Care Center earlier this year for "failure to meet the center's guidelines." St. Dominic claimed no facilities in the state would accept Ms. Simmons as a patient. St. Dominic petitioned the Rankin County Chancery Court to order a "health care decision or order other equitable relief."
DMH filed a motion to recuse against Chancellor McLaurin as Ms. Crane's Linkedin profile states that she worked as a court reporter for the Chancellor from March 2007 to March 2008. She is currently the official court reporter for the Twentieth Circuit Court District (Rankin and Madison Counties). The Chancellor refused to step down from the case even though the defendant was his former court reporter. MDMH appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
13 comments:
This is awful. Avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest is something so basic that a 9th grader should be able to grasp the concept and act accordingly.
It is perfectly reasonable, given his actions, to suspect that the fix is in and that there will be no justice in this case. It is no wonder increasing numbers of people have no faith in the justice system.
Is this fool up for re-election?
John McLaurin is NOT as fair minded as some people think.
I apologize in advance for this lawyer porn, but I believe this should have been filed as a petition for writ of mandamus or prohibition under MRAP 21, not a "motion for disqualification under MRAP 48B." I expect the Supreme Court will take up and decide the recusal issue despite MDMH's failure to comply with the rules, but you never know. I'm surprised the AG and MDMH lawyers missed it. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will put me in my place shortly.
Again, sorry for the interruption.
McLaurin was appointed by Phil to Judge Fairly's vacated chancellor position. McLaurin will be required to qualify for and run to keep the position in the November 2016 election cycle. With these kinds of shenanigans, you can rest assured that ol Johnny will draw multiple opponents. We'll see if John Grant and Larry Swales (assuming he bests Wilcox for Chancery Clerk) have the requisite male parts to keep McLaurin on the bench (assuming he qualifies to run for it). It's up to the voters of Rankin County to say whether they want John Grant and Swales determining who their chancery judges will be or whether they want an independent chancery court that is not beholden to the same insider political class that has burdened Rankin County for decades.
The citizens of Rankin County have LONG been subject to the selfish, corrupt, politically driven and decidedly unjust dealings sealed behind closed doors with a handshake (and/or check) by the all too large "good ol' boys" network which reigns over it. For years there has been nary a fair OR just ruling out of Rankin County Chancery Court- or the Youth Court, for that matter- and unfortunately, all too many children and dedicated parents' blood have been the ink that sealed the deal.
Basically, MDMH attorney Gene Rowzee was supportive of Oxford House dumping drug addicts into a Northeast Jackson neighborhood, but when a Northeast Jackson hospital wants to foist an injured girl onto his client, he says not in my backyard?
Candace is good people. I am sure this is hard on her.
I'm confused. How could she have been his court reporter when he wasn't a judge back then?
8:02, mclaurin was family master for years until the appointment to fairly's spot. I want them all gone... Grant needs to take his crotchety old @ss home, Swales and the entire board of supervisors too. The entire county needs to pay attention and stop voting for these idiots. If not, each and every citizen deserves the continued decades of corruption and good ole boy politics. rankin co can't boast about tough on crime when every single elected official is as crooked and menacing as any "thug" in the history of hinds county.
When I met Swales years ago, he was trying to use his influence as a supervisor to get property & casualty commissions. He failed at this and I thought it was because he was stupid. Well I obviously misjudged the boy.
How does a 28-year-old go in a hospital for a minor procedure and end up with a brain injury?
do the state's lawyers actually expect a different outcome with a different judge? seems like one of the Whitfield facilities would be better equipped than St. Dominic's for this type of situation.
How is this worse than Rankin County Chancellor John Grant being "FACEBOOK FRIENDS" with at least a dozen attorneys who have or potentially will appear before him in Court? If this is not a conflict of interest, what is? Of course, Grant ran unopposed, so what did he care if this reeked of impropriety?
Does anyone doubt that this is just some weak attempt, for a lawyer to try his case in a very limited court of public opinion? Are you more concerned about the Chancellor or do you give a damn about the brain damaged girl?
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