Retro Metro struck out in its attempt to enforce its Metrocenter lease against the City of Jackson at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals August 7.
Jackson leased the old McRae's building at the Metrocenter Mall from Retro Metro, LLC for over a decade. Mold, air conditioning, plumbing, and pothole problems bedeviled the employees who worked there in the building. The Jackson City Council voted in May 2023 to move its employees out of the building and terminate the lease.
Retro Metro didn't like the Council's decision and sued for breach of lease and racial discrimination in federal court in September 2023.The Court dismissed the breach of lease claims in August as it held the lease was invalid since it was never posted on the minutes.Earlier post on decision and case history.
From reviewing the minutes, the public only knows that the City Council (1) authorized the mayor to lease the property, subject to certain limitations, and (2) more than 12 years later, sought to terminate that lease. Even though the written lease mirrored the approved limitations, one cannot determine the liabilities and obligations of the parties by reviewing the minutes.....Even if the public could surmise from the minutes that a lease existed, neither the public nor the City Council could determine the parties’ obligations. At best, the minutes reflect that the City may have an obligation to pay up to $487,000 a year for 20 years.....
Retro Metro also argued estoppel should apply since while Jackson replied judicial estoppel can not override the minutes rule. The Court agreed with Jackson:
The Mississippi Supreme Court recognizes that “[t]he minutes rule produces harsh results.” Singing River MOB, 342 So. 3d at 153 n.14. It nonetheless requires strict adherence. See Colle Towing Co., 57 So. 2d at 172–73 (“[W]e are of the opinion that the public interest requires adherence [to precedent enforcing the minutes rule], notwithstanding the fact that in some instances the rule may work an apparent injustice.”). Following the Missis-sippi Supreme Court’s lead, we conclude that judicial estoppel cannot bind the City to a contract that did not satisfy the minutes rule.
Jackson businessmen Socrates Garrett and Leroy Walker own Retro Metro. Earlier post on Metrocenter lease and termination of lease. .
8 comments:
Bad news!
Socrates Garrett and Leroy Walker lost their appeal. They aren't getting paid!
Oh No!
Anyway
What did the court rule on the racial discrimination claim?
Garrett and Walker are shameless at best. They wanted to enforce the lease of an uninhabitable property having not made it habitable. And at least as shameful is their claim of racial discrimination. God almighty, how much longer will that card still be played in Jackson? I go back in my mind to the early 60s, when the current state of Jackson politics was unimaginable, and measure how wrong it is in so many ways for a Black Jacksonian to cry foul based on a presumption of white racism. These days that misguided energy should be spent on ending the sorrows of so many Black families as too many of their children are living in war zones.
Socrates Garrett needs a pseudonym and a new city to work his magic in.
Good opinion. Maybe this will finally end.
Leroy is on enough boards & just like maintaining upkeep at McDonalds, so must that property be maintained according to Health Department & Federal Laws. Socrates knew better also. Let their families live there.
I laugh every time I hear a Jacksonian praise "Socrates Garrett".
He's done more harm to his brutha's an sista''s than the average Jxn voter will ever realize.
When is the Ferris Wheel getting installed?
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