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Mississippi College Law Review

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Mississippi College Law Review

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Mississippi College Law Review

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"I'M Sorry, Mississippi": An Argument For Enactment Of A Physician Apology Statute By The Mississippi Legislature, Brittany Brooks Frankel

Mississippi College Law Review

Imagine this: you are a dedicated orthopedic surgeon who loves her work. You perform a total knee replacement, albeit on a high-risk patient. The patient does not heal properly and complains of an unsteady gait. Upon further analysis, you begin to become concerned that his inability to heal may be due to an improperly placed implant. A corrective surgery will be required. You are distraught by the unanticipated outcome and wish to express your deepest apologies to the patient and his family. Not so fast! Be aware that your moral compass could be leading you into expressing an apology that …

How Far Have Standards Of Decency Evolved In Fifteen Years? An Update On Atkins Jurisprudence In Mississippi, Alexander Kassoff

Mississippi College Law Review

In 2002, the United States Supreme Court handed down Atkins v. Virginia, holding that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of people with intellectual disability. In the years since that ruling, some change has occurred, but questions remain. This article will examine significant developments in Atkins jurisprudence during that time period. It will look at the two post-Atkins United States Supreme Court cases, and the development of the law - in Mississippi especially, but also to some extent in other jurisdictions that still have the death penalty.

The Unbargained-For-Exchange In Copyright, Justin Ponds

Mississippi College Law Review

Copyright law in the United States is more than the letter "C" in a circle. The visual impression of someone clutching a book prevails in many minds. The use of the phrase "it's copyrighted" has become common. Many people consider a "copyright" to be "property." The true story of copyright law is so steeped in history - a great deal from England - that it makes even Betty White seem middle aged. This Article examines some of that history and compares mistaken connotations about "property" within the realm of contract law - a better association.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. V. Superior Court Of California, San Francisco County: An Exploration Of The "Arises Out Of" Prong In Personal Jurisdiction, Loden Walker

Mississippi College Law Review

The concept of personal jurisdiction in its modern context has existed since the early 1900s. In time, courts have vetted the idea that an individual, company, or legal entity may be brought under the jurisdiction of a state or federal court by reason of its particular contacts with the jurisdiction. In its creation, the Supreme Court of the United States added the requirement that the contact must "arise out of or relate to" the forum state. But dismally, the Court has provided very little on how to apply and operate the "arise out of" prong. As a result, both federal …

De-Facto-Life And The Rare Juvenile, Julie Burke

Mississippi College Law Review

We have all been young once. We all remember doing stupid things with our friends growing up. Now imagine if one of those decisions caused you to be thrown into prison for the rest of your life. Despite the United States Supreme Court[s decisions that sentencing juveniles to life in most cases is unconstitutional, lower courts are still giving juveniles de-facto-life sentences.

The United States Supreme Court has recognized that children are different from adults in several recent cases. In 2005, Roper v. Simmons, the Court held that it is unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to death. More pertinent to …

Introduction

Mississippi College Law Review

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Masthead

Mississippi College Law Review

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Faculty Listing

Mississippi College Law Review

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Adjunct Listing

Mississippi College Law Review

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Table Of Contents

Mississippi College Law Review

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The Need For A New Political Playbook Which Mitigates The Public Harm Caused By Tax Incentives, Robert Louis Perkins

Mississippi College Law Review

This article is politically pragmatic and written with a clear acknowledgement that tax incentives will continue to be utilized by policymakers, despite data continuing to reflect that the actual influence tax incentives have in determining where a company or industry locates is often exceeded by their cost. Government investment in public services such as education and infrastructure are often scaled back to accommodate the cost of the incentives. However, public officials have strong incentives of their own which encourage them to rely on these costly measures. These incentives include the resulting political points they score from being able to take …

Fashion Has No Function: Diminishing The Functionality Bar To Trademark Protection In The Fashion Industry, Seth Diasio

Mississippi College Law Review

The primary source of trademark law in the United States, The Lanham Act, outlines the requirements for trademark registration and protection. Marks which are distinctive, or that have acquired secondary meaning, can be registered on the Principal Register of the United States Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO). Registered marks receive strong federal protection; however, those protections are unavailable to marks that are barred by the Act, but would otherwise meet the qualifications of registration. One of the strongest bars to registration is the functionality bar, which prevents registration of a functional mark regardless of whether it has a secondary meaning. …

Aphorism Cookies, Erik M. Jensen

Mississippi College Law Review

No abstract provided.

Parks And Separation: How The Mississippi Legislature Decided Just Compensation In Bay Point Properties, Inc. V. Mississippi Transportation Commission, Kyle Usner

Mississippi College Law Review

At first glance, Bay Point comes across as the standard, run-of-the-mill eminent domain case: the government contracts with a citizen for an express easement over privately-owned land limited to a certain use; the government then exceeds the scope of that easement, resulting in a taking. Governmental taking is usually not anything outside of the norm. But with a potential seven billion dollars' worth of federally funded highway projects destined for Mississippi highway only a Presidential signature away from being approved, this decision is not one Mississippi landowners should ignore. Further, the crux of Bay Point lies with an issue of …

Calpers V. Anz Securities: Securities Time Bars, Whit Kendall

Mississippi College Law Review

Statutes of limitations and statutes of repose are critical mechanisms that help to limit liability in civil actions. In many instances, these two time bars are paired together in order to protect a defendant from an interminable threat of liability. Although these time limits are present in many types of statutes, they are especially important in statutes involving securities offerings because of the need to protect financial security. In the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), there are two time bars, a statute of limitations and a statute of repose, which attempt to protect potential defendants from liability regarding the …

The Twenty-First Century Death Penalty And Paths Forward, Jeffrey Omar Usman

Mississippi College Law Review

Today, states are moving closer to another moment of critical decision-making in charting the course of the death penalty in the United States. Unlike the sudden and dramatic immediacy of Furman, however, this moment is arriving through a slower and quieter progression, or perhaps more accurately a deceleration. While not abolished, in many states application of the death penalty is grinding or has ground to a halt. If the status quo holds, the vast majority of defendants who are sentenced to death by the states will instead live out their natural lives in prison for decades dying of old age …

Why Mississippi Should Reform Its Penal Code, Judith J. Johnson

Mississippi College Law Review

The Mississippi Penal Code was determined at the turn of this century to be the fifty-second-worst penal code in the United States. As much as Mississippi is often used to being - and is even proudly defiant for being - ranked low on national scales, this is an issue about which we should be deeply concerned. A well-drafted penal code is crucial because it is at the core of the primary value of justice. While we are experienced with being ranked last in many situations, often unfairly, the criticism of the Mississippi Penal Code is accurate. Although many of the …

Labor Pains: The Inadequacies Of Current Federal Pregnancy Laws And The Alternative Routes To Accommodation, Sara Alexander

Mississippi College Law Review

Although many women are able to work through their pregnancies without employer accommodations, some pregnant workers who require accommodations "are forced out of their jobs unnecessarily when minor adjustments would enable them to keep working." In 2003, a hardware assembler in Ohio was terminated after her doctor limited her weight-lifting to twenty pounds and ordered that she work no more than eight hours at a time. In 2009, a retail worker in Kansas was fired because she needed to keep a water bottle with her in order to stay hydrated and prevent bladder infections. In 2011, an activity director at …

Introduction

Mississippi College Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Mississippi College Law Review

No abstract provided.

Faculty Listing

Mississippi College Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adjunct Listing

Mississippi College Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Mississippi College Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Truth About Fibs (Financial Institution Bonds) In Mississippi: When Express Terms Conflict With Statutory Requirements, Ronald J. Rychlak

Mississippi College Law Review

In Mississippi, Financial Institution Bonds (FIBs) are statutorily-required financial instruments that cover officers or employees of a bank (or other financial institution) to protect financial institutions against losses caused by matters such as dishonesty; forgery; fraud; kidnapping, ransom, or extortion; and counterfeiting. State statutes set forth the terms that are to be included in the FIB, but standard forms are promulgated by the Surety Association of America (SAA) or on special forms drafted by the surety.

A problem can arise if the terms on the executed bond form do not coincide with the requirements of the state statute.

The Work-Rule Doctrine Doesn't Work After Reeves V. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Grafton Bragg

Mississippi College Law Review

This Note is about an existing plague on employment-law jurisprudence in the Fifth Circuit. Small and big companies alike can terminate an employee for no discriminatory reason but then be tagged with a lawsuit that has a fair chance of success, just because the disgruntled former employee is willing to lie or the parties disagree over the facts. This is true even though no evidence of actual discrimination exists. The work-rule doctrine changes at-will employment to good-will employment under the guise of federal employment discrimination statutes. Whatever your position is on the longstanding at-will employment regimes, there can be no …

Unraveling A Ball Of Confusion: Layers Of Criminal Intent, Facebook, Rap, And Uncertainty In Elonis V. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2001 (2015), Cameron L. Fields

Mississippi College Law Review

“So, round and around and around we go. Where the world's heading nobody knows...Just a ball of confusion."

Elonis v. United States was a much-awaited case needed to clarify many questions within its realm. Part of the case's allure was its facts: threats, rap, and Facebook. While the alluring circumstances were well-presented, the potential for clarification was not realized. As the quotes from the various opinions above suggest, a song from the oldies had hinted at this ruling correctly when its lyrics said it's "just a ball of confusion." This Note seeks to unravel this ball of confusion to give, …

"It's Not My Fault!": Inequality Among Posthumously Conceived Children And Why Limiting The Degree Of Benefits To Innocent Babies Is A Big "No-No!", Katie Christian

Mississippi College Law Review

Girl meets boy. Boy likes girl. Girl and boy decide to get married. Like most young adults, the boy and girl dream of having children. But what if the possibility of having children came with a price? Many situations arise that can either foster or hinder a young couple’s ability to start a family. For example, suppose Fitz and Marie got married in 2010. Three years later, unexpectedly and to the devastation of both Fitz and Marie, Fitz is diagnosed with cancer causing the young couple to put their plans for a family on hold. Told that a side effect …