On October 8, 2015, the Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the Madison County Circuit Court’s judgment confirming a substantial arbitration award in favor of Regions Insurance, Inc. d/b/a Regions Insurance.  The underlying arbitration involved two former employees’ violations of their employment contracts with Regions.  Specifically, Regions alleged the former employees wrongfully and intentionally conspired together and with their new employer, a direct competitor of Regions, to divert business from Regions to themselves.  The arbitrator found that the former employees breached their employment agreements with Regions and awarded Regions compensatory damages pursuant to the defined formula in the agreements, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and arbitration expenses and costs.  The Madison County Circuit Court affirmed the arbitration award, despite the former employees’ arguments that the arbitrator exceeded his powers by awarding equitable relief and that the arbitrator’s conversation with a potential witness after the hearing but before issuing the award constituted undue means, misconduct or misbehavior.  The former employees appealed the Circuit Court’s judgment to the Mississippi Supreme Court, and the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the arbitrator did not exceed his authority because the former employees’ submission to arbitration included Regions’ claim for damages pursuant to the defined formula.  Additionally, because the arbitrator’s conversation with the potential witness was neither material nor influential to the award, the Court found that the arbitration award was not procured by undue means and that the arbitrator’s conduct did not prejudice the former employees’ rights.

John Milner of Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC was recently elected as the Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources.

“We are proud of John’s election and know that he will provide great leadership to the Section,” said Sam Kelly, chairman of Brunini’s Board of Directors. “We are proud of the leadership John provides to the industry on the federal, state and local level and will now provide to the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources”.

Milner concentrates his practice primarily in environmental law and litigation. He represents business and industrial clients in environmental permitting and enforcement actions, natural resource damage assessments and regulation promulgation before the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and other federal and state agencies, as well as in environmental litigation in state and federal courts in Mississippi and other southeastern states. His environmental practice also concerns real estate due diligence and contractual matters in the southeastern region states. John also represents clients in lobbying and monitoring activities concerning environmental and other business and industry issues before the Mississippi Legislature.

Prior to being elected as Vice Chair, John served as the Publications Officer for the Section of Energy, Environment and Resources from 2014-2015.  He started his three-year term on August 2, 2015.  He will serve one year as Vice Chair, one year as Chair-Elect followed by a year serving as Chairman of the Section.

The 2015 edition of Chambers USA, which lists leading law firms and individual lawyers in an extensive range of practice areas, jointly awarded high rankings to ten Brunini attorneys and five of the firm’s practice areas.

Chambers USA ranked five of Brunini’s practices, including the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources, Environment, Real Estate, Commercial Litigation and Corporate/Commercial practices, all of which were highly ranked.

Each year, Chambers USA conducts thousands of interviews and surveys with lawyers and their clients, as well as analyzes its own database resources, to determine rankings for top law firms and individual attorneys. The qualities on which rankings are assessed include technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial astuteness, diligence, commitment and other qualities valued by clients.

“The Brunini firm is truly honored to have its practice groups and individual lawyers recognized by our clients as among the best in Mississippi through one of the nation’s most respected legal directories,” said Sam Kelly, Chairman of the firm’s Board of Directors. “Our commitment to client service and a long history of legal excellence are hallmarks that set us apart in Mississippi, and those are good reasons to earn the respect of business leaders and peers.”

A collective list of the nine Brunini attorneys recognized as among the best in their fields in Mississippi by Chambers USAinclude:

Corporate/Commercial

Louis Fuller

Walter Weems

Corporate/Commercial: Banking & Finance

Granville Tate, Jr.

Energy & Natural Resources

James L. Halford

Watts C. Ueltschey

Environment

John E. Milner

Litigation: Construction

Samuel C. Kelly

Ron A. Yarbrough

Litigation: General Commercial

R. David Kaufman

Samuel C. Kelly has been elected as a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation.  He was inducted into membership at the Foundation’s recent Annual Meeting and Fellows Induction Ceremony held at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson in April.  A Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation is a great honor bestowed on only a few each year.  Selection as a Fellow is based not only on excellence as an attorney, but also on an attorney’s commitment to serve the Bar and the public. The Bar Foundation was organized in 1963 to improve the administration of justice.  It presently administers the Interest On Lawyers Trust Accounts Program, which has awarded over eleven million dollars to public interest, law-related programs.

David Kaufman and Richard Cirilli represented Lamar County, Mississippi; the Lamar County Board of Supervisors and its president, Joe Bounds; and the Tax Collector for Lamar County in an action filed in the Chancery Court of Forrest County, Mississippi, by the Pat Harrison Waterway District.  The issue involved in the lawsuit was the amount that Lamar County was required to pay the Pat Harrison Waterway District, pursuant to Section 51-15-118 of the Mississippi Code, following the County’s withdrawal from the District on September 6, 2011.  An independent auditor retained by the parties pursuant to the statute determined that Lamar County owed $337,088.  The auditor rejected the District’s position that Lamar County was responsible for the District’s alleged perpetual operating costs under its federal government contracts which the District claimed totaled approximately $18,000,000.  The Chancery Court Judge agreed with the independent auditor and ruled in favor of Lamar County, and the District subsequently appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court.  On March 19, 2015, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued its opinion and affirmed the Chancery Court’s decision.   The Supreme Court determined that the alleged perpetual operating costs of the District were not “contractual obligations” that were “outstanding” on the date of Lamar County’s withdrawal, and therefore, Lamar County was not obligated for these costs pursuant to Section 51-15-118.

Jim Halford was a featured speaker at the Mississippi Trial & Appellate Judges Fall Conference held in Jackson, MS. on October 22-24, 2014.  Halford spoke to the judges on the subject of “Ingress and Egress in Eminent Domain Proceedings: Miss. Const. Section 110”.

Attorneys from Brunini were recently selected as Mid-South Super Lawyers 2014 and eight attorneys were named Mid-South Rising Stars 2014.

Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Mid-South Super Lawyers

 Matt Allen-Business Litigation

Lawrence E. Allison, Jr.-Business Litigation

Leonard A. Blackwell, II-Environmental

Stephen J. Carmody- Employment & Labor

Lynne K. Green-Estate Planning and Probate

William Trey Jones, III- Business Litigation

R. David Kaufman– Business Litigation

Samuel C. Kelly- Construction Litigation

M. Patrick McDowell- Business Litigation

John E. Milner– Environmental

Christopher A. Shapley- Business Litigation

Watts C. Ueltschey- Energy & Resources

Leonard D. Van Slyke, Jr.- Tax

John E. Wade- Personal Injury Medical Malpractice: Defense

Eugene R. Wasson- Energy & Resources

Walter S. Weems –Business/Corporate

Ron A. Yarbrough- Construction Litigation

*Attorneys listed in Super Lawyers’ Top 50 in Mississippi.

Mid-South Super Lawyers – Rising Stars

Norman E. Bailey, Jr.- Business Litigation

Christopher R. Fontan- Employment & Labor

Joseph A. Sclafani- Appellate

Lane W. Staines- Health Care

Jess New has joined Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC as an associate in the firm’s regulatory department.

Jess is a graduate of the Mississippi College School of Law and brings over 8 years of law experience to the firm.  He has concentrated his practice on work with the Oil and Gas Industry as well as other Corporate and Commercial Matters including Real Estate.  Jess was named one of Mississippi’s Fifty Leading Attorneys by the Mississippi Business Journal in 2011 and is a 2013 graduate of Leadership Madison County.

Chris Fontan, Sam Kelly and Reed Nunnelee presented to the Mississippi Road Builders association on Monday, July 21, 2014.  Kelly discussed a new Construction Lien Law, while Fontan and Reed discussed Employer Shared Responsibility of the Affordable Care Act.

View the presentation Affordable Care Act: Employer Shared Responsibility HERE.

Jackson- Lynne K. Green of the Jackson office has been featured as a recent guest speaker to different organizations recently.  On July 10, she presented during a Trust Issues Seminar for the Mississippi Bankers Association.

On July 16th and 17th Lynne presented “Mississippi Uniform Trust Code Summary” during seminars for First American Title Insurance Company.  These presentations were held on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in Flowood, Mississippi.