Page 11 - Demo

first Chief Judge John J. Fraiser Jr. had been in private practice in Greenwood and called the new court a %u201cunique opportunity%u201d that he hoped would %u201cdecrease delay and improve the quality of appellate decisions.%u201d Judge Billy G. Bridges, a former chancellor who would serve as the second chief judge, intended to %u201cenhance the administration of justice%u201d across the State. Similarly, Judge Roger H. McMillin Jr., a practitioner in New Albany who later served as chief judge, planned for the Court to %u201cexpeditiously render decisions%u201d that would %u201cclearly and concisely apply%u201d Mississippi%u2019s %u201cestablished body of law.%u201d Judge James E. Thomas, who had served as a circuit court judge, looked forward to seeing %u201cfundamental changes in the judicial system.%u201d Judge Frank D. Barber had been in private practice in Hattiesburg and felt the 10 charter members were given a %u201crare privilege%u201d and planned to resolve %u201clegal problems which have plagued the State for too long.%u201d True to their words, the judges went forward with excellent speed. The Court issued 26 merit opinions in its first February 7, 1995, hand-down, and 29 more appeals were decided by the first week of March. The hard work obviously continued throughout the year. The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided 535 cases in the very first year, all with written opinions. One of the statutes governing jurisdiction at the time required the Court of Appeals to issue decisions in civil cases in an %u201cexpeditious manner%u201d and in criminal cases in a manner consistent with the right to a Speedy Trial. Miss. Code Ann. %u00a7 9-4-3 (Supp. 1996). On July 1, 1998, the law changed. The statute directed both appellate courts to issue decisions within 270 days of final briefing in a case. The Court of Appeals has met the deadline in every case except one in the past twenty years. The Court of Appeals has issued over 15,400 merit opinions in its 30-year history. Over 300 written opinions were published last year (2024), and the average time between final briefing and disposition was 209 days. Importantly, the Court of Appeals today maintains many internal procedures that the original judges created. For example, they used color-coded paper to signal priority among pending appeals. The Court has met the bigger-picture goal of lessening the delay for the parties, trial courts, and practitioners while an appeal is pending.Judge Leslie D. King (later Chief Judge and now Presiding Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court) had been an instrumental legislator from Greenville and highlighted that %u201ccourts have an obligation to fairly, effectively and with dispatch resolve the matters%u201d being argued, so that the people involved could %u201cmove forward with their lives.%u201d Judge Leslie H. Southwick, who was in private practice in Jackson at the time and now serves on the federal circuit court bench, relatedly hoped that %u201cthe people who have given us the honor to serve%u201d would be confident in the new Court%u2019s role within one year. Judge Thomas A. Coleman, a former court administrator for the Mississippi Supreme Court and practitioner in Ackerman, saw the %u201cpotential for expediting justice%u201d and similarly hoped to earn the respect of justices, trial judges, fellow lawyers, and taxpayers. Judge Mary Libby Payne, a law professor and the founding dean of Mississippi College School of Law, concurred: %u201cEquity and Justice are not mutually exclusive,%u201d Judge Payne said, and she intended for the 10 judges %u201cto accomplish both without sacrificing either.%u201dBy the end of 1995, the Court of Appeals recorded that just five petitions for a writ of certiorari had been granted by the Mississippi Supreme Court, and one of those was dismissed as improvidently granted. This infrequent review helped embed a sense of finality to decisions by the Court of Appeals and illustrated the usefulness of the new court to the Supreme Court%u2019s workload. During that first year, though, the Supreme Court%u2019s rules prohibited the publication of these Court of Appeals opinions in a law reporter and denied them any precedential effect, meaning the caselaw would merely apply to the case for which it was written. However, in 1998, the rules were changed to require the publication of all written opinions, thereby making them a part of the Mississippi common law. In 2024, the Mississippi Supreme Court granted just fourteen certiorari petitions and dismissed two of those, demonstrating the Court%u2019s continuing reliability, trustworthiness, and efficiency in helping share the workload of the Supreme Court%u2019s heavy docket.Finally, Judge Oliver E. Diaz Jr., who had been a legislator and city attorney in D%u2019Iberville and would later become a justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court, envisioned that the Court of Appeals judges would travel and hear cases in panels across the State, partly to help expose the public to appellate practice and procedure. As more fully discussed in the accompanying article by Judge Latrice A. Westbrooks, the Court wholeheartedly embraced providing this one service that the Supreme Court cannot (for they are required by law to sit in Jackson): traveling across the State for oral argument. This %u201cCourt on the Road%u201d outreach effort continues today as a teaching tool for students in the social sciences (undergraduate and law school) and a demonstration for interested Mississippians to explore more of their judicial process. The Court%u2019s visibility in various locations (rural and urban) gives insight to the citizens across the State. In creating and maintaining the Court of Appeals, Mississippi demonstrated its adaptability and capability by responding to the call for a more efficient judiciary. The current Court is grateful for the legacy of the 10 original judges and strives to live up to the standards they set 30 years ago.SPRING 2025 11