Coleman Wins at Mississippi Supreme Court

On June 7, 2018, the Mississippi Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Horton v. City of Vicksburg affirming a previously entered Motion for Summary Judgment in favor of the City of Vicksburg. HAT attorney Mike Coleman represented Vicksburg in a matter involving Vicksburg’s housing codes and the alleged failure to enforce those codes on a historic building in Downtown Vicksburg’s Historic District.

The case involved Mississippi’s discretionary function immunity doctrine and the application of that doctrine by way of the 2014 Mississippi Supreme Court decision Brantley v. City of Horn Lake. One week before its decision in Horton, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Brantley. citing Horton as an example of the Brantley being abused.

The new ruling did not change the Court’s analysis that the subject building was located within Vicksburg’s historic district which was exempt from local zoning ordinances.