McDaniel v. Cochran
| Docket Number: | 2014-EC-01247-SCT Linked Case(s): 2014-EC-01247-SCT |
|
| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 10-24-2014 Opinion Author: King, J. Holding: Affirmed. |
|
| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Election contest - Time to file complaint - Section 23-15-923 - Section 23-15-921 - Statutory interpretation Judge(s) Concurring: Waller, C.J., and Kitchens, J. Non Participating Judge(s): Dickinson, P.J., Chandler and Pierce, JJ. Dissenting Author : Coleman, J. With Separate Written Opinion Dissent Joined By : Lamar, J. Concurs in Result Only: Randolph, P.J., Concurs in Result Only With Separate Written Opinion. Procedural History: Dismissal Nature of the Case: CIVIL - ELECTION CONTEST |
|
| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 09-04-2014 Appealed from: JONES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT Judge: HOLLIS McGEHEE Disposition: Found that McDaniel did not meet the twenty-day deadline to file his election contest and dismissed the case Case Number: 2014-76-CV08 |
|
| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | Chris McDaniel |
MITCHELL HARRY TYNER, SR., STEVE C. THORNTON |
||
| Appellee: | Thad Cochran | PHIL B. ABERNETHY, MARK W. GARRIGA, LEANN W. NEALEY, LEM MONTGOMERY |
|
|
Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
|
| Topic: | Election contest - Time to file complaint - Section 23-15-923 - Section 23-15-921 - Statutory interpretation |
| Summary of the Facts: | Thad Cochran, a Republican nominee for United States Senator, won the Republican primary runoff. Chris McDaniel, his opponent, filed an election contest with the State Republican Executive Committee forty-one days after the election. The SREC declined to consider McDaniel’s complaint, and McDaniel filed an appeal. The trial judge found that McDaniel did not meet the twenty-day deadline to file his election contest and dismissed the case. McDaniel appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | McDaniel filed his complaint under section 23-15-923, which concerns primary election contests for multi-county and statewide office. The statute does not mention when the complaint should be filed. Section 23-15-921, which concerns a primary election contest involving a single-county, provides a twenty-day deadline. McDaniel argues that the Court should apply the plain meaning of section 23-15-923. The Court may engage in statutory interpretation where a statute is ambiguous or silent on an issue. Mississippi’s primary election statutes originated in a single Act and are now split into separate sections. The Legislature reenacted section 3144 from the Code of 1942 in section 23-15-923 with one material change. The Legislature expanded the grounds to contest a primary election. Under section 3144, a person could challenge an election only for fraud. Now, section 23-15-923 does not limit the grounds for a challenge. No other changes were made to the substance of the law. A judicial interpretation of a statute is adopted when the Legislature reenacted the statute without change. In Kellum v. Johnson, 237 Miss. 580, 115 So. 2d 147 (1959), the Court considered the statutes as a whole and determined that the twenty-day deadline to file a contest for a single county office (section 3143) also applied to an office covering multiple counties (section 3144). Finding that the twenty-day deadline was “a condition precedent to the right to file a contest” under section 3144, the Court dismissed the case since Kellum had failed to meet the deadline. McDaniel argues, however, that the Court’s decision in Barbour v. Gunn, 890 So. 2d 843 (Miss. 2004), overruled Kellum. However, Barbour did not address the time to file and therefore, did not overrule Kellum’s explicit holding. Thus, under the doctrine of stare decisis, McDaniel failed to file his election contest timely. |
Home | Terms of Use | About the JDP | Feedback | Using JDP | MC Law Library | Mississippi Supreme Court
