Fails v. Jefferson Davis County Pub. Sch. Bd.
| Docket Number: | 2010-CT-00042-SCT Linked Case(s): 2010-CA-00042-COA ; 2010-CA-00042-COA ; 2010-CT-00042-SCT ; 2010-CT-00042-SCT |
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| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 05-31-2012 Opinion Author: Kitchens, J. Holding: Court of Appeals and Circuit court vacated; Dismissed. |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: School Board - Revocation of transfer - Mootness Judge(s) Concurring: Lamar, Chandler, Pierce and King, JJ. Dissenting Author : Dickinson, P.J. Dissent Joined By : Waller, C.J., Carlson, P.J., and Randolph, J. Procedural History: Admin or Agency Judgment Nature of the Case: CIVIL - STATE BOARDS AND AGENCIES |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 12-04-2009 Appealed from: Jefferson Davis County Circuit Court Judge: Michael R. Eubanks Disposition: Affirmed the school board's decision. Case Number: 2008-187P |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | Brief(s) Available: | ||
| Appellant: | Mark Fails and Laura Fails |
ALEXANDER IGNATIEV |
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| Appellee: | Jefferson Davis County Public School Board | REGINALD ERVIN JONES JAMES A. KEITH JOHN SIMEON HOOKS |
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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. |
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| Topic: | School Board - Revocation of transfer - Mootness |
| Summary of the Facts: | A student, the daughter of Mark Fails and Laura Fails, transferred from Jefferson Davis County School District to Lamar County School District, after obtaining consent from the school boards of both districts. Four years later, the Jefferson Davis County Public School Board passed a resolution that Jefferson Davis County residents would no longer be permitted to transfer to other school districts. The following year, the Superintendent of Education for the Jefferson Davis County School District published an announcement in the local newspaper informing parents of Jefferson Davis County School District students that all transfers had been revoked. Although three of the School Board members represented to Mark Fails that this did not affect his daughter’s transfer status, an interim conservator, appointed by the governor to oversee Jefferson Davis County Schools, represented to Mark Fails that it was the intent of the School Board to revoke all previously granted transfer petitions. Mark Fails attended a School Board meeting to appeal the revocation of his daughter Courtney’s petition for transfer. However, the conservator prohibited the School Board from voting on Courtney’s petition for transfer. Prior to the School Board meeting, however, the Failses had obtained Lamar County residency, and their daughter had continued to attend Lamar County Schools legally, and without interruption. Despite this fact, the Failses appealed the School Board’s decision to the circuit court. The circuit court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed the School Board’s decision. The Supreme Court granted certiorari. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Despite the revocation of the daughter’s transfer and despite the action taken by the conservator in preventing the School Board from reviewing the transfer revocation, the daughter has never been required to attend Jefferson Davis County Schools again, by virtue of her Lamar County residency. Thus, the revocation was of no moment as of the day that the Failses obtained Lamar County residency, and it does not affect her statutory right to attend Lamar County Schools. The circuit court erred in its failure to dismiss the complaint, as it had no authority to dispose of the case on its merits. Cases in which an actual controversy existed at trial but the controversy has expired at the time of review, become moot. Thus, the decisions of the circuit court and the Court of Appeals are vacated. |
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