December 2009: Today’s U. S. Consumer Products Safety Commission recall of Italian-made LaJobi baby cribs was a direct result of the SmithPhillips case, Stephens v. LaJobi. This product liability case arose from the tragic death of a Mississippi infant whose neck and head became entrapped in the headboard cutout of a LaJobi baby crib. . . 
The recent Corban opinion by a unanimous Mississippi Supreme clears up a question of tremendous importance to homeowners across the country. More and more people live in coastal and other areas subject to catastrophes such as hurricanes or earthquakes. Homeowners can depend on their contracts of insurance only if the courts are willing to enforce those contracts. The Corban case has been watched by courts and legal scholars throughout the nation.
August 14, 2009: A Desoto County Mississippi jury returned a $30 Million verdict today for SmithPhillips client Ethan Bryant and his parents, Carey Bryant and Kateri Bryant, as a result of catastrophic injuries suffered in a 2006 collision caused by an overweight gravel truck. Ethan Bryant, sixteen years old at the time of the collision, was catastrophically injured when a gravel truck, overloaded by more than twenty thousand pounds, was unable to stop for a red light.
An investment fraud class was certified by the Federal Court in a new SPMS&N class action arising from a nationwide Insured Money Management Program.
Smith Phillips nationwide class actions completed include one on behalf of purchasers of health insurance through Group Associations, and another on behalf of holders of interest sensitive life insurance.
A Harrison County jury in Gulfport, Mississippi, recently returned a verdict in excess of one million dollars for Smith Phillips’ client, Penny Rodrique, in a Katrina eminent domain case.
Mississippi juries return verdicts of 100% for SPMS&N clients. Energy prices have new pipeline construction increasing . . .
SPMS&N Partners Richard T. Phillips and Paul R. Scott were speakers at recent national seminars in Miami, Florida and San Francisco, California. Phillips spoke on "Institutional Bad Faith Litigation" at the ACI 12th Advanced National Forum on Litigating Bad Faith and Punitive Damages in Miami. Paul R. Scott was a speaker at the national American Law Institute-American Bar Association advanced seminar on Eminent Domain and Land Value Litigation held in San Francisco.
Smith Phillips represents Mississippi drivers for FedEx Ground in nationwide Multidistrict Litigation pending in Indiana.
