Emma R. Doss v. Claiborne County Board of Supervisors, 230 So. 3d 1100

Background

In 2009 Emma R. Doss and fourteen Claiborne County property owners sued the Claiborne County Board of Supervisors, the Mississippi State Tax Commission (MSTC), and the Mississippi Attorney General challenging Mississippi Code § 27-35-309(3)(b) as racially discriminatory and alleging due-process and conspiracy violations.
§ 27-35-309(3)(b) (enacted 1986) exempts qualifying in-state nuclear generating plants from local ad valorem taxes and requires a 2% in-lieu payment to the MSTC with specified minimums and a statutorily prescribed revenue distribution scheme favoring the situs county.
The statute and a related constitutional amendment were previously upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court in Burrell, which also allowed a § 1983 equal-protection amendment and led to settlement years later.
Doss alleged the statutory scheme disfavors Claiborne (an ~80% African-American county), increases her property-tax burden, and that the Board and MSTC denied her due-process rights in the 2008 equalization process. She sought declaratory and injunctive relief and over $400 million in damages (ultimately clarifying damages were sought only from the Board).
Defendants moved to dismiss under M.R.C.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6); the circuit court dismissed for failure to state a claim. Doss appealed.
The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding Doss lacked standing for her equal-protection claim and had waived her due-process and conspiracy arguments for failure to meaningfully brief them on appeal.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Standing to challenge statute as racially discriminatory (Equal Protection)	Doss: scheme targets Claiborne and causes her property-tax burden to increase; thus she has standing to challenge statute as racially discriminatory	Defendants: plaintiff’s asserted injury is speculative and generalized (taxpayer-wide), so she lacks standing and the court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction	Held: No standing — plaintiff’s alleged injury is speculative/common to taxpayers; dismissal affirmed on jurisdictional grounds
Failure to state a claim on Equal Protection merits	Doss: statute enacted with racial animus and unequal tax treatment compared to other counties/plants	Defendants: statutory scheme is lawful and prior precedent upheld the statutory/constitutional scheme; plaintiff’s claim speculative	Held: Court did not reach merits because of lack of standing; dismissal affirmed (right result for a different reason)
Due process claim re: tax-roll equalization and MSTC appeals process	Doss: Board and MSTC denied required notice/hearing and denied appeal rights under §27-35-119	Defendants: procedural/briefing defects and no meaningful appellate argument; dismissal appropriate	Held: Issue waived on appeal for failure to meaningfully brief; not considered on merits
Conspiracy claim against state actors	Doss: Board and MSTC conspired to implement discriminatory tax scheme	Defendants: insufficiently pled/briefed and speculative	Held: Waived for lack of meaningful briefing; not considered on merits

Key Cases Cited

Burrell v. Mississippi State Tax Commission, 536 So. 2d 848 (Miss. 1988) (upheld the 1986 statutory/constitutional scheme exempting in-state nuclear plants from local ad valorem taxation)
DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno, 547 U.S. 332 (2006) (taxpayer challenge failing because injury and redressability were speculative; no Article III standing)
SASS Muni-V LLC v. DeSoto County, 170 So. 3d 441 (Miss. 2015) (Mississippi permits relatively liberal state-law standing but requires a plaintiff show an adverse effect different from the general public)
Randolph v. State, 852 So. 2d 547 (Miss. 2002) (appellate court need not consider assignments of error without meaningful argument and authority)
Cucos, Inc. v. McDaniel, 938 So. 2d 238 (Miss. 2006) (appellate courts may affirm for the right result even if reached by the wrong reasoning)