Mississippi high court upholds price-gouging law
National News
The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the state's price-gouging law.
The justices Thursday unanimously overturned a Winston County judge's ruling that the law was unconstitutionally vague.
Chancellor J. Max Kilpatrick's ruling came in 2008 as he rejected Attorney General Jim Hood's lawsuit accusing a Mississippi oil company of charging too much for fuel after Hurricane Katrina. Kilpatrick has since retired from the bench.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to Winston County to determine if Fair Oil Co. in Louisville violated the law.
Fair Oil was one of two companies Hood sued in 2007. The lawsuit, which represents only one side of a legal argument, accused the company of gouging consumers after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
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Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban
Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”
The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.
Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.
Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.