Supreme Court tosses Hinds County jury’s verdict for a tenant over unqualified expert

Glenda Mayze rented an apartment at Park Wind Apartments, where her only path to the parking lot was a sidewalk between two buildings. A disconnected downspout sent rainwater onto a sunken stretch of it. Despite complaints, the complex fixed neither before she was hurt, according to the opinion.

On a dark, stormy night in July 2022, Mayze stepped around a puddle there. She testified that she slipped on a hidden ‘jagged edge’ in the mud and twisted her right knee. She later had surgery for a torn meniscus, a knee cartilage injury.

The opinion notes she had knee trouble before, including a possible tear diagnosed that April. She sued the complex, and a Hinds County jury ruled for her.

One of her witnesses was Kenneth Goodrum, offered as an expert in ‘premises safety,’ meaning how owners keep property safe. The complex objected, but the trial judge let him testify. He testified that the complex was ‘on notice of the dangerous condition,’ the opinion says.

The court reversed and remanded, meaning it threw out the jury’s verdict and sent the case back for a new trial. All nine justices joined Chief Justice Randolph’s opinion. The court addressed only the expert question, which it said decided the appeal.

The court found Goodrum unqualified. He had no trade school, college or on-the-job training after high school, the opinion says, and ‘watched an eight-hour webinar and obtained three certificates.’ His knowledge of lighting and premises safety was ‘nonexistent,’ the court wrote.

His methods also failed the rules of evidence, the court held. He measured with ‘a level and measuring tape, items in many households,’ and any ordinary person could repeat his work, it wrote.

Juries ‘are often in awe of expert witnesses,’ the court wrote, quoting an earlier case. So letting an unqualified expert testify on the central question ‘can never be harmless,’ it said.

Before letting an expert testify, a judge must be able to answer yes to two questions, the court explained. Is the witness qualified, and is the testimony based on reliable methods?

It is not the first time the court has turned Goodrum away. In a 2025 case involving Pilot Travel Centers, it held he was unqualified and ordered a new trial, the opinion says.

The ruling does not decide whether the complex was careless. Park Wind raised other issues on appeal, but the court did not reach them.

The court threw out the verdict Mayze won. It sent her claim back to Hinds County Circuit Court for a new trial.

The Wire’s read: for tenants and landlords alike, the ruling shows that an expert’s credentials can undo a jury’s decision on appeal.

The case came from Hinds County Circuit Court, where Judge Eleanor Johnson Peterson presided. Goodrum learned building code enforcement as a Jackson police officer, the opinion says. He testified that ‘Jackson incorporated the International Building Code in 2012.’

The case returns to Hinds County Circuit Court for a new trial, the opinion says. It sets no date.

Either side may ask the court to reconsider, a step called a motion for rehearing. None had been filed when the opinion was released, its cover page shows.