Jack Rehm v. Robinson Property Group, LLC d/b/a Horseshoe Tunica and The Service Companies, Inc.

── Jack Rehm v. Robinson Property Group, LLC d/b/a Horseshoe Tunica and The Service Companies, Inc. ── Court: Court of Appeals of Mississippi Date: May 19, 2026 Category: General IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI NO. 2025-CA-00043-COA JACK REHM APPELLANT v. ROBINSON PROPERTY GROUP, LLC D/B/A APPELLEES HORSESHOE TUNICA AND THE SERVICE COMPANIES, INC. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 12/12/2024 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. WILLIAM HUNTER NOWELL COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: TUNICA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: CHRISTOPHER ETHAN KITTELL ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES: GOODLOE TANKERSLEY LEWIS CABLE MATTHEW FROST BEN THOMAS WOODHOUSE MICHAEL STIRGUS NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 05/19/2026 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: EN BANC. CARLTON, P.J., FOR THE COURT: ¶1. On June 5, 2023, Jack Rehm, a Missouri resident, filed a slip-and-fall lawsuit in the Tunica County Circuit Court against The Service Companies Inc. (TSC) and Robinson Property Group LLC (RPG) d/b/a Horseshoe Tunica (collectively at times, Horseshoe Tunica)1 located in Tunica, Mississippi. Rehm alleged that he was injured when he slipped and fell in one of Horseshoe Tunica’s public restrooms on August 14, 2020. 1 Rehm originally named “Caesars Entertainment Inc. d/b/a Horseshoe Tunica” as a defendant. Pursuant to an “Agreed Order Substituting Defendant” entered on July 31, 2023, RPG was substituted as a defendant for Caesars Entertainment Inc. ¶2. Nearly three years before he filed his lawsuit, Rehm had retained counsel who provided written notice of Rehm’s potential personal injury claim to RPG (via its third-party administrator), followed by a formal demand for $80,000 sent to RPG on October 6, 2021. Approximately six months later, Rehm filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, hiring separate bankruptcy counsel to represent him in the bankruptcy proceeding. Rehm did not disclose his prospective personal injury claim at any time in his bankruptcy filings. The bankruptcy matter was discharged and closed on June 23, 2022. Within a year, Rehm filed his personal injury lawsuit against RPG and TSC based upon his August 14, 2020 fall at Horseshoe Tunica. ¶3. TSC, joined by RPG, moved for summary judgment on judicial estoppel grounds. The circuit court concluded that Rehm’s personal injury lawsuit was barred by the doctrine of judicial estoppel because his failure to disclose his claim in his bankruptcy proceeding was not inadvertent. Accordingly, the circuit court granted summary judgment in TSC’s and RPG’s favor and dismissed Rehm’s personal injury lawsuit with prejudice. ¶4. Rehm appeals, asserting that (1) the circuit court erred in determining that judicial estoppel applied to bar his personal injury claim; or (2) at the very least, there is a question of fact whether Rehm’s nondisclosure was inadvertent, thus precluding summary judgment on judicial estoppel grounds. We disagree. For the reasons discussed below, we find that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Rehm’s complaint on the basis of judicial estoppel. We therefore affirm the circuit court’s judgment. 2  STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY ¶5. As noted, Rehm alleges that on August 14, 2020, he slipped in one of Horseshoe Tunica’s restrooms and was injured. After his fall, Rehm retained Lee Atwill, a Missouri lawyer, to represent him regarding a potential personal injury claim. On September 25, 2020, Atwill sent a letter of representation to “CCMSI,” a third-party administrator that handles claims for RPG. The September 25, 2020 letter provided that Rehm “slipped/fell in the bathroom due to some w