Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 10, 1987: AGO 000007846 (April 10, 1987)

AGO 000007846.

Dear Mrs. Aycock:

Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. In your letter you ask:

"This person qualified to be a candidate for sheriff 1-7-87. He does have a judgment rendered against him by the FHA on December IS, 1980. Will he be eligible to have his name put on the ballot and be a candidate for sheriff?"

The qualifications for sheriff are set forth by Miss. Code Ann. 19-25-3 (Supp. 1986). The applicable part of the statute reads as follows:

A person shall not be eligible to the office of sheriff who shall, at the time of the election, be a defaulter to the state, or any county or municipality thereof, or to the United States. . . . [Emphasis added]

The answer to your request necessarily turns on the definition of "defaulter" and whether a person who has a judgment enrolled against him by the United States of America for failure to repay a loan comes within this exclusion.

In Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, a "defaulter" is defined as:

One who is in default. One who misappropriates money held by him in an official or fiduciary character, or fails to account for such money.

See also 26A C.J.S. P. 131.

It is the opinion of this office that the word "defaulter" as used in this statute, involves the breach of a public trust or public duty. We do not believe the failure to pay ordinary debts such as government guaranteed loans, would come within the prohibition of this statute. Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that a person with such a judgment enrolled against him would not be ineligible to hold the office of sheriff.

Should you have any questions or if we may be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact this office.

Sincerely,

EDWIN LLOYD PITTMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY

John H. Emfinger Special Assistant Attorney General

JHE:mfd