Case: 24-60152 Document: 71-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 01/15/2025
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
____________ Fifth Circuit
FILED
No. 24-60152 January 15, 2025
____________
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
Gayle J. Evans, Jr., a Montana Resident,
Plaintiff—Appellant,
versus
Chance J. Evans, a Mississippi Resident,
Defendant—Appellee.
______________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Mississippi
USDC No. 5:22-CV-37
______________________________
Before Jones and Oldham, Circuit Judges, and Hendrix, District
Judge. *
Per Curiam:
In open court, Gayle J. Evans, Jr., confirmed settlement of his lawsuit
against his brother Chance J. Evans. They agreed that Chance would manage
a Mississippi LLC into which they would each transfer their respective
interests in certain real property. Despite agreeing in open court that no
material terms were left out of the agreement, Gayle reneged and refused to
_____________________
*
United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, sitting by
designation.
Case: 24-60152 Document: 71-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 01/15/2025
No. 24-60152
sign any LLC operating agreement. The district court granted Chance’s
motion to enforce the agreement. We AFFIRM.
Gayle argues that the district court improperly added a material term
to the settlement agreement by authorizing Chance to form the LLC without
a written operating agreement. But Mississippi law enables the formation
and operation of an LLC without one.
Miss. Code Ann. § 79-29-105
(t);
see Rest. of Hattiesburg, LLC v. Hotel & Rest. Supply, Inc.,
, 39 n.1
(Miss. 2012) (“The Revised LLC Act . . . was adopted to . . . set up more
default rules for LLCs without operating agreements.”); Coast Plaza LLC v.
RCH Cap. LLC,
281 So. 3d 1125
, 1132 (Miss. Ct. App. 2019) (Wilson, J.)
(“The Act’s statutory requirements serve as ‘default rules’ governing
limited liability companies that do not have an operating agreement.”); see
also Logan v. RedMed, LLC,
377 So. 3d 956
, 964 (Miss. 2024) (explaining that
a district court cannot supply material terms to a contract, but the law itself
can).
For the first time on appeal, Gayle raises issues pertaining to a nonparty trust’s partial ownership of the relevant property. These arguments
are meritless because (1) Gayle was both trustor and beneficiary of the trust,
(2) no trust documents are in the record of the district court or this court,
and (3) Gayle represented both in the district court and in multiple lease
agreements submitted to this court that he, not the trust, personally owned
the property under lease.
Gayle also argues that the parties’ leasing the relevant property to a
new tenant moots this case. But the case is not moot because the lease
agreement is independent of this litigation, Chance still seeks to form the
LLC agreed on in the settlement, and Gayle continues to renege.
We therefore AFFIRM. We retain jurisdiction to consider any action
stemming from the concurrent Show Cause order, but REMAND to the
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Case: 24-60152 Document: 71-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 01/15/2025
No. 24-60152
district court to consider sanctions against Gayle J. Evans, Jr., personally and
to act as needed to enforce the parties’ settlement agreement.
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