Barnett v. Department of Human Services - Civil No. 950386 The Department cannot limit a hearing on terminating food stamps to a mere review of a staff decision, but must allow a full evidentiary hearing for the applicant to present arguments and evidence why food stamps should not be discontinued. The Department of Human Services denied a food stamp applicant a fair hearing when it refused to consider evidence, offered for the first time at the hearing, the applicant had a medical disability exempting him from attending a required employment orientation.
City of Grand Forks v. Dohman - Criminal No. 960051 In a criminal trial, a defendant must move for a judgment of acquittal under Rule 29, N.D.R.Crim.P., to preserve the issue of sufficiency of the evidence to support a jury verdict.
First American Bank Valley v. George J. Hegstrom Company, Inc. - Civil No. 950393 Under the Uniform Commercial Code, proceeds of a settlement agreement in an impending lawsuit are general intangibles. Under the unambiguous terms of a work-out agreement, a creditor was entitled to the settlement proceeds from the debtor's breach of contract action against a third party.
In Interest of C.R.M. - Criminal No. 960010 The juvenile court did not err in ruling that the rules of evidence were inapplicable to a juvenile transfer proceeding, or in allowing a detective, who was cross-examined, to present hearsay testimony based upon information acquired in the course of his investigation. The juvenile court did not err in finding probable cause to believe the juvenile assisted in committing an attempted robbery resulting in a person's death.
In Interest of J.A.G. - Criminal No. 960008 The juvenile court did not err in finding reasonable grounds to believe the juvenile committed a delinquent act of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and was not amenable to treatment or rehabilitation as a juvenile through available programs.
In Interest of K.G. - Civil No. 950428 The juvenile court did not err when it applied the child support guidelines to determine a parent's financial ability to pay support for her child in foster care under Section 27-20-49, N.D.C.C.
Kjos v. Brandenburger - Civil No. 950329 North Dakota Administrative Code 75-02-04.1-07 authorizes imputing income to an underemployed child support obligor, based on the obligor's earning capacity. The child support guidelines present an objective standard - "prevailing amounts earned in the community by persons with similar work history and occupational qualifications" - to measure the obligor's "gross income from earnings."
Maginn v. North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau - Civil No. 960005 The Workers Compensation Bureau did not err in denying further benefits to a claimant who failed to make a good faith work trial in a modified position with her former employer, as required by Section 65-05.1-04(4), N.D.C.C.
Matter of the Estate of Martha Wagner - Civil No. 950424 A will contestant must prove testamentary incapacity by a preponderance of the evidence rather than by clear and convincing evidence. The trial court's finding that a decedent lacked testamentary capacity when she signed a codicil to her will was not clearly erroneous.
Raboin v. Department of Human Services - Civil No. 950391 Chapter 28-32, N.D.C.C., authorizes an appeal to the district court from a Department of Human Services' finding of probable cause of child abuse or neglect. The Department's determination there was probable cause of abuse by parents who used corporal punishment as a last resort to discipline their children was not supported by a preponderance of evidence. There was no evidence from which a reasonable person could conclude any of the children suffered serious physical harm or traumatic abuse as a result of the parental spankings.
Schleicher v. Schleicher - Civil No. 950376 Absent compelling circumstances, the trial court cannot order that a portion of the presumptively correct amount of support under the child support guidelines be paid into an annuity for the child's future benefit. The guidelines assume the presumptive amount will be paid to the custodial parent to use for the child's current expenses. In calculating an obligor's net income, the guidelines allow a deduction for taxes based upon standard deductions and tax tables, not actual taxes paid or amounts shown on a W-2 form. Where proceedings to increase child support were delayed for more than a year by the obligor's unexplained refusal to provide financial information, the trial court abused its discretion in making the modification effective after issuance of its order, rather than at the time the motion to increase support was originally filed.
State v. Barnes - Criminal No. 950323 The trial court did not commit obvious error when it failed to instruct the jury that it could consider the defendant's intoxication to negate the culpability requirement of the charge of willfully delivering a controlled substance. There was no relevant evidence upon which a jury could find the defendant was so intoxicated as to negate her culpability. The trial court's instructions on voluntary intoxication and entrapment adequately apprised the jury of the law and neither misled nor misinformed the jury. An undercover agent's statements that the suspect could use some of the drugs after she delivered them did not constitute entrapment as a matter of law.
State v. Brandner - Criminal No. 950361 It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution for possession of illegal fishtraps under Section 20.1-06-04, N.D.C.C., that the accused unwittingly or unknowingly possessed the fishtraps. There was substantial evidence to support the trial court's finding that the defendants illegally possessed fishtraps.
Walton v. Department of Human Services - Civil No. 950382 The hearing and review procedure for a finding of probable cause of child abuse under Chapter 50-25.1, N.D.C.C., is a "contested case" under Section 28-32-01(4), N.D.C.C., and the Department of Human Services bears the burden of proof. To support a finding of probable cause of child abuse under Chapter 50-25.1, N.D.C.C., there must be evidence of serious physical harm or traumatic abuse, evidenced by negative changes in the child's health resulting from infliction of physical or mental injury. The court erred in awarding attorney's fees for the proceedings at the administrative level, because attorney's fees under Section 28-32-21.1(1), N.D.C.C., are authorized only for those proceedings necessitated by the Department's unjustified actions.
Wyatt v. Adams - Civil No. 960020 The trial court's certification of the dismissal of a defendant as an appealable final order under Rule 54(b), N.D.R.Civ.P., was improvidently granted because the need for review could be mooted by future developments in the district court.