New opinions: Jan. 12 Tuesday, January 12, 2021
The Supreme Court has issued 12 new opinions. The summaries are below.
To see an opinion, click on the "View Opinion" button. Opinions display in a printable format. Hyperlinks to all North Dakota opinions and rules cited in an opinion are included in the text: hover over the citation and click to follow the hyperlink.
See other Supreme Court opinions at: https://www.ndcourts.gov/supreme-court/opinions
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R & F Financial Services v. North American Building Solutions, et al. 2021 ND 12 Highlight: All contracts entered into by the parties must be construed together, and only the provisions in the latter contracts which are inconsistent with the prior contracts will supersede. |
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State v. Casatelli 2021 ND 11 Highlight: A district court’s decision on a motion to suppress will be affirmed if there is sufficient competent evidence fairly capable of supporting the trial court’s findings and the decision is not contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. |
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Interest of M.M. 2021 ND 10 Highlight: An order terminating mother’s parental rights is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2). |
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State v. Rivera-Rieffel 2021 ND 9 Highlight: Criminal conviction for murder and child abuse is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(3). |
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Young v. Burleigh Morton Detention Center, et al. 2021 ND 8 Highlight: A violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not occur unless the government knowingly intrudes into the attorney-client relationship and the intrusion prejudices the defendant or creates a substantial threat of prejudice. |
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State v. Aune 2021 ND 7 Highlight: A defendant may not challenge a jury verdict as inconsistent based upon an alleged error he invited by requesting an instruction on a lesser included offense. If a defendant does not object to the introduction of prior convictions at sentencing, and the prior convictions were not relied upon to enhance the term of incarceration, the appropriate standard of review is obvious error. It is not error to consider a defendant’s prior convictions as a part of their criminal history under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-04 if there has been no showing that the prior convictions were uncounseled and without proper waiver. |
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Estate of Seidel v. Seidel, et al. 2021 ND 6 Highlight: The primary purpose in interpreting a deed is to ascertain and effectuate the grantor’s intent at the time of the conveyance. The intent must be ascertained from the writing alone, if possible. |
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Neppel, et al. v. Development Homes, et al. 2021 ND 5 Highlight: The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied an untimely motion to amend the complaint. |
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State v. Evanson 2021 ND 4 Highlight: When a defendant fails to object to the introduction of prior convictions at sentencing, and the court did not substantially rely on the convictions as the basis for enhancing a defendant’s sentence or increasing their offense level, obvious error is the appropriate standard of review. A defendant cannot establish obvious error if they cannot first establish that an error has occurred. |
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Brendel Construction v. WSI 2021 ND 3 Highlight: On review of an administrative law judge’s findings of fact, this Court determines only whether a reasoning mind reasonably could have determined the findings were proven by the weight of the evidence from the entire record. |
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Potts v. City of Devils Lake, et al. 2021 ND 2 Highlight: Under North Dakota law no public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine exists for law enforcement officers who act in self-defense. |
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Melaas v. Diamond Resorts U.S. Collection Development 2021 ND 1 Highlight: An order compelling arbitration and dismissing the action is appealable. |