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Highlight:This Court’s power to issue supervisory writs is discretionary and is used only to rectify errors and prevent injustice where no adequate alternative remedy exists.
Peer review records are privileged and not subject to discovery in any civil action.
When a party withholds discoverable information because it is privileged, the party must expressly make a claim of privilege and describe the nature of the documents in a manner that, without revealing the information, enables other parties to assess the claim.
We look first at the words of the peer review statute, then determine how they apply to the procedure established by N.D.R.Civ.P. 26.
District Courts have discretion to conduct an in camera review of documents if a party challenges a claim of privilege identified in an adequate privilege log.
Schrodt v. Schrodt, et al.2022 ND 64 Docket No.: 20210211 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: CHILD CUST & SUPPORT (Div.\Other) Author: VandeWalle, Gerald W.
Highlight:The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the request for a continuance.
The district court’s property valuations were not clearly erroneous.
An award of parenting time with appropriate restrictions is not clearly erroneous when based on evidence in the record.
When a child support obligor is underemployed, the district court is permitted under the child support guidelines to impute income to the obligor.
The district court has inherent authority to award attorney’s fees as a sanction for a litigant’s misconduct.
Highlight:The law of the case doctrine applies when an appellate court has decided a legal question and remanded to the district court for further proceedings, and a party cannot on a second appeal relitigate issues which were resolved by the Court in the first appeal or which would have been resolved had they been properly presented in the first appeal. The mandate rule requires the district court to follow the appellate court’s pronouncements on legal issues in subsequent proceedings in the case and to carry the appellate court’s mandate into effect according to its terms.
Laches is a delay or lapse of time in commencing an action that works a disadvantage or prejudice to the adverse party because of a change in conditions during the delay.
A court has broad discretion under N.D.C.C. § 32-03-05 in determining whether to award prejudgment interest.
In an equitable proceeding there is no absolute right to a trial by jury.
Under N.D.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(1), a party moving for an order compelling discovery must certify that it has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the person or party failing to make discovery in an effort to obtain it without court action. The Court reviews an order compelling discovery under the abuse of discretion standard.
A district court is considered an expert in determining the amount of attorney’s fees, and its decision concerning the amount and reasonableness of the attorney’s fees will not be overturned on appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion. Electronic legal research fees are a component of attorney’s fees and cannot be separately taxed as expenses.
Adoption of A.A.H.2022 ND 62 Docket No.: 20220045 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: TERMINATION/PARENTAL RIGHTS Author: Per Curiam
Highlight:An adoption decree terminating a father’s parental rights and granting a petition for adoption is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2) and (4).
Canerdy v. Canerdy, et al.2022 ND 61 Docket No.: 20210262 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: CHILD CUST & SUPPORT (Div.\Other) Author: VandeWalle, Gerald W.
Highlight:A district court’s contempt decision will only be disturbed on appeal if the court abused its discretion.
Technical violations of a court order do not necessarily require a finding of contempt.
A party seeking to modify primary residential responsibility who provides competent evidence demonstrating a prima facie case for modification is entitled to an evidentiary hearing.
Fourth v. State2022 ND 60 Docket No.: 20210285 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: POST-CONVICTION RELIEF Author: Per Curiam
Highlight:A district court order denying post-conviction relief is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).
State v. Bazile2022 ND 59 Docket No.: 20210261 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: SEXUAL OFFENSE Author: Crothers, Daniel John
Highlight:In reviewing a claim of prosecutorial misconduct, this Court first determines whether the prosecutor’s actions were misconduct, then examines whether the misconduct had a prejudicial effect.
A curative jury instruction generally removes prejudice caused by improper statements because the jury is presumed to follow a court’s instruction.
The North Dakota Rules of Criminal Procedure do not require a district court to state findings on the record when a motion is made during trial.
Interest of T.H.2022 ND 58 Docket No.: 20220027 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: TERMINATION/PARENTAL RIGHTS Author: Per Curiam
Highlight:Juvenile court orders terminating parental rights are summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2) and (4).
Kaspari v. Kaspari2022 ND 57 Docket No.: 20210192 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: DIVORCE/PROPERTY DIV./ALIMONY Author: VandeWalle, Gerald W.
Highlight:When spousal support is awarded, the district court is not required to provide a detailed calculation of the requesting spouse’s need for support, but the court is required to provide a discernable basis for its decision.
State v. Almklov2022 ND 56 Docket No.: 20210162 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: MISC. STATUTORY OFFENSE (FELONY) Author: Per Curiam
Highlight:Criminal judgments entered after a jury found the defendant guilty of attempted murder, aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of providing false information to law enforcement, burglary, and theft of property are summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(3) and (7).
State v. Schuh2022 ND 55 Docket No.: 20210257 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: HOMICIDE Author: Per Curiam
Highlight:A criminal judgment entered after a jury found the defendant guilty of attempted murder is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(4) and (7).
Gregory v. State2022 ND 54 Docket No.: 20210307 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: POST-CONVICTION RELIEF Author: Jensen, Jon J.
Highlight:A district court order summarily dismissing a petition for post-conviction relief is reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
A district court may not order summary disposition in response to a request in a pleading, including the State’s answer to an application for post-conviction relief.
Highlight:Courts have broad discretion when deciding whether to grant leave to amend a complaint. Amendments correcting technical deficiencies relate back to the date of the original pleading.
Agencies of political subdivisions are public entities subject to the open records law. “Agencies” refers to a relationship created by law or contract whereby one party delegates the transaction of some lawful business to another.
Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, all records of a public entity are public records. The plain meaning of “provided by law” does not operate to create additional open records exemptions arising from court rules defining privileges and discovery limitations. Rule 502, N.D.R.Ev., is an evidentiary rule applicable to court proceedings, and does not create a specific exception to the open records law. Under N.D.R.Ev. 502(d)(7), there generally is no attorney-client privilege as to a communication between a public officer or agency and its lawyers.
A public entity’s attorney work product must be made available for public disclosure following completion of litigation, unless disclosure would have an adverse fiscal effect on the conduct or settlement of other pending or reasonably predictable civil or criminal litigation or adversarial administrative proceedings, or the attorney work product reflects mental impressions, opinions, conclusions, or legal theories regarding potential liability of a public entity. If the potential for liability is entirely in the past, the record is no longer exempt. Only if the records relate to circumstances for which there remains a genuine potential for liability may the records remain exempt.
Under N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.2(1), awarding costs and attorney’s fees is discretionary and a court’s decision will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion.
Highlight:When this Court remands for the district court to review an executive session of a board in-camera, the directive for an in-camera review becomes the law of the case when challenged on appeal.
Section 44-04-19.1(5), N.D.C.C., defining an attorney consultation exemption for open meetings, is unambiguous and provides two separate avenues for a governing body to close an open meeting.
Portions of a meeting recording that do not fit within the definition of “attorney consultation” must be made public.
While attorney’s fees are not mandated when a party brings forth a civil action rather than an administrative action alleging an open records violation, the type of action brought and how much information the party receives are not rational considerations in deciding whether to award attorney’s fees.
Sproule, et al. v. Johnson, et al.2022 ND 51 Docket No.: 20210235 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: OTHER (Civil) Author: Crothers, Daniel John
Highlight:When supervising a partnership’s dissolution, a district court has discretion to decide what is fair and equitable under the circumstances.
Valuation is a question of fact. This Court presumes a district court’s valuations are correct, and a valuation within the range of evidence presented at trial is not clearly erroneous.
Rogers v. State2022 ND 50 Docket No.: 20210260 Filing Date: 3/17/2022 Case Type: POST-CONVICTION RELIEF Author: Per Curiam
Highlight:A district court order denying a petition for postconviction relief is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).
