Opinions

Estate of Finch 2021 ND 159
Docket No.: 20210029
Filing Date: 8/26/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Probate, Wills, Trusts
Author: Jensen, Jon J.

Highlight: A decision on a petition to remove a personal representative rests within the district court’s sound discretion.

A district court’s decision whether to award attorney’s fees incurred by a personal representative to be paid from the estate will not be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion.

Schulz v. Helmers 2021 ND 158
Docket No.: 20210025
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Other
Author: Crothers, Daniel John

Highlight: Contract damages for breaching a duty to maintain buildings in a lease are measured by the lesser of the cost to repair and the diminution in value of the property when avoiding windfalls or economic waste.

Interest of T.L.E. (CONFIDENTIAL) 2021 ND 157
Docket No.: 20210190
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Mental Health
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: A district court’s orders for hospitalization and involuntary treatment with medication are summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).

Interest of T.L.E. (CONFIDENTIAL) 2021 ND 157
Docket No.: 20210190
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Mental Health
Author: Per Curiam

Interest of G.J.E.P. (CONFIDENTIAL) (consolidated with 20210189) 2021 ND 156
Docket No.: 20210188
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Juvenile - Termination of Parental Rights
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: A juvenile court order terminating parental rights is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2) and (4).

Interest of G.J.E.P. (CONFIDENTIAL) (consolidated with 20210189) 2021 ND 156
Docket No.: 20210188
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Juvenile - Termination of Parental Rights
Author: Per Curiam

Pinkney v. State 2021 ND 155
Docket No.: 20200249
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Post-Conviction Relief
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: Whether to grant a motion for a continuance rests within the district court’s discretion.

Post-conviction relief is not a device for investigating possible claims, but a means for vindicating actual claims.

State v. Lyman 2021 ND 154
Docket No.: 20200321
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - DUI/DUS/APC
Author: Jensen, Jon J.

Highlight: The district court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted blood test results into evidence over the Defendant’s foundational objections that the State failed to prove scrupulous compliance with the approved method for collecting and submitting a blood specimen.

Dubois v. State 2021 ND 153
Docket No.: 20210019
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Post-Conviction Relief
Author: Crothers, Daniel John

Highlight: Counsel’s failure to raise a novel or groundbreaking legal claim does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel.

A district court is the best credibility evaluator in cases of conflicting testimony, and we will not second-guess the district court’s credibility determinations.

The procedures in Rule 11, N.D.R.Crim.P., does not apply to admissions on probation revocation.

Section 12.1-32-07(6), N.D.C.C., unambiguously restrains a district court’s authority in probation revocation cases to imposition of the sentence initially imposed but suspended.

State v. Gefroh, 458 N.W.2d 479, 483-84 (N.D. 1990) and State v. Lindgren, 483 N.W.2d 777, 779 (N.D. 1992) are overruled.

State v. Boger 2021 ND 152
Docket No.: 20200297
Filing Date: 8/19/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - DUI/DUS/APC
Author: Jensen, Jon J.

Highlight: A mistake of fact may support reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop if the mistake was objectively reasonable.

When reviewing a district court’s decision on a motion to suppress, we defer to the court’s findings of fact and resolve conflicts in testimony in favor of affirmance.