Opinions

Interest of A.G. (CONFIDENTIAL) 2021 ND 67
Docket No.: 20210075
Filing Date: 4/20/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Juvenile - Termination of Parental Rights
Author: Per Curiam

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

State v. Rennie 2021 ND 66
Docket No.: 20200307
Filing Date: 4/14/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Sexual Offense
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: The district court did not abuse its discretion by not dismissing the case for failure to timely produce discovery materials.

Interest of F.M.G. (CONFIDENTIAL) 2021 ND 65
Docket No.: 20210087
Filing Date: 4/14/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Mental Health
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: A district court’s continuing treatment order is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).

Interest of S.R. (CONFIDENTIAL)(consolidated w/20200215) 2021 ND 64
Docket No.: 20200214
Filing Date: 4/7/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Juvenile Law
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: A juvenile court’s findings of continued deprivation and orders keeping two children in the custody of Three Rivers Human Service Zone are summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).

Kaspari v. Kaspari 2021 ND 63
Docket No.: 20200258
Filing Date: 4/5/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Divorce - Property
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: Under N.D.C.C. § 14-05-24.1(1), an award of spousal support must be for “a limited period of time.” An award of spousal support “until death or remarriage” does not comply with N.D.C.C. § 14-05-24.1(1) because it is indefinite and lacks a fixed duration.

Great Plains Royalty Corp. v. Earl Schwartz Co., et al. 2021 ND 62
Docket No.: 20200133
Filing Date: 4/5/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Oil, Gas and Minerals
Author: McEvers, Lisa K. Fair

Highlight: Standing is the concept used to determine whether a party is sufficiently affected to ensure a justiciable controversy exists.

The law of the case doctrine precludes parties from relitigating issues resolved in a prior appeal or issues that would have been resolved had they been properly presented.

Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, forecloses relitigation of issues that were decided in a prior action or by necessary implication must have been litigated and decided.

When the district court’s rationale is unclear, remand is appropriate.

Slander of title requires evidence that the defendant acted with malice.

Conversion and unjust enrichment are distinct causes of action.

State v. Bee 2021 ND 61
Docket No.: 20200261
Filing Date: 3/24/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Drugs/Contraband
Author: Tufte, Jerod E.

Highlight: The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, § 8, of the North Dakota Constitution protect individuals in their houses against unreasonable searches and seizures. But a warrantless search is not unreasonable if the search of the home falls under one of the exceptions to the warrant requirement.

When no exception exists, any evidence seized is inadmissible under the exclusionary rule and must be suppressed.

State v. Glasser (consolidated w/20200221) 2021 ND 60
Docket No.: 20200220
Filing Date: 3/24/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Sexual Offense
Author: Tufte, Jerod E.

Highlight: Any attempt by the trial court to amend or modify a final judgment is void unless it is made upon grounds provided by statute or by the Rules of Criminal Procedure for correcting or amending a judgment.

Command Center v. Renewable Resources, et al. 2021 ND 59
Docket No.: 20200017
Filing Date: 3/24/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Debtor/Creditor
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: In an appeal from a bench trial, the trial court’s findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard and its conclusions of law are fully reviewable.

In a bench trial, the trial court decides credibility issues and the supreme court on appeal does not second-guess the trial court on its credibility determinations.

A trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence will not be reversed on appeal unless it has abused its discretion.

Business records may be properly admitted into evidence under the business records exception to the hearsay rule.

Indemnity is an equitable remedy which permits a party to recover reimbursement from another for the discharge of a liability that, as between the two parties, should have been discharged by the other.

Somerset Court, et al. v. Burgum, et al. 2021 ND 58
Docket No.: 20200292
Filing Date: 3/24/2021
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Other
Author: McEvers, Lisa K. Fair

Highlight: A party waives an issue by not providing supporting arguments, reasoning, or citations to relevant legal authority.

A party abandons an argument by failing to raise it in the party’s appellate brief.