Opinions

Woelfel v. Gifford 2020 ND 197
Docket No.: 20190331
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Child Support
Author: Crothers, Daniel John

Highlight: Post-judgment modification of residential responsibility is governed by statute which provides the standard for a court to apply.

When a prior judgement establishes joint or equal residential responsibility, modification first requires a determination to award primary residential responsibility.

A residential responsibility order provision that automatically transfers primary residential responsibility on the happening of a condition is against public policy.

Cass County Joint Water Resource District v. Aaland, et al. 2020 ND 196
Docket No.: 20200171
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Other
Author: Tufte, Jerod E.

Highlight: Under Rule 8, N.D.R.App.P., the Court has the authority to grant a stay pending appeal.

The Court considers four criteria when deciding whether to grant an application for a stay: 1) a strong showing that the appellant is likely to succeed on appeal; 2) that unless the stay is granted, the appellant will suffer irreparable injury; 3) that no substantial harm will come to any party by reason of the issuance of the stay; and 4) that granting the stay will do no harm to the public interest.

Interest of J.F. (CONFIDENTIAL)(consolidated with 20200089) 2020 ND 195
Docket No.: 20200088
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Juvenile Law
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: An appeal from a juvenile court order finding two children to be deprived is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).

Sadek, et al. v. Weber, et al. 2020 ND 194
Docket No.: 20190216
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Torts (Negligence, Liab., Nuis.)
Author: Crothers, Daniel John

Highlight: For the tort of deceit, one who willfully deceives another with intent to induce that person to alter that person’s position to that person’s injury or risk is liable for any damage which that person thereby suffers.

While there must be a false representation of a material fact that either exists in the present or has existed in the past, a mere expression of an opinion in the nature of a prophecy as to the happening or non-happening of a future event is not actionable as deceit.

Negligence consists of a duty on the part of an allegedly negligent person to protect the plaintiff from injury, a failure to discharge the duty, and a resulting injury proximately caused by the breach of the duty.

A proximate cause is a cause which, as a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any controlling intervening cause, produces the injury, and without which it would not have occurred.

Jorgenson v. NDDOT 2020 ND 193
Docket No.: 20190411
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Administrative - Department of Transportation
Author: Tufte, Jerod E.

Highlight: To preserve an issue for appeal, an argument must be raised before the administrative hearing officer and identified in the specifications of error on appeal to the district court.

Environmental Law & Policy Center, et al. v. N.D. Public Svc. Commission, et al. 2020 ND 192
Docket No.: 20190220
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Administrative Proceeding
Author: Tufte, Jerod E.

Highlight: The Administrative Agencies Practice Act governs an appeal from a decision of the Public Service Commission.

The Public Service Commission’s authority to regulate is limited to that authority provided to it by the legislature.

For an administrative agency, the term “jurisdiction” has three components: (1) personal jurisdiction, referring to the agency’s authority over the parties and intervenors involved in the proceedings; (2) subject matter jurisdiction, referring to the agency’s power to hear and determine the causes of a general class of cases to which a particular case belongs; and (3) the agency’s scope of authority under statute.

The Commission’s regulatory authority is limited to projects that meet the definition of “gas or liquid energy conversion facility” found in N.D.C.C. § 49-22.1-01(6). A refinery not designed for or capable of refining 50,000 bpd is not a “gas or liquid energy conversion facility” as that term is defined. A project proponent may avoid the time and expense of the Commission’s regulatory review that comes with a larger project by deciding to reduce the scale of a project to a size just below the regulatory threshold.

State v. Silk 2020 ND 191
Docket No.: 20200035
Filing Date: 9/15/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Drugs/Contraband
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: Order revoking defendant’s probation and amended criminal judgment is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(4) and (7).

Oversen, et al. v. Jaeger 2020 ND 190
Docket No.: 20200234
Filing Date: 9/4/2020
Case Type: Original Proceeding - Civil - Writ of Mandamus
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: The secretary of state does not have a duty to certify a new nomination and place the new nominee’s name on the general election ballot as a candidate for a statewide executive branch office when a vacancy on the ballot occurs after the primary election, if the vacancy did not occur as a result of one of the conditions listed in N.D.C.C. § 16.1-11-18(6).

Estate of Grenz 2020 ND 189
Docket No.: 20190363
Filing Date: 8/31/2020
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Probate, Wills, Trusts
Author: Tufte, Jerod E.

Highlight: A district court’s decision to invalidate a portion of a decedent’s will based on undue influence and to give effect to a portion of a contingent distribution clause is affirmed.

City of West Fargo v. Olson, et al. 2020 ND 188
Docket No.: 20200183
Filing Date: 8/27/2020
Case Type: Original Proceeding - Criminal - Writ of Supervision
Author: Jensen, Jon J.

Highlight: The Supreme Court exercises supervisory jurisdiction only in extraordinary cases to rectify errors and prevent injustice when no adequate alternative remedy exists.

Because the individual who initially inspected and reviewed the installation of the Intoxilyzer 8000 testing device did not make any testimonial statements under the Confrontation Clause or Rule 707 of the North Dakota Rules of Evidence, the City of West Fargo is not required to produce her at trial.