Opinions

Vacancy in Judgeship No. 3, Northeast Judicial District 2015 ND 221
Docket No.: 20150160
Filing Date: 8/26/2015
Case Type: Judicial Administration - Rule - Rule
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: Judgeship retained at Bottineau.

Kuntz v. Disciplinary Board 2015 ND 220
Docket No.: 20150086
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Discipline - Attorney - Original Proceeding
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: A lawyer's violation of the rules of professional conduct must be established by clear and convincing evidence.
Payment of fees for an initial consultation with a lawyer does not, by itself, establish a lawyer-client relationship.
A lawyer is not prohibited from representing a client with interests adverse to those of a potential client in the same or a substantially-related matter unless the lawyer has received significantly harmful information from the potential client.

State v. Weight 2015 ND 219
Docket No.: 20140382
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Misc. Felony
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Double Jeopardy prohibits successive prosecutions and punishments for the same criminal offense.
An acquittal due to insufficient evidence precludes retrial whether the district court's evaluation of the evidence was correct or not and regardless of whether the court's decision flowed from an incorrect ruling of law.

Matter of Hehn (cross-reference 20110053; 20120070; 20120212; 20130055;20130143) 2015 ND 218
Docket No.: 20140430
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Civil Commitment of Sexually Dangerous Individual
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: When a party fails to raise an issue before the district court, even a constitutional issue, an appellate court generally will not address the issue on appeal. A party must do more than submit bare assertions to adequately raise constitutional issues.
An individual committed as sexually dangerous has the right to obtain individually identifiable health information and any confidential records provided to the state's attorney regarding the committed individual in a commitment proceeding.
Restraints in involuntary commitment proceedings must be based on individualized determination by the court on the record.

Gerber v. Disciplinary Board 2015 ND 217
Docket No.: 20150032
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Discipline - Attorney - Original Proceeding
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: Under the rules of professional conduct, a lawyer who is not admitted to practice in this jurisdiction is prohibited from representing or holding out to the public that he is admitted to practice law in this jurisdiction.

Hale v. City of Minot 2015 ND 216
Docket No.: 20140337
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Other
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: A local governing body's decision is affirmed unless the local body acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably, or there is not substantial evidence supporting the decision.
A decision is not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable if the exercise of discretion is the product of a rational mental process by which the facts and the law relied upon are considered together for the purpose of achieving a reasoned and reasonable interpretation.

Freidig, et al. v. Weed, et al. 2015 ND 215
Docket No.: 20140387
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Real Property
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: A warranty deed that does not express the parties' intent may be reformed on the ground of mutual mistake.
Issues not raised in the district court will not be considered for the first time on appeal.

Gabaldon-Cochran v. Cochran 2015 ND 214
Docket No.: 20140338
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Divorce - Property
Author: Crothers, Daniel John

Highlight: Distribution of marital property does not need to be equal, but the distribution must be equitable and a substantial disparity must be explained.
A court may unequally divide the marital estate in a short-term marriage and award the parties what each brought into the marriage.
A court may order one party to pay a cash payment to another party as part of the property distribution in any divorce case so long as the distribution is equitable.

State v. Weinmann (consolidated w/ 20140440) 2015 ND 213
Docket No.: 20140432
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Drugs/Contraband
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: The reliability of informants within the criminal milieu must be established.

State v. Rufus 2015 ND 212
Docket No.: 20140378
Filing Date: 8/25/2015
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Sexual Offense
Author: McEvers, Lisa K. Fair

Highlight: The word "obtain," in the context of the human trafficking statute, encompasses acquiring temporary custody of a person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts with that person.
A court may not stray from the classification the legislative assembly set for violation of a statute.