Opinions

Voisine v. State 2014 ND 98
Docket No.: 20140010
Filing Date: 5/28/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Post-Conviction Relief
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: Appeal from denial of petition for postconviction relief summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(4).

State ex rel. Storbakken v. Scott's Electric 2014 ND 97
Docket No.: 20130264
Filing Date: 5/12/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Employer/Employee Dispute
Author: Crothers, Daniel John

Highlight: Arguments not raised before the district court cannot be raised for the first time on appeal.
Whether an activity is excluded from hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended by the Portal-to-Portal Act, is a mixed question of law and fact.

State v. Simmons 2014 ND 96
Docket No.: 20130356
Filing Date: 5/9/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Assault
Author: Per Curiam

Highlight: Order revoking probation summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(7).

State v. Kuruc (consolidated w/ 20130337) 2014 ND 95
Docket No.: 20130334
Filing Date: 5/8/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Drugs/Contraband
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: The independent-source doctrine allows the introduction of evidence that was initially discovered during, or as a result of an unlawful search, but that was later obtained independently from lawful activities that have not been tainted by the initial illegality.
Out-of-state medical marijuana prescriptions are not valid defenses to possession of marijuana or possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

Tharaldson Ethanol Plant I, LLC, et al. v. VEI Global, Inc. 2014 ND 94
Docket No.: 20130325
Filing Date: 5/6/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Foreclosure
Author: Sandstrom, Dale

Highlight: Certification under N.D.R.Civ.P. 54(b) should rarely be granted and is reserved for cases involving unusual circumstances in which failure to allow an immediate appeal would create a demonstrated prejudice or hardship.
Potential mootness is a just reason for delay in N.D.R.Civ.P. 54(b) analysis.

Frith v. WSI, et al. 2014 ND 93
Docket No.: 20130240
Filing Date: 5/2/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Administrative - Workers Compensation
Author: Sandstrom, Dale

Highlight: A district court does not consider additional evidence on an appeal from an administrative agency decision and may only remand to the agency for the agency to consider the evidence.

Kost v. Kraft (cross-reference w/ 20100159) 2014 ND 92
Docket No.: 20130232
Filing Date: 5/2/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Contracts
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: There is no right to a jury trial in an equitable proceeding absent express constitutional or statutory authorization.

State v. Scheett 2014 ND 91
Docket No.: 20130363
Filing Date: 5/1/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Drugs/Contraband
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Officer safety is a recognized exception to the warrant requirement.

Norberg v. Norberg 2014 ND 90
Docket No.: 20130149
Filing Date: 4/29/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Child Support
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: A vested child support obligation cannot be retroactively modified, and a court modifies a child support order when it forgives past-due child support obligations.
In child support cases, an obligor is not entitled to credit for social security benefits paid to the children when the children receive the benefits as a result of the obligee's disability.

Interest of Thill 2014 ND 89
Docket No.: 20130291
Filing Date: 4/29/2014
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Civil Commitment of Sexually Dangerous Individual
Author: McEvers, Lisa K. Fair

Highlight: To deny a petition for discharge from treatment as a sexually dangerous individual, the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the committed individual remains a sexually dangerous individual and has serious difficulty controlling his or her behavior.
In reviewing a district court's order denying a petition for discharge from treatment as a sexually dangerous individual, an appellate court gives great deference to the district court's credibility determinations of expert witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony.