Opinions

Heng v. Rotech Medical Corp. 2004 ND 204
Docket No.: 20040082
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Employer/Employee Dispute
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: When an employee policy manual expressly states that it does not create a contract, the employee is on notice that the manual preserves the presumption of employment at will.
A prima facie case for retaliatory discharge under the whistle-blower statute is established by showing (1) the employee engaged in protected activity; (2) the employer took adverse action against the employee; and (3) the existence of a causal connection between the employee's protected activity and the employer's adverse action.
Reporting a suspected violation of law to an employer is protected activity, and the violation need not be reported to outside authorities.
Whether an employee has made a report in good faith is a question of fact, and summary judgment dismissing the employee's retaliatory discharge claim is appropriate only if reasonable minds could only conclude that the reports were made solely for a purpose other than reporting an illegality.
Circumstantial evidence, including proximity in time between the protected activity and the adverse employment action, may provide an inference of causation.

Roberson v. Roberson 2004 ND 203
Docket No.: 20040125
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Child Support
Author: Maring, Mary

Highlight: Conflicting testimony will not be reweighed and credibility will not be reassessed on appeal.
While the wholesale adoption of one party's proposed findings of fact discouraged, if the adopted findings adequately explain the basis of the trial court's decision, we will uphold them unless clearly erroneous.

Interest of E.R. (CONFIDENTIAL) 2004 ND 202
Docket No.: 20040122
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Juvenile - Termination of Parental Rights
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Although incarceration, by itself, does not establish abandonment of a child for purposes of terminating parental rights, a probability of harm to the child may be established by prognostic evidence that a parent's current inability to care for the child will continue long enough to render improbable the successful assimilation of the child into a family if the parent's rights are not terminated.

State v. Donovan 2004 ND 201
Docket No.: 20040066
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Drugs/Contraband
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Suppression of evidence in a criminal case is proper when the defendant is able to show the search warrant was issued in reliance upon an affidavit containing false or misleading statements.
Credibility of an informant who is a member of the "criminal milieu" must be established by more than easily obtainable facts.

Jensen v. State (Cross-reference w/20010097 & 20020166) 2004 ND 200
Docket No.: 20040137
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Post-Conviction Relief
Author: Sandstrom, Dale

Highlight: In a post-conviction proceeding, a claim is res judicata if it was fully and finally determined in a previous proceeding.
A misuse of process occurs when the applicant presents a claim for relief that the applicant inexcusably failed to raise in prior proceedings, or if the applicant has filed multiple applications containing claims so lacking in factual support or legal basis as to be frivolous.

Knoll v. Kuleck 2004 ND 199
Docket No.: 20040087
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Child Support
Author: Neumann, William

Highlight: The child support guidelines require a child support order to include a statement of the net income of the obligor used to determine the child support obligation, and how that net income was determined.
The child support guidelines require documentation of a child support obligor's income.

Rott v. Connecticut General Life Ins. Co., et al. 2004 ND 198
Docket No.: 20040172
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Foreclosure
Author: Neumann, William

Highlight: A quitclaim deed transfers the grantor's interest, if any, in the property to the grantee.
If no action is taken to substitute the appropriate entity as a party to an appeal, the appeal may be dismissed.

R.R. v. G. H., et al. (CONFIDENTIAL) (Cross-Ref. w/20040288 & 20040325) 2004 ND 197
Docket No.: 20040139
Filing Date: 11/2/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Paternity
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Visitation order is summarily affirmed under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2).

Estate of Bergman (Consolidated w/20030357) 2004 ND 196
Docket No.: 20030356
Filing Date: 10/20/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Probate, Wills, Trusts
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Assets conveyed by an institutionalized spouse to a community spouse before the institutionalized spouse's death and traceable to the community spouse's estate are subject to a claim for Medicaid benefits provided to the institutionalized spouse.
Transfers by a surviving community spouse before death, which are made for less than a reasonably equivalent value and which render the community spouse's estate insolvent, may be voided under N.D.C.C. ch. 13-02.1.

Staley v. Staley 2004 ND 195
Docket No.: 20040047
Filing Date: 10/20/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Divorce - Property
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: Rehabilitative spousal support is appropriate when it is possible to restore an economically disadvantaged spouse to independent economic status, or to equalize the burden of divorce by increasing the disadvantaged spouse's earning capacity.