Opinions

State v. Higgins 2004 ND 115
Docket No.: 20030320
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Misc. Misdemeanor
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: Under N.D.R.Crim.P. 3(b), allowing amendment of a complaint is within the trial court's discretion.
To legally stop a vehicle, a law enforcement officer must have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that a motorist has violated or is violating the law.
Operating a motorboat or vessel while intoxicated through the consumption of alcoholic beverages violates N.D.C.C. 20.1-13-07(2).

City of Mandan v. Sperle 2004 ND 114
Docket No.: 20040006
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Violation of City Ordinance
Author: Sandstrom, Dale

Highlight: In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction, the appellate court will not weigh conflicting evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses but will look only to the evidence most favorable to the verdict and to the reasonable inferences therefrom to determine whether there is substantial evidence to warrant a conviction.
Special verdicts or interrogatories in criminal cases are disfavored because they may coerce a jury into rendering a guilty verdict or destroy the ability of the jury to deliberate upon the issue of guilt or innocence free of extraneous influences.

Bice, et al. v. Petro-Hunt, L.L.C., et al. 2004 ND 113
Docket No.: 20030306
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Oil, Gas and Minerals
Author: Sandstrom, Dale

Highlight: An order certifying a class action under N.D.R.Civ.P. 23 is appealable, but a trial court's decision to certify a class action will not be overturned on appeal unless the trial court abused its discretion.
In determining whether a class action will provide a fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy, the trial court is not required to specifically address each of the thirteen factors listed in N.D.R.Civ.P. 23(c)(1), but must weigh the competing factors, none of which is predominant.

State v. Flanagan 2004 ND 112
Docket No.: 20030247
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Sexual Offense
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: An appellate court may notice a claimed error that was not brought to the attention of the trial court if there was plain error which affected the defendant's substantial rights, and the appellate court concludes the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.
Omitting an element of the crime from the jury instruction is obvious error, but is not reversible error when the element was not disputed.
The issue of impermissible gender-based peremptory challenges must be raised in the trial court.

Fast, et al. v. State 2004 ND 111
Docket No.: 20030310
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Personal Injury
Author: VandeWalle, Gerald

Highlight: The state may be held liable for money damages for an injury caused from some condition or use of tangible property under circumstances in which the state, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant.
Landowners owe a general duty to lawful entrants to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition in view of all the circumstances, including the likelihood of injury to another, the seriousness of the injury, and the burden of avoiding the risk.
Landowners are not liable for snow removal efforts that do not create an unreasonably dangerous or more hazardous condition.

Karsky v. Kirby, et al. 2004 ND 110
Docket No.: 20030354
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Other
Author: Neumann, William

Highlight: When a stipulation is incorporated into a judgment, the court is concerned only with interpretation and enforcement of the judgment, not with the underlying contract.
The right to a hearing from the Banking Board's denial of an application for transfer of the ownership of a banking institution can be waived by the parties.
When a judgment is clarified by the same trial judge who entered it, the clarification is entitled to considerable deference.

Riemers v. Anderson, et al. (CONSOLIDATED w/20030318) (see Docket Memo) 2004 ND 109
Docket No.: 20030317
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Personal Injury
Author: Maring, Mary

Highlight: Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, generally forecloses the relitigation, in a second action based on a different claim, of particular issues of either fact or law which were, or by logical and necessary implication must have been, litigated and determined in the prior suit.
Questions unnecessary to the determination of an appeal are not answered.

Kostrzewski v. Frisinger 2004 ND 108
Docket No.: 20040009
Filing Date: 6/3/2003
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Child Support
Author: Maring, Mary

Highlight: As a general rule of statutory construction, a specific statute governs over a more general statute.
When a party files a foreign child custody judgment, a trial court shall confirm the judgment unless a person contesting the validity of the registered judgment establishes one of the three grounds listed in N.D.C.C. 14-14.1-25(4).
Mere registration of a foreign child custody judgment does not require determination of the registering court's jurisdiction under N.D.C.C. 14-14.1-14.

Minto Grain v. Tibert, et al. (Cross-Ref w/20010302, 20030207 & 208) 2004 ND 107
Docket No.: 20030297
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Civil - Real Property
Author: Maring, Mary

Highlight: The right to the possession of disputed real estate is the only fact that can be rightfully litigated in a summary eviction action unless damages or rent is claimed.
Adverse possession and acquiescence may be asserted as a defense or counterclaim in a summary eviction action.

State v. Nordahl 2004 ND 106
Docket No.: 20030269
Filing Date: 6/3/2004
Case Type: Appeal - Criminal - Theft
Author: Kapsner, Carol

Highlight: A district court does not abuse its discretion when it revokes probation for failure to pay restitution without holding a hearing when a defendant agreed to restitution as part of a plea agreement.