160 results for 'court:"Vermont Supreme Court"'.
J. Waples finds that the family court properly awarded a mother sole legal rights and responsibilities of the parties' minor children since evidence indicates such would serve the best interests of the children. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Waples, Filed On: May 24, 2024, Case #: 2024-VT-30, Categories: Family Law
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly ordered the ex-husband to continue providing health insurance for his ex-wife during the nisi period of their divorce until it was finalized. The ex-wife alleges that her ex-husband had violated the order by removing her coverage or reinstating the insurance before the nisi period was absolute. The ex-husband disagreed alleging the court lacked authority for him to reinstate the insurance. Therefore, the ex-husband failed to wait until the nisi period was over and was still considered married, so he violated the court’s order to reinstate. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-376, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the employment security board properly adopted a decision by an administrate law judge that this employment appeal was untimely filed. The employee alleges the pandemic, her health and a mailing delay were the reasons her appeal was past the 30 days allowed for filing. The court holds that her reasons do not qualify as valid ground to extend the appeal period. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-259, Categories: Administrative Law, Employment
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the lower court properly terminated a father’s parental rights to his child. There was sufficient evidence to support the determination that the father had “stagnated in his progress toward reunification.” Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 24-AP-019, Categories: Family Law, Guardianship
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Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds that the post-conviction court properly dismissed defendant’s previous claims of ineffective assistance on grounds that the victim was not cross-examined regarding the number of stab wounds to her abdomen. The plea agreement did not restrict the state from presenting additional facts. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-238, Categories: Evidence, Ineffective Assistance, Sentencing
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly convicted the defendant of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a jury trial. The defendant appeals the conviction alleging the state failed to give proper jury instruction to prove beyond a reasonable doubt he acted with the requisite intent. The evidence was sufficient to show the jury that the defendant did commit the crime on purpose and knowingly cause injury. Therefore, there was no error found in the jury instructions. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-339, Categories: Assault, Weapons, Jury Instructions
J. Reiber grants the state’s motion to dismiss this case stemming from the adjudication of a child as a child in need of care or supervision. The family division’s jurisdiction was terminated when the child was returned to the parents without any conditions or supervision. Dismissed as moot.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Reiber, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-332, Categories: Family Law, Jurisdiction
J. Eaton finds the trial court properly granted summary judgment to a power company and construction company based on the 20-year statute of repose in this wrongful death and negligence lawsuit filed by the decedent’s estate. The estate alleges the construction company installed the asbestos and the decedent was exposed through her husband, who worked with the power company that caused the decedent’s mesothelioma and death from the asbestos exposure. The upheld the repose finding the last injury occurrence fell outside the period in relation to the Vermont Constitution. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Eaton, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-217, Categories: Constitution, Negligence, Wrongful Death
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly convicted the defendant of domestic assault after he threw items at his wife and grabbed her by the arm and neck. The state introduced evidence of prior bad acts stemming back years ago and the daughter’s call to 911 during the incident. The state met the burden of evidence because it was relevant and admissible to explain the nature of the defendant’s behavior toward his wife. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-289, Categories: Evidence, Sentencing, Domestic Violence
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly granted summary judgment and writ of possession of the decedent’s home in favor of his estate stemming from a resident financially exploiting a vulnerable adult by stealing from the estate’s decedent after he was diagnosed with cancer. The decedent met the resident when he was a teenager needing a mentor, when the decedent became sick the resident moved into his home. The resident alleges he was a tenant and had the right to possession because he had the right to purchase the home, but the probate court invalidated that portion of the decedent’s will. The material facts are undisputed that the decedent was a vulnerable adult, and the estate had the standing to pursue the proceedings and to regain the possession of the home. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-212, Categories: Settlements, Negligence, Civil Extortion
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the lower court improperly granted sole custody to a mother of her three children in this dissolution of marriage filed by the father. The father alleges the lower court found that the children had been left hungry on multiple occasions in the mother’s care after she interfered with the father’s parent-child contact by taking them to Illinois. Therefore, this case is remanded because the court’s findings do not support the conclusions and the father is a capable caregiver with a strong bond with his children. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-352, Categories: Family Law
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly ordered a neighbor to stay away from the property owner at all times and to stay 50 feet away from the boundary line between the parties’ properties. The neighbor alleges that her due process rights were violated because of insufficient evidence for the property owner’s claims of stalking and being threatened. The court’s findings were supported by the evidence and the neighbor’s claims do not provide a strong basis to reverse. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-359, Categories: Negligence, Emotional Distress, Due Process
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly terminated the parental rights to a father. The father argues the state failed to show or prove that he was served a notice of the hearing and that decisions regarding the parent-child contact to the family services department was wrongfully delegated. The notice of hearing was delivered to the last known address of the father, and it was his responsibility to change his address. He lacked an engagement with the children, as evidence by his failure to show up to visitations offered by video or in-person. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-405, Categories: Family Law
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the state based on the 1812 survey in this appeal brought by a group of citizens involving a dispute concerning the width of a portion of U.S. Route 2 in Richmond, Vermont. The court relied on a survey conducted by the state transportation agency indicating the right of way was four rods wide, the citizens challenge the reliability of that survey and clerical errors. Therefore, the trial court must resolve the question if one of the citizens were properly provided notice for the agency’s motion for summary judgment and correct a typographical clerical error in the decision. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-249, Categories: Government, Transportation
[Consolidated.] J. Eaton finds the Professional Responsibility Board improperly entered two separate decisions with different sanctions regarding attorney Theodore studdert-Kennedy’s misconduct during a divorce proceeding. The board reduced a reprimand’s presumptive sanction to a private admonition, but this failed to consider if the his sanction was consistent with other cases. The decision is vacated and remanded for further proceedings. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Eaton, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-263, Categories: Sanctions, Attorney Discipline
J. Waples finds the lower court improperly approved the magistrate’s order telling a mother to repay a father child support, which is in arrears, in this case originally begun in Canada. The magistrate had discretion when using a different currency-exchange method to calculate the amount in arrears, but improperly ordered the mother to pay the father for overpayments due to the recalculations. Therefore, the magistrate had discretion to use a different method, but the mother should not repay the father $11,892. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part. Vacated.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Waples, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-254, Categories: Family Law, Settlements
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds that the lower court properly held the defendant without bond pending trial for sexual assault without consent. Defendant’s confession that he did try to penetrate his live-in girlfriend’s anus and her sworn statements were enough evidence to hold him without bond. He argues that his due process was violated when the weight of the evidence hearing was delayed, but he did not preserve that objection for review. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 24-AP-098, Categories: Sex Offender, Bail, Due Process
J. Waples finds that the trial court improperly granted the state’s motion to modify a condition of probation when imposing that the defendant must complete the Cognitive Self Change (CSC) program. The defendant argues that after his sentencing they changed the CSC program and his probation officer moved to modify the condition for the Risk Reduction Program, but he did not agree to the modification. The plain language of the condition was misinterpreted by the Department of Corrections to require the defendant to participate in CSC or an equivalent program. Therefore, the defendant could move to strike or modify the condition himself before it goes in effect. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Waples, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-140, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Murder, Probation
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court grants attorney Eva Vekos’ motion to dissolve the interim suspension of her law license. Vekos cooperated with the disciplinary counsel by responding to the request for information about her medical records. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 22, 2024, Case #: 24-AP-070, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Reiber finds that the lower court improperly granted summary judgment to the state in this concurrent sentence for murder and sexual assault against a former convict, who had served the maximum sentence for his sex offense, but remained on parole. The Vermont Supreme Court concludes the summary judgment was inappropriate and remands for further proceedings regarding the unresolved legal and factual questions of the plaintiff’s parole and sex offense. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Reiber, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 22-AP-274, Categories: Parole, Sentencing, Sex Offender
J. Waples finds that the trial court's $5,000 bond was improperly imposed as a condition of the defendant’s release after he had made direct threats to kill witnesses and police. He was originally given a $130 cash bail or surety. The bond is struck because he has a record of appearing before the court and lacks financial resources; the matter is remanded to reset bond at a reasonable amount. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Waples, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 24-AP-090, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Assault, Bail
J. Reiber finds that the environmental court improperly denied the town’s request for reconsideration in this interlocutory appeal. The town argues the tolling provisions do not apply in municipal panel appeals and the request was not filed with the court making it not formal. The appeals court is unpersuaded tolling under judicial economy is required. Accordingly, the claims are remanded for lack of jurisdiction and the environmental court was untimely. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Reiber, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-247, Categories: Environment, Government, Jurisdiction
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly awarded summary judgment to an estate regarding two neighboring properties. The citizen argues there was a conspiracy to deny him and his family of their right by several attorneys, but that is irrelevant to this appeal. He lacks merit to prove he was deprived of his right to a jury trial. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-341, Categories: Property, Due Process
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the trial court properly struck and dismissed a pro se complaint regarding defamation, libel, false light, and negligence claims against a newspaper and its journalist. The individual argues that the court abused its discretion when the newspaper and its journalist were awarded $14,741.80 in attorney fees and costs under Vermont’s anti-SLAPP statute. When the court ruled on the motion to strike, the fees were mandatory. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-338, Categories: Anti-slapp, Defamation, Attorney Fees
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds that the trial court properly imposed a restitution order in favor of the vandalism victim. The defendant argues that the replacement value of a light bar was unsupported by the evidence and the current condition should have been part of the value. The court acted within its discretion when it found the witness who testified on the cost of replacement credible. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-133, Categories: Evidence, Property, Settlements
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the family court properly declared a child was in need of care or supervision. The parents argue on appeal there was no evidence to support the court’s statements and the best interest of the child is not appropriate. The evidence supports the court’s findings of a lack of parental care. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-366, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Negligence
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds the family court properly declared two children were in need of care or supervision. The parents argue on appeal there was no evidence to support the court’s statements and there is no harm because they live in poverty. The children were found, “without proper parental care or subsistence, education, medical, or other care necessary for his or her well-being.” The evidence supports the court’s findings of a lack of parental care. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-372, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Negligence