92 results for 'court:"Wyoming Supreme Court"'.
J. Boomgaarden finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of felony stalking. Defendant claims there was not enough evidence on the record to support conviction, but entered into the record were numerous texts, repetitive communications and phone calls that contained a "malicious nature." Any rational jury could find these amounted to a specific intent to harass the victim. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: S-23-0236, Categories: Harassment
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly ruled in favor of a town in a quiet title dispute where a man claims the city took possession of a property lot he lived next to and in which he stored various items. He was not able to show that his use of the lot was "sufficiently hostile" enough to establish a claim for adverse possession, due in large part to the fact that he was given permission to use the lot in the first place.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 22-1438, Categories: Property
J. Kautz finds that the lower court properly allowed a development company to use a lot of a subdivision for workforce apartments. The decision had no effect on any private contractors with the other residents of the subdivision, and the lower court made "reasonable choices" in deciding to approve the workplace apartments. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Kautz, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: S-23-0157, Categories: Property
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of sexual assault. Defendant claims that the lower court improperly allowed evidence into the record that came from audio recordings of phone calls defendant made while in custody. Defendant claims they should not have been admitted because the recordings were mostly in Portuguese, but defendant did not object to the use of the recordings during trial and there is no structural reason why their use would call for a reversal of his convictions. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: S-23-0160, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Fenn finds that the lower court improperly denied a father's motion to intervene in underlying proceedings regarding his son's criminal charges and a potential forfeiture of the bond for which the father had paid. The father claimed in his motion that he was entitled to intervene because he paid the entire amount of the bond. While the merits on his motion to intervene are unclear at this time, the lower court denied it without giving the father proper notice or an opportunity to be heard on his motion to make his case. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fenn, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: S-23-0136, Categories: Civil Procedure, Forfeiture
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J. Boomgaarden finds that the lower court properly terminated a mother's parental rights over her children. The mother was not able to create a safe environment for her children and the state made several efforts to help the mother with her mental state, despite her occasional active resistance to her case plan. Taken together, these facts show it was in the best interests of the children to terminate her parental rights. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: S-23-0168, Categories: Family Law
J. Gray finds that the lower court improperly tossed a lawsuit stemming from a car accident. The lower court tossed it on the grounds that it was barred by the statute of limitations, but because one of the people involved in the car crash did not attempt to locate the other party while they were out of state, the statute of limitations had not yet begun to toll. The case was not untimely as a result and can proceed. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Gray, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: S-23-0219, Categories: Civil Procedure, Tort
J. Boomgaarden finds that the lower court properly terminated a grandfather's parental rights over his grandchildren. The grandfather is currently serving prison time for sexually abusing his grandchildren, and the lower court properly found it was in the childrens' best interest if the grandfather's parental rights were terminated. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: S-23-0167, Categories: Family Law
J. Boomgaarden answers two certified questions from a district court regarding the duty of care from law enforcement officers during an investigation. As prior precedent has established, officers must owe a common law duty to a suspect in an investigation to do their job as "reasonable peace officers of ordinary prudence." Officers that follow that duty are also allowed to assert qualified immunity.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: S-23-0100, Categories: Immunity, Police Misconduct
J. Kautz finds that the lower court properly denied an administrative assistant's request for workers compensation benefits after she suffered an injury to her right knee during work. She was not able to meet her burden of proof to show that the injury to her knee caused a second injury to her foot that worsened her preexisting foot condition. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Kautz, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: S-23-0174, Categories: Workers' Compensation
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly determined that there was enough evidence to find that a mother had neglected her infant son. Evidence on the record from the infant's hospital records showed the baby was being underfed and dangerously underweight, and once he was placed in foster care, he gained a significant amount of weight and was doing well developmentally. These facts, taken as whole, supported the lower court's findings that the infant was being neglected while in the care of his mother. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: S-23-0231, Categories: Family Law
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly ordered that the plan for five children needed to be changed from family reunification to adoption. The mother and father raise several issues on appeal, such as that the lower court violated their due process rights when they made the decision to change the children's plan, but evidence on the record overwhelmingly suggests that changing the plan to an adoption or guardianship was in the best interests of the kids. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: S-23-0173, Categories: Family Law
J. Kautz finds that the lower court improperly dismissed claims against the Laramie City Council from a resident who says the council violated the Wyoming Public Meetings Act by holding meetings remotely during Covid-19. The lower court tossed the suit on the grounds that the resident inexcusably delayed his claims that stemmed from activity back in May 2020, but the lower court did not follow the proper procedure for taking judicial notice and its findings were too conclusory. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Kautz, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: S-23-0149, Categories: Government, Covid-19
J. Gray finds that the lower court properly found in favor of an insurance company regarding claims from a former sales agent who says he was fired without good cause and because of his age. The former employee's claims were backed by "unsubstantiated theories" and too few facts, and the lower court was correct in tossing them. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Gray, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: S-23-0133, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Fenn finds that the lower court improperly ruled in favor of a trustee in a dispute where an individual tried to remove the trustee entirely from a trust. The lower court found that by filing such an action, the individual triggered a non-contest clause that disinherited him from the trust and prohibited legislation. But the lower court was reading into terms that "are not there," and in the language of the agreement, the removal provisions were not mandatory and there was nothing that triggered the no-contest clause. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fenn, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: S-23-0126, Categories: Trusts
J. Fenn finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of sexual assault. He claims that the lower court improperly allowed evidence that related to how defendant began a sexual relationship with the victim when the victim was still a minor, but such evidence is admissible under the law and the lower court carried out all the proper hearings to allow it. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fenn, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: S-23-0116, Categories: Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly denied a state representative and a local organization's request to intervene in lawsuits challenging Wyoming's abortion restriction laws. The groups trying to intervene have not shown that they have any protectable interest in the underlying lawsuits, and allowing them into the dispute would only result in "undue delay and prejudice." Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: S-23-0196, Categories: Civil Procedure, Civil Rights
J. Kautz finds that the lower court properly denied workers' compensation benefits to a caretaker at a country club who broke his ankle while working. While he was provided benefits at first, further benefits were later denied because they discovered he was intoxicated at the time of the injury. The caretaker challenges the denial of benefits on the grounds he was intoxicated, but the lower court properly found that his intoxication was a significant factor in his injury. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Kautz, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: S-23-0147, Categories: Workers' Compensation
J. Fenn finds that the lower court properly ruled in favor of the University of Wyoming regarding its drilling rights on a series of water wells. The City of Laramie claimed that a deed from 1965 barred the university from drilling in at least one of the wells. The lower court correctly found that state legislation affords the university sovereign immunity in the dispute that leaves the 1965 deed enforceable and gives the university drilling rights over the disputed wells. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fenn, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: S-23-0062, Categories: Water
J. Kautz finds that the lower court improperly dismissed a contract dispute between a financial advisory company and a former employee after finding that the forum selection clause in the contract called for disputes to be be litigated in Minnesota. The company was entitled to a waiver of the forum selection clause and the employee had no connection to Minnesota that would support that venue. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Kautz, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: S-23-0125, Categories: Venue, Contract
J. Boomgaarden finds that the lower court properly tossed a petition with the Albany County School District asking the district to form a rural school for children who live in a remote area of Wyoming. The parents of the children living in the rural area claim that their request is supported by the Wyoming Constitution and their fundamental right to an education, but there is nothing in the language of the law that requires a district to consider or approve the construction of a brand new school. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: S-23-0148, Categories: Constitution, Education
J. Froelicher finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of voyeurism. There was enough evidence to find that he had violated the relevant voyeurism statute, he was not prejudiced by any alleged improper instructions to the jury, and the lower court was within their rights to deny his request to suppress evidence of his voyeurism on a series of computer memory cards. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Froelicher, Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: S-23-0020, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Jury Instructions
J. Gray finds that the lower court improperly determined that a warranty deed for the transferring of property was invalid because of a defectively acknowledged signature. The deed was valid under all the other relevant factors, and a lack of the correct acknowledgment is "no bar" to the enforcement of the deed. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Gray, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: S-23-0152, Categories: Property, Trusts
J. Gray finds that the lower court improperly denied defendant's request to cancel his requirement to register as a sex offender. That requirement can be struck after an offender has been registered for at least 10 years, but the lower court denied defendant's request by finding that his time during probation, which was five years, could not count towards that 10-year period. The clear language of the law shows there is no need to complete probation before the 10-year clock begins. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Gray, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: S-23-0185, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly held a mother in contempt for not following the terms of an order that modified her divorce decree. The mother did not split the payments for medical expenses, follow certain medical directives for her children, or ask for the father's consent before placing the kids in counseling, all of which were clear requirements in the divorce decree.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: S-23-0115, Categories: Family Law
J. Fox finds that the lower court improperly ordered that a ranch had restricted access to a private road easement in Platte County. The plain terms of the agreement governing the easement do not restrict the ranch in its usage of the easement regarding hunting access, and the lower court relied too heavily on historical uses to implement restrictions. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: S-23-0132, Categories: Property
J. Gray finds that the lower court properly granted the wife of decedent the right of spousal election against her husband's will. The will in question did not make the proper provisions for the wife, leaving her deprived of her elective share of the estate and entitled to spousal election as a result. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Gray, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: S-23-0114, Categories: Family Law, Wills / Probate
J. Boomgaarden finds that the lower court improperly granted a request for a writ of review to challenge the suppression of drug evidence regarding defendant's misdemeanor possession charge. The state was eventually successful in getting the suppression order reversed, but did so using incorrect assertions that the review was of "great public import." There is nothing rare or unusual about this case that would have justified the writ, as the initial suppression of evidence was well grounded in the Fourth Amendment. Reversed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: S-23-0063, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence
J. Gray finds that the lower court properly ruled in part in a custody dispute between two parents going through divorce proceedings. The lower court ultimately gave primary physical custody to the father and upped the mother's visitation rights, and in doing so properly held that the mother was not entitled to a psychological evaluation of the children as part of the proceedings. However, the lower court improperly excluded evidence regarding the mother's mental health and failed to designate a final decision maker. Affirmed in part.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Gray, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: S-23-0106, Categories: Family Law
J. Kautz properly divided marital property and awarded a mother custody of her two children in a divorce and custody dispute. The lower court properly considered all of the proper factors in determining that it was in the children's best interest to be in the care of their mother. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Kautz, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: S-23-0117, Categories: Family Law