19 results for 'judge:"Donovan"'.
J. Donovan answers a certified legal question concerning common law and contracts. The court concludes “that the common law contract defenses of impossibility, impracticability, and frustration of commercial purpose are so fundamentally related to contract formation and purpose that they remain viable unless expressly waived. Accordingly, a force majeure clause that protects only one party to a contract should not be deemed, in and of itself, a relinquishment of the other party’s right to interpose those common law defenses.” Remanded.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 2023-0018, Categories: Commerce, Contract
J. Donovan reverses summary judgment in a condominium association’s favor against a company. “The Condominium Act required the declarant to file ‘appropriate instruments’ within [a] five- to ten-year statutory deadline but did not require the declarant to physically construct Building C.” Reversed.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2023-0170, Categories: Real Estate, Contract
J. Donovan reverses the defendant’s convictions for a pattern of aggravated felonious sexual assault and aggravated felonious sexual assault alleging a single act of penetration. It was an error to admit evidence of the defendant’s behavioral changes and characteristics. Reversed.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 2022-0643, Categories: Sex Offender, Assault
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J. Donovan affirms the defendant’s conviction of selling a controlled substance resulting in death. The Strafford County Attorney’s office properly used its discretion to avoid a conflict of interest, and the defendant fails to support his belief that the evidence against him is insufficient to prove his guilt. Affirmed.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 2022-0306, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence
[Consolidated.] J. Donovan reverses an order granting an environmental advocacy organization’s appeal of the New Hampshire environmental services department’s issuance of a permit to a waste management firm, which would allow the company to expand its landfill. While the advocacy organization had standing to appeal the permit, the officer hearing the appeal misinterpreted the relevant statute.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 2022-0690, Categories: Environment, Municipal Law
J. Donovan affirms the defendant’s convictions for aggravated felonious sexual assault, attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault and misdemeanor sexual assault. “The state did not open the door to cross-examination regarding the specific contents of the medical records by introducing testimony acknowledging the existence of such records.”
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 2022-0557, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Assault
J. Donovan affirms the dismissal of the complaint raised by a group of registered New Hampshire voters suing their secretary of state for partisan gerrymandering. The voters fail to identify a mandatory constitutional provision that has been violated, which is necessary for the judicial system to intervene to prevent gerrymandering without overstepping and exerting authority where the legislative system is meant to have authority.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 2022-0629, Categories: Constitution, Elections, Government
J. Donovan affirms the defendant’s convictions for being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon and for attempted murder. The trial court did not err by admitting evidence of the defendant’s prior convictions or by not disclosing some of the victim’s mental health records, but the defendant’s prior convictions do not fall within the 10-year limitation his defense claims and none of the undisclosed mental health records could plausibly have changed the outcome of the trial.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: November 14, 2023, Case #: 2022-0106, Categories: Evidence, Murder, Weapons
J. Donovan partially affirms a ruling in favor of the owner of abutting property in a case where a couple filed a petition to quiet title. The field monuments do not determine the couple’s property’s boundaries and they did not establish boundaries by acquiescence. However, the decision regarding adverse possession of the couple’s driveway and parking area is partially reversed because they were used exclusively by the couple and another party for over 20 years.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 2022-0234, Categories: Property, Real Estate
J. Donovan reverses summary judgment against a former student who sued the high school she attended as a minor, where she was sexually assaulted by a teacher. While her complaint fell outside the statute of limitations, she had only learned recently that the school had hired the teacher who assaulted her while fully aware that the teacher had been convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor female student in Maine. Reversed and remanded.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 2022-0259, Categories: Education, Due Process, Assault
J. Donovan finds that the lower court properly denied the father's request to hold the mother in contempt for violating a parenting plan because she took their children out of school a few days early for a vacation. The decision to take the children out of school early was made with proper arrangements with the children's school and was not a willful violation of the parenting plan. Affirmed.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: July 25, 2023, Case #: 2022-0517, Categories: Contempt, Family Law
J. Donovan finds the Department of Health and Human Services correctly decided that the petitioner is ineligible for developmental disability services because it is entitled to use its discretion. It did so with feedback from a clinical neuropsychologist who is also a licensed psychologist, as well as from a consultant with experience with agencies serving high-risk individuals with developmental disabilities. The department’s delay in setting up a hearing and making a final decision was not a violation of scheduling requirements because it was due to the global pandemic and out of its control.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 2022-0181, Categories: Health Care, Due Process, Covid-19
J. Donovan finds that the superior court correctly determined that defendant’s planning board was right to approve a site plan allowing a developer to work on and consolidate two pieces of land. Plaintiffs failed to present a strong argument that the development would make a regional impact or that its approval would break any laws. Affirmed.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 2021-0410, Categories: Administrative Law, Construction, Zoning