20 results for 'judge:"McGrath"'.
J. McGrath finds that the district court properly held that four bills passed in the 2021 legislative session unconstitutionally restrict voter access.
Ending election day voter registration would interfere with the right to vote without efficiently promoting a compelling state interest. Banning paid ballot collection would also interfere with the right to vote, particularly for Native Americans. Disqualifying the use of student IDs from in-person voting would impose a minimal burden on student voting but the Secretary of State failed to show the law reasonably eases administrative burdens or improves voter confidence. Ending the practice of sending ballots to voters under 18 who will turn 18 by election day would impermissibly remove the opportunity for absentee voting for a subclass of voters. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0667, Categories: Constitution, Elections
J. McGrath finds the district court improperly upheld the justice court’s denial of a woman’s motion to dismiss for lack of speedy trial when she was charged with six misdemeanor traffic violations. This court holds the state failed to demonstrate good cause for the delay after the woman’s trial was held without her present. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: DA 21-0645, Categories: Speedy Trial, Due Process, Civil Rights
J. McGrath finds that the trial court properly held that respondent waived his rights to oppose a three-month involuntary civil commitment. He signed a stipulation while thinking logically and after a thorough discussion with counsel. But an order for the involuntary administration of medications was not supported by evidence of necessity. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0014, Categories: Commitment, Due Process
J. McGrath finds that the district court abused its discretion in denying attorney fees under the private attorney general doctrine. A bill passed in 2021 was challenged on the constitutional grounds that last-minute amendments changed its original purpose and that the bill violated the single-subject rule. Attorney fees are due because the successful effort was a vindication of important constitutional rights, private enforcement was necessary and the challenge addressed issues of statewide importance. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0639, Categories: Constitution, Elections, Attorney Fees
J. McGrath finds that the trial court properly enforced water rights apportionments based on percentages, not flow rates, due to historical usage and because a reliance on flow rates would not work in years with low flow. No attorney fee award was due because there was no prevailing party. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0742, Categories: Water, Attorney Fees
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J. McGrath finds that the trial court properly denied the employment claims filed by the former executive director of the Flathead Basin Commission. The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation could not have interfered with her employment contract since, though it shared staffing decisions with the Commission, it was her employer. Her discrimination claim failed because the lobbying she did on behalf of the Commission that created distrust with the Department was not protected political speech. And her firing was based on her inability to properly complete expense reports. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: DA 23-0231, Categories: Employment, Interference With Contract
J. McGrath finds that the Department of Revenue properly construed the methodology for calculating statewide property tax mills. County governments argued they have exclusive authority to levy statewide school-equalization mills and that the Department cannot require them to "bank" tax revenues that exceed the amounts they are authorized by statute to levy in a single year. The Department is a statutory governmental entity authorized with providing equalized funding for public education and the university system and it may carry forward any mills that exceed the statutory cap and require counties to use those mills in subsequent years to meet the cap.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: OP 23-0635, Categories: Tax
J. McGrath finds that the Attorney General erred in determining that a proposed ballot initiative is unconstitutional. The initiative, which would create open primaries, does not violate the separate vote requirement of the Montana Constitution. The initiative's identification of the offices that would fall under the new system would not confuse voters or combine unrelated amendments. A limit on signature-gathering is integral to the initiative. The initiative's elimination of the requirement that candidates secure political party endorsements or nominations to appear on the ballot would not affect the legislature's authority to regulate elections.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: OP 23-0634, Categories: Elections
J. McGrath finds that the trial court rightly rejected an environmental quality department's approval of a permit to expand the operation of a coal strip mine. The Board of Environmental Review erred in finding that the operator had taken adequate steps to maintain the hydrological health of an adjacent creek. While pollutants would not significantly raise the creek's salinity, the Board failed to properly consider that the expanded operations would increase the duration that pollutants would be present. Also, the Board should have given more consideration to the cumulative impacts of expanded operations on the area's hydrology. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0064, Categories: Environment, Water
J. Calahan finds that the trial court properly refused to order a therapist to produce records of sessions with defendant's minor victims since the records are consistent with the record and do not contain exculpatory evidence. A juror who unequivocally agreed to follow the law was not impermissibly impartial for saying a sexual abuse victim might be more credible for overcoming possible stigma. However, the trial court must conform its written judgment to the oral sentencing. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0232, Categories: Jury, Sex Offender, Discovery
J. McGrath finds that the lower court improperly imposed a felony sentence on defendant for a DUI conviction. The state failed to prove the existence of defendant's prior DUI convictions for purposes of enhancing his sentence. A pre-sentence report alone does not constitute adequate proof. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: DA 21-0589, Categories: Sentencing, Dui
J. McKinnon finds that the lower court had personal jurisdiction over a New York-based wildlife photographer accused of using Facebook to interfere with the business operation of a wildlife photography farm in Montana because, though she is not from Montana, she contacted the Montana business and tagged enough Montana residents during her campaign against the farm to generate jurisdiction. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: OP 22-0587, Categories: Interference With Contract, Equal Protection, Jurisdiction
J. McGrath finds that much of a criminal defendant’s sentence upon revocation was incorrectly calculated, granting his petition for writ of habeas corpus and directing the lower court to amend its order revoking his suspended sentence and commitment. His challenges to two of his earlier criminal cases are dismissed because he previously never appealed them. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: October 3, 2023, Case #: OP 23-0498, Categories: Sentencing
J. McGrath refuses to stay the execution of defendant’s sentence for felony criminal mischief, such as for threatening to arrest a judge and prosecutors. The lower court properly determined this man is a threat to his community. Denied.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: October 3, 2023, Case #: DA 23-0100, Categories: Sentencing
J. McGrath finds that the district court properly held that a candidate was not eligible to run for Roosevelt County Attorney because he was not a resident there. The statutory use of the word "habitation" means the place where a person intends to return even when absent. The district court was not required to make findings to determine his actual residence. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: DA 23-0115, Categories: Elections
J. McGrath finds that the district court was within its discretion to deny a company's motion to disqualify a property owner's attorney. The company failed to show that the attorney's representation of one of its managers in a private real estate matter created a concurrent conflict of interest with the attorney's representation of the property owner in an easement dispute with the company. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0608, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property
J. McGrath finds that the district court properly appointed a maternal grandmother with the temporary guardianship of two children whose mother had a diminished ability to care for them due to the limitations of her circumstances. The mother demonstrated that she prematurely ended medical and mental health care for the children and failed to keep them in school. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McGrath, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0287, Categories: Family Law