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Steranko v. Dunks
Wyoming Supreme Court · 2009-01-29 · cited 10×
This case concerns a petition for writ of review in ongoing civil litigation in Wyoming's Fifth Judicial District Court, Park County, where the petitioner challenged the district court's refusal to consider a pre-judgment motion to revise an earlier ruling on continuance and testimony limits. The district court had applied the holding of Plymale v. Donnelly to treat the motion as a nullity. The Wyoming Supreme Court granted the petition, concluding that Plymale's rule against post-judgment motions for reconsideration does not extend to pre-judgment motions because such motions are consistent with a trial court's authority to revise tentative decisions before final judgment and do not affect appeal timing in the same way. The court therefore reversed the district court's order, remanded for consideration of the motion on its merits, and denied a requested stay of proceedings.
procedure
Board of Professional Responsibility v. Scheible
Wyoming Supreme Court · 2008-10-08 · cited 1×
This case concerned attorney Mary Scheible's petition for reinstatement to the Wyoming State Bar following prior discipline. The Wyoming Supreme Court reviewed and adopted the Board of Professional Responsibility's report and recommendation after a hearing that included witness testimony and documentary evidence on Scheible's fitness and compliance efforts. The court granted reinstatement but imposed several conditions, including evaluation and compliance with the Wyoming Professional Assistance Program, two years of mentoring and quarterly reporting to Bar Counsel, completion of continuing legal education hours, and reimbursement of specific amounts to the Client Security Fund and for hearing costs. The conditions were not prerequisites to reinstatement, though material breaches could trigger further proceedings with Bar Counsel bearing the burden of proof. The Board's conclusions, accepted by the court, were that Scheible demonstrated the requisite character, fitness, and competency to practice without detriment to the administration of justice.
procedure
Hannifan v. American National Bank of Cheyenne
Wyoming Supreme Court · 2008-06-11 · cited 23×
This case involved a mining accident at the Black Thunder Mine where worker Les Butts was severely injured and rendered paraplegic by a falling boulder while operating equipment; his children also sought damages for loss of consortium. Co-employees Michael Hannifan, the safety manager, and Kevin Hampleman, the mine manager, were sued for acting intentionally through willful and wanton misconduct by failing to address known safety hazards, with the employer Thunder Basin Coal Company treated as a nonparty for fault allocation. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the district court's judgments awarding Butts over $7.7 million and each child $860,000 after a jury found the co-employees 43% at fault under the intentional act standard and the employer 57% under ordinary negligence. The court held that sufficient evidence supported the jury's findings under the Bertagnolli standard for co-employee liability, that the jury instructions adequately covered the elements of willful and wanton misconduct, and that counsel's closing argument did not warrant a mistrial.
torts & liabilitylabor & employment
Drake v. State
Wyoming Supreme Court · 2008-04-22 · cited 3×
In Drake v. State, the defendant was convicted via plea of larceny by bailee after selling vehicles financed by a bank through a failed car dealership partnership without repaying the loans, keeping the proceeds instead. After Drake received a Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge that listed his partner as a creditor, the trial court still ordered him to pay over $88,000 in restitution as part of his criminal sentence. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the bankruptcy discharge did not preclude the restitution because criminal proceedings and restitution orders serve different goals from civil debt collection and are not extinguished by bankruptcy, with no plain error shown in the district court's exercise of its statutory authority.
criminal lawprocedure
Everitts v. Ininns
Wyoming Supreme Court · 2008-04-09 · cited 3×
This case involved a dispute between divorced parents over the enforcement of a child visitation schedule outlined in their settlement agreement, which was incorporated into the divorce decree. The husband petitioned to hold the wife in contempt for allegedly failing to follow the visitation provisions, particularly due to changes in his work schedule, and argued that the court had impermissibly modified the decree without a formal petition. The district court denied the contempt petition, dismissed it, and ordered the parties to continue adhering to the original schedule while encouraging mediation. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the district court's order, primarily because the husband failed to provide a transcript of the hearing, preventing review of the evidence and reasoning below.
family lawprocedure
Sam v. State
Wyoming Supreme Court · 2008-03-06 · cited 9×
In Sam v. State, the defendant entered a conditional guilty plea to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver after police found drugs in his vehicle during a search conducted following his arrest for violating a protection order and driving with a suspended license. The district court denied his motion to suppress the evidence, ruling that the vehicle search was valid as incident to the arrest. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, holding that under the facts presented—including the officer's knowledge of the protection order violations and the circumstances of the arrest—the search of the passenger compartment was permissible without violating the Wyoming Constitution. The court rejected the argument that additional justification beyond the arrest itself was required for the search in this context.
criminal lawprocedure