Justia North Dakota Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Laron Young appealed summary judgment entered in favor of Burleigh Morton Detention Center (“BMDC”). Young was an inmate at BMDC. Reliance Telephone of Grand Forks, Inc. (“Reliance”) contracted with BMDC to operate its inmate telephone system. Every call that was not listed as “private” within the Reliance system was automatically recorded. It was undisputed that the telephone number for Young’s attorney was not on the list of private numbers and various calls between himself and his attorney were recorded. Young sued BMDC and Reliance arguing his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated and that BMDC had not complied with N.D.C.C. 12- 44.1-14(1), which required correctional facilities to ensure inmates have confidential access to their attorneys. The district court dismissed the claims against Reliance for lack of jurisdiction, and granted summary judgment in favor of BMDC, concluding Young had not alleged facts to support a finding that he was prejudiced by the recordings and therefore his right to counsel was not violated. The court also concluded Young had not alleged facts to support a finding that BMDC violated N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-14(1). The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed, that to the extent relief might be available for Young’s claim, he did not allege facts to support a finding that BMDC knowingly intruded into the communications he had with his attorney or that prejudice or a substantial threat of prejudice existed. Therefore, the district court did not err when it granted BMDC summary judgment on Young’s Sixth Amendment claim. With respect to Young's statutory claim, the Court found the plain language of the statute did not require correctional facilities to affirmatively identify an inmate's attorney's telephone number as Young argued. Rather, by its own language, N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-14 was “subject to reasonable . . . correctional facility administration requirements.” The Court thus concluded BMDC’s policy allowing inmates or their attorneys to register attorney telephone numbers as confidential numbers not to be monitored did not constitute a violation of N.D.C.C. 12- 44.1-14(1). View "Young v. Burleigh Morton Detention Center, et al." on Justia Law

James Seidel, Troy Seidel, and Gravel Supply LLC (Defendants) appealed a judgment awarding the Estate of Leroy Seidel $68,958.75 relating to the Defendants’ sale of gravel from certain real property. Defendants argued Leroy Seidel did not own any gravel interests in the property because he had conveyed his interests to James Seidel in a 2008 warranty deed. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court reversed and remanded, concluding Leroy Seidel indeed did not own any gravel or other surface mineral interests in the subject property. View "Estate of Seidel v. Seidel, et al." on Justia Law

R & F Financial Services, LLC, appealed a district court order dismissing its claims against Cudd Pressure Control, Inc., and RPC, Inc., and granting Cudd’s and RPC’s counterclaims and cross claims. North American Building Solutions, LLC (“NABS”) and Cudd Pressure Control, Inc. (“Cudd”) entered into an agreement where Cudd would lease from NABS 60 temporary housing modules for employee housing. The terms of the Lease required Cudd, at its sole expense, to obtain any conditional use permits, variances or zoning approvals “required by any local, city, township, county or state authorities, which are necessary for the installation and construction of the modules upon the Real Property.” The Lease was set to commence following substantial completion of the installation of all the modules and was to expire 60 months following the commencement date. NABS assigned its interest in 28 modules under lease to R & F; NABS sold the modules to R & F by bill of sale. Cudd accepted the final 32 modules from NABS, to which R & F was not a party. RPC, as the parent company of Cudd, guaranteed Cudd’s performance of payment obligations to R & F under the Lease. The Lease was for a set term and did not contain an option for Cudd to purchase the modules at the expiration of that set term. At the time R & F purchased NABS’s interest in the Lease, it understood the purpose of the Lease was to fulfill Cudd’s need for employee housing. The County required a conditional use permit for workforce housing, and Cudd had been issued a permit allowing for the use of the modules as workforce housing. The City of Williston annexed the Property within its corporate limits. Thereafter, the City adopted a resolution that declared all workforce housing was temporary and extension of permits was subject to review. The City modified the expiration date policy and extended all approvals for workforce housing facilities to December 31, 2015, such that all permits would expire the same day. In December 2015, Cudd successfully extended its permit for the maximum time permitted to July 1, 2016. Cudd sent a letter to NABS stating that it viewed the Lease as being terminated by operation of law as of July 1, 2016. R & F argued the trial court erred in finding the Lease was not a finance lease and, in the alternative, that the court erred in finding the doctrines of impossibility of performance and frustration of purpose to be inapplicable. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "R & F Financial Services v. North American Building Solutions, et al." on Justia Law

Garett Casatelli appealed a corrected criminal judgment after he entered a conditional guilty plea to actual physical control of a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or greater. After review of the trial court record, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded Casatelli was not seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment or N.D. Const. art. I, sec. 8, and the district court did not err in denying his motion to suppress evidence. View "North Dakota v. Casatelli" on Justia Law

Brendel Construction appealed a district court judgment affirming an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) decision to hold Brendel Construction liable for unpaid workers compensation premiums and penalties attributed to a subcontractor’s account, and determining Randy Brendel was personally liable for unpaid workers compensation premiums. North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) cross-appealed the district court’s order dismissing WSI’s cross-appeal from the decision of the ALJ as untimely filed. WSI identified Brendel Construction as the general contractor for a roofing project in Bismarck where crew members were reported to be working without fall protection. WSI’s investigation of the report regarding the lack of fall protection expanded into an investigation of workers compensation coverage. WSI ultimately concluded that two of Brendel Construction’s subcontractors, Alfredo Frias and Daniel Alvidrez, were uninsured and not providing North Dakota workers compensation coverage for their employees. WSI requested, but did not receive, information from Brendel Construction regarding the subcontractors’ income. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the imposition of liability against Brendel Construction for unpaid workers compensation premiums and penalties, and affirmed the imposition of liability against Randy Brendel. The Court reversed and remanded the dismissal of WSI’s cross-appeal as untimely filed. View "Brendel Construction v. WSI" on Justia Law

Trevor Bolme appealed after entering a conditional guilty plea to possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Bolme argued the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress because law enforcement lacked reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop based on a cracked windshield, and lacked probable cause to search his vehicle based on the odor of marijuana. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded law enforcement had reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop and probable cause to conduct the search. Therefore, the Court affirmed the criminal judgment of the district court. View "North Dakota v. Bolme" on Justia Law

Rolando Rodriguez was convicted by jury of gross sexual imposition, burglary, terrorizing, and domestic violence assault. On appeal, Rodriguez argued: (1) he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his right to counsel; (2) insufficient evidence existed to support his guilty verdicts; and (3) the district court erred when it failed to use a special verdict for the jury to determine whether Rodriguez used a dangerous weapon in commission of the terrorizing offense. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded Rodriguez knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to counsel and he failed to preserve his arguments on sufficiency of the evidence and the necessity of a special verdict form. The Court, therefore, affirmed the judgment. View "North Dakota v. Rodriguez" on Justia Law

Simon Hofer appealed after he conditionally pled guilty to driving under the influence. He argued the district court was required to suppress the results of the urine test because the implied consent advisory was not substantively complete and the search warrant did not cure the defect in the advisory. The North Dakota Supreme Court reversed and remanded, concluding the implied consent advisory given in this case did not convey all substantive information required by statute, and as a result the test result was not admissible in a criminal proceeding. View "City of Fargo v. Hofer" on Justia Law

Stephanie Foote appealed an order denying her motion to suppress evidence and from the criminal judgment entered after she conditionally pled guilty to a charge of actual physical control (APC) of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. On appeal, Foote argued the district court erred in determining that she was not unconstitutionally seized and, thus, her motion to suppress should have been granted. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the judgment. View "North Dakota v. Foote" on Justia Law

John Hirschkorn was convicted by jury of aggravated assault and driving under the influence of alcohol. The charges arose from an altercation in a McLean County, North Dakota bar that was captured on video. Hirschkorn was involved in a bar fight with another individual, resulting in Hirschkorn striking that individual in the face with a beer bottle and causing a serious cut to the individual’s face. Hirschkorn also sustained several injuries, including a blow to his head. After the fight concluded, Hirschkorn left the bar and drove away from the scene. Law enforcement officers arrived at the bar, and the individual was taken to the hospital. Officers subsequently located Hirschkorn driving his vehicle. He was stopped and ultimately arrested for driving under the influence. Because Hirschkorn was taken to the hospital to be medically cleared before testing, it was more than two hours after he had last driven that an Intoxilyzer test established his blood alcohol concentration to be 0.139 percent, over the legal limit. Before jury selection, Hirschkorn made a motion in limine requesting the court to exclude a video from the bar showing at least a portion of the fight. The court subsequently received the video into evidence at trial over his objection. The court also allowed limited testimony at trial from a neuropsychologist called as an expert witness by Hirschkorn to discuss symptoms of traumatic brain injury, to show Hirschkorn had sustained a brain injury caused by the other individual in the altercation, and to support the reasonableness of his claim of self-defense. Hirschkorn argued on appeal the district court should have excluded the exhibit including bar videos and the court should not have limited the neuropsychologist’s expert testimony. Finding no abuse of discretion or other reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the district court. View "North Dakota v. Hirschkorn" on Justia Law