Miller-Lerman , J. NATURE OF CASE Terry P. Brown (Brown) and Linda S. Brown, husband and wife (collectively the Browns), filed an adverse possession action in the district court for Banner County against the adjacent record property owner, Jacobsen Land and Cattle Company (Jacobsen), to quiet title in disputed agricultural land to the north of the Browns' property. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (the State) intervened due to a purported purchase agreement with Jacobsen by which...
O'Gorman , District Judge . I. NATURE OF CASE This is an appeal by the Dundy County Board of Equalization (Board) from the decision of the Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC). The central issue in this appeal is the tax exempt status of land purchased by the Upper Republican Natural Resources District (NRD) as part of a ground water integrated management plan. The NRD retired irrigated acres and converted them to grassland to achieve soil conservation and range management...
Stacy , J. Peter Zelenka filed this action against Jason D. Pratte, alleging Pratte was in possession of personal property belonging to Zelenka. The primary dispute involved a French bulldog, which Zelenka claimed he received as a gift from Pratte. After a bench trial, the district court found Zelenka proved the dog was a gift and ordered the dog be returned to Zelenka. With respect to the other items of personal property, the court found Zelenka had failed to meet his burden of proof....
Per Curiam . I. NATURE OF CASE The county court convicted Matthew F. Thalken of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and Thalken appealed to the district court. In vacating Thalken's conviction and sentence, the district court focused on a police officer's mistake of law regarding a driving statute 1 and relied on one of our decisions. 2 We granted the State's application for leave to docket an exception proceeding. 3 Notwithstanding the officer's incorrect...
Heavican , C.J. INTRODUCTION Kane L. and Carter L. were removed from the family home as a result of methamphetamine use by their mother, Angela L., and their father, Scott L. The county court for Buffalo County, sitting as a juvenile court, adjudicated Kane but not Carter. In separate appeals, Angela challenged Kane's adjudication and certain rulings of the juvenile court with respect to the petition seeking to adjudicate Carter. The State, acting through the Buffalo County Attorney's...
Miller-Lerman , J. NATURE OF CASE Keyanna R. appeals from a disposition by the separate juvenile court of Lancaster County which ordered her placed in a residential group home. The appeal presents the question of whether the out-of-home placement order complied with Neb. Rev. Stat. 43-251.01(7) (Reissue 2016), which requires that a juvenile not be placed out of his or her home as a dispositional order unless "(a) [a]ll available community-based resources" have been exhausted and "(b) [...
Cassel , J. I. INTRODUCTION A life tenant leased real estate to a remainderman for 1 year ending on October 31, 2015. The life tenant died in August. The principal issue is whether the lease clause requiring the lessor to pay unspecified real estate taxes made her liable for 2015 taxes that became due and payable on December 31. The county court allowed the remaindermen's claims for these taxes. Although two interpretations are possible, the one requiring the estate to pay taxes becoming...
Stacy , J. This case involves a dispute over the calculation of the 2-year statute of limitations under the State Tort Claims Act (STCA). 1 The district court for Douglas County dismissed the action as time barred, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed. 2 On further review, we agree the claim is time barred and affirm the dismissal. BACKGROUND According to the allegations of the complaint, on January 15, 2013, Stacey L. Komar learned that an employee of the State of Nebraska had...
Stacy , J. This is a tort action brought to recover damages resulting from the tragic death of an infant who was abused by his nanny. The parents and special administrator for the infant's estate sued the nanny for battery, and also sued two childcare centers where the nanny had worked previously, alleging the childcare centers were negligent because they knew or should have known the nanny had been abusive to other children while in their employ but failed to report it to authorities. At...
Heavican , C.J. I. INTRODUCTION In this dissolution action, Valerie K. Connolly filed a petition for legal separation. Valerie and her husband, Monte D. Connolly, then filed a stipulation and agreement, which was approved by the district court in its decree of legal separation. Monte subsequently filed a motion to amend the complaint from legal separation to dissolution of marriage. Following a hearing, the district court issued a divorce decree, which differed from the decree of legal...
SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION Per Curiam . Cases Nos. S-16-1032 and S-16-1035 are before this court on the appellee's consolidated motion for rehearing concerning our opinion in State v. Bridgeford. 1 We overrule the motion, but we modify the original opinion as follows: (1) We withdraw syllabus point 7 2 and the second to the last sentence in the seventh paragraph under the subheading "STATUTORY RIGHT" 3 and substitute the following wording in both instances: The excludable period...
Per Curiam . I. NATURE OF CASE A homeowner brought a breach of contract action against the company that laid his asphalt driveway, after the driveway prematurely began to deteriorate. The county court entered judgment in favor of the homeowner, but on appeal, the district court significantly reduced the award. The parties dispute whether review of the county court's verdict is limited to plain error, because the asphalt company failed to timely file its statement of errors to the district...
Heavican , C.J. NATURE OF CASE A father appeals from an order of civil contempt for failure to pay child support. He was found indigent for purposes of appointment of counsel in the contempt proceedings. He asserts that he did not willfully disobey the support order. Further, he argues that the purge plan set forth in the contempt order is impossible to perform, making it a punitive rather than coercive sanction. We affirm. BACKGROUND PATERNITY AND CHILD SUPPORT ORDER In a paternity...
Funke , J. This is an action by appellant John D. Walters (John) to enforce a right of first refusal set forth in a 1998 warranty deed, by which he and his then-spouse (the Walterses) conveyed real property to appellees Douglas M. Lau and Debra L. Lau. The Laus later sold the property to appellees Jay A. Sporer and Melanie Griffith Sporer by a warranty deed, in 2013, without giving John notice of the Sporers' offer. The court granted summary judgment for the Laus and the Sporers...
Kelch , J. INTRODUCTION This case involves the administration of the Republican River Compact. Appropriators Rodney Cappel; Steven Cappel; Cappel Family Farm LLC; C & D Cappel Farms, L.L.C.; and Midway Irrigation, Inc. (collectively the Cappels) appeal the order of the district court for Hitchcock County that dismissed their complaint without leave to amend, upon the motion of the State of Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and Jeff Fassett, its director (collectively the DNR). The...
Kelch , J. INTRODUCTION Kenny S. appeals the adjudication and disposition order of the separate juvenile court of Douglas County. He challenges (1) the sufficiency of the evidence that his children were at risk of harm, (2) the juvenile court's judicial notice of disputed facts and judicial notice of facts within the court's own "knowledge," (3) the constitutionality of Neb. Rev. Stat. 43-247(5) (Reissue 2016) as currently construed, and (4) the dispositional order entered without...
Miller-Lerman , J. NATURE OF CASE Dominique Hairston appeals his convictions in the district court for Douglas County for unlawful discharge of a firearm and use of a weapon to commit a felony. Hairston claims the district court erred when it denied him a new trial based on his allegations of juror misconduct and prosecutorial misconduct. We reject Hairston's claims and affirm his convictions. STATEMENT OF FACTS On July 30, 2015, police officers responded to reports of a shooting in the...
Wright , J. NATURE OF CASE Harold W. Baker was found guilty by a jury of his peers of murdering Jermaine J. Richey and Derek L. Johnson and attempting to murder Demetrion A. Washington and Lamar A. Nedd. He was sentenced by the court to life imprisonment on each of the two first degree murder convictions, 30 to 40 years' imprisonment on each of the two attempted first degree murder convictions, and 25 to 30 years' imprisonment on each of the four use of a firearm to commit a felony...
Wright , J. NATURE OF CASE The defendants in these consolidated appeals assert that the district court erred in denying their motions for absolute discharge. The district court determined that under the plain language of Neb. Rev. Stat. 29-1207(4)(b) (Reissue 2016), the defendants had permanently waived their statutory speedy trial right by requesting continuances that resulted in moving their trial dates from a date within the statutory 6-month period to a date outside the statutory 6-...
Kelch , J. I. NATURE OF CASE William Burdess filed a petition for review of an order made by the Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC), which affirmed the valuation of the Washington County Board of Equalization (Board) wasteland acres and homesite acres owned by Burdess for tax years 2013 through 2016. On review, Burdess argues that Nebraska law requires that wasteland acres be valued at $0 per acre and that the valuation of his homesite acres is unreasonable because...
