DAVIS, Justice. [ 1] The Department of Family Services sought to terminate V.L.K.'s parental rights to her son, E.R.C.K., after its efforts to reunify the family in neglect proceedings were unsuccessful. V.L.K. failed to answer the Department's petition, and default was entered. She was subsequently appointed counsel. The district court declined to set aside the default when asked to do so. During the course of the default termination hearing, V.L.K. decided to relinquish her parental rights...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] A jury convicted the appellant of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and battery, possession of cocaine, and misdemeanor interference. He was sentenced to thirty to forty years for the attempted murder conviction, with lesser sentences to run concurrently. The appellant filed a motion for sentence reduction, which the district court denied. Not convinced the district court had all accurate facts available in making its decision, the appellant filed a...
HILL, Justice. [ 1] This appeal concerns the 2006 valuation of natural gas from numerous gas wells in Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Uinta counties for which Merit Energy was a take-in-kind owner. The State of Wyoming Board of Equalization (SBOE) determined that Merit Energy failed to timely appeal several final Wyoming Department of Revenue (DOR) decisions regarding the amount of taxable gas it had received, resulting in a lack of jurisdiction by the SBOE. The SBOE dismissed Merit's tax case with...
HILL, Justice. [ 1] In 2011, Richard Reynolds filed a complaint against Christopher Bonar claiming personal injuries arising from a motor vehicle accident. That complaint was dismissed without prejudice for failure to comply with discovery orders. In 2012, Reynolds re-filed his complaint against Bonar. Reynolds' second complaint was dismissed for failure to comply with discovery, this time with prejudice. We affirm. ISSUE [ 2] Reynolds states the issue for our review as follows: Did the...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] The appellant sought worker's compensation benefits for a low back injury sustained during the course of his employment. The Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division (Division) at first denied the claim, but subsequently issued a redetermination finding the injury to be compensable and awarding benefits. The redetermination advised the parties they had fifteen days from the time of mailing to object and request a hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] Harold F. "Butch" Vandre, Jr. was severely injured while working for McMurry Ready Mix on a road paving project in Sublette County. He and his wife (collectively "appellants") filed suit against, inter alia, two co-employee supervisors claiming their willful and wanton misconduct was the cause of the resulting injuries. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the co-employee supervisors, determining they did not intentionally act to cause physical harm,...
KITE, Chief Justice. [ 1] The district court granted Angela S. Bagley (Wife) a divorce, divided the parties' property, determined child custody, and ordered Cameron Kdell Bagley (Husband) to pay child support. Both parties appealed. Wife claims the district court erred by refusing to award her child support for their adult disabled daughter because Wife was already receiving Social Security benefits for her. She also argues the district court erred in determining Husband's net income for the...
BURKE, Justice. [ 1] Mr. Hankins appeals his convictions on charges of burglary and attempted sexual assault. He claims that the district court infringed on his constitutional right to be represented by counsel of his choice. We will affirm. ISSUE [ 2] The issue in this appeal is whether Mr. Hankins was denied a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice. FACTS [ 3] In February, 2011, Mr. Hankins was charged with burglary and attempted sexual assault. He engaged an attorney...
KITE, Chief Justice. [ 1] Keith Vogt was stopped for failing to use his turn signal and subsequently arrested for driving while under the influence of a controlled substance (DUI) in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. 31-5-233(b) (LexisNexis 2009). He refused to submit to chemical testing. The Wyoming Department of Transportation (the State) notified him that his driver's license would be suspended for six months. Mr. Vogt requested a hearing. After the hearing, the Office of Administrative...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] On November 6, 2012, this Court issued a Notice of Agreement to Answer Certified Questions in these two unrelated cases. The questions we agreed to answer were stated as follows: 1. Did the Teton County Circuit Court err when it found that the remotely communicated search warrants, which were not based upon affidavit, issued pursuant to W.S. 31-6-102(d), do not violate Wyo. Const. art. 1, 4 2. Did the Teton County Circuit Court err when it found that the remotely...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] The appellants purchased a home in Lincoln County, Wyoming. Dissatisfied with some aspects of the construction and purchase of the home, the appellants sued a development company, the building contractor, the real estate agency involved in the transaction, a real estate agent, and, eventually, the real estate broker. The appellants alleged breach of contract, breach of express warranty, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, promissory estoppel,...
HILL, Justice. [ 1] Gosar's Unlimited, Inc. ("Gosar's") owns and operates two mobile home parks where, historically, Gosar's included in the rent it charged tenants the cost of water that it purchased from the City of Rock Springs for the tenants' use. However, in 2000, Gosar's installed water meters on each trailer lot and began charging tenants for their water usage separately from their rent. [ 2] In 2008, acting on a complaint from a former tenant, the Public Service Commission ("PSC"...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] Trinity St. John (the appellant), sought dental care from Dr. Joshua Wagner (the appellee). Following a claim by the appellee alleging breach of contract, the appellant responded with a number of counterclaims, including a claim based on the Wyoming Consumer Protection Act (WCPA). The district court dismissed all of the appellant's claims, ruling that they were time barred by the statute of limitations. The appellant now appeals the dismissal of her WCPA claim. We will...
BURKE, Justice. [ 1] In this medical malpractice case, the district court granted summary judgment against Appellant, Ted Nobles, and in favor of Appellees (Hospital), after determining that Mr. Nobles did not present his claim within the time specified in the applicable statute of limitations. Mr. Nobles appealed. We will reverse. ISSUES [ 2] The parties present three issues: 1. Whether the district court erred by failing to apply the continuous treatment rule 2. Whether the single...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] The effect of [the Marketable Title Act] on the recording act is astonishing. Gary B. Conine & Daniel J. Morgan, The Wyoming Marketable Title Act — A Revision of Real Property Law, XVI Land & Water L.Rev. 181, 199 (1981). [ 2] Via a partial summary judgment, the district court held that the Wyoming Marketable Title Act (the Act), Wyo. Stat. Ann. 34-10-101 et seq. (LexisNexis 2011), validated PacifiCorp's pole line and utility easement across the Esterholdts'...
HILL, Justice. [ 1] The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Wyoming certified a question to this Court concerning the effect of two Wyoming statutes on a debtor's mortgage. Specifically, the bankruptcy court asks whether the mortgage must comply with Wyo. Stat. Ann. 34-2-122 and 34-2-123. We answer the question in the negative. ISSUE [ 2] The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Wyoming certified the following question to this Court: Whether the mortgage...
DAVIS, Justice. [ 1] The parties are two rural landowners who own easements crossing a parcel of ranchland in Laramie County, Wyoming. When Appellant James Koch improved the common roadway and asked his neighbor to contribute to the cost of those improvements, Appellee J & J Ranch, LLC brought suit against Koch in the District Court for the First Judicial District. J & J sought a declaratory judgment as to the parties' respective rights and duties relating to maintenance and repair of the...
KITE, Chief Justice. [ 1] The manager of the Wyoming Universal Service Fund (WUSF) filed confidential reports with the Wyoming Public Service Commission (PSC) containing his recommendations for the WUSF assessment level for fiscal years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. Upon notice from the PSC that public hearings would be held to consider the manager's reports, Qwest asked for contested case hearings. Qwest also asserted it did not have sufficient information to allow it to determine whether the...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] The appellant, Wendy Willis (hereinafter Mother), appeals the district court's decision to deny her motion for modification of custody and visitation. She claims that the district court's order does not comply with the statutes regarding child custody and visitation and that the district court improperly denied the admission of the children's treating counselor's notes and written opinion into evidence at the motion hearing. We affirm. ISSUES [ 2] 1. Did the district...
VOIGT, Justice. [ 1] The Thornocks filed an action against the Esterholdts and others, seeking to quiet title to certain lands in Lincoln County, Wyoming. The district court eventually granted summary judgment to the Thornocks as to some of the land, but denied summary judgment as to a certain strip of property. After a bench trial, the district court quieted title in the disputed strip of land in the Esterholdts. The Thornocks appealed. The district court's findings of fact are not clearly...
