Justice JIM RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 N.B. (Birth Mother) and S.B.C. (Biological Father) appeal from the order entered by the Fourth Judicial District Court, Missoula County, terminating both parents' rights to their minor child, S.B.C., Jr. (S.B.C.), and granting the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Child and Family Services Division (Child Services) permanent legal custody with right to consent to adoption. The Birth Mother and Biological Father also...
Chief Justice MIKE McGRATH delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 Christina Atkinson appeals from the order of the Thirteenth Judicial...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 A jury in the Fourth Judicial District Court convicted Preston Hanna of accountability for robbery. The court sentenced Hanna to thirty years in Montana State Prison with ten years suspended and awarded restitution in an unspecified amount. We restate the issues on appeal as follows: 1. Whether Hanna is entitled to a new trial because the District Court improperly instructed the jury on accountability for robbery. 2. Whether...
Justice JIM RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Thomas Richard Nichols appeals from the entry of judgment by the Eleventh Judicial District Court, Flathead County, convicting him of Sexual Assault and Sexual Intercourse Without Consent. Nichols challenges the District Court's admission of testimony regarding his character and sexual habits, permitting a primary investigator to act as a representative of the State and testify during trial, and entering judgment of guilt of both...
Justice PATRICIA COTTER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 In January 2014, Douglas Plouffe, representing himself, sued George Knudson...
Justice MICHAEL E. WHEAT delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) appeals from the judgment of the Fifteenth Judicial District Court, Daniels County, granting Sheridan Electric Co-op, Inc.'s (Sheridan) motion for summary judgment and denying MDU's motion for summary judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 2 The material facts are not in dispute. Sheridan is a Montana rural electric cooperative. MDU is an electric services provider. Both serve...
Justice PATRICIA COTTER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 On October 12, 2012, the Gallatin County Attorney's Office filed an...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Jim Bates appeals the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court's ruling that the Montana Human Rights Act (MHRA) applies to Laura Lee Neva's claim of sexual harassment in her lease of commercial property from Bates. The issue we address on appeal is whether the MHRA applies to Neva's commercial lease. We conclude that it does and affirm. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND 2 In June 2009, Neva approached Bates about leasing a...
Justice MICHAEL E. WHEAT delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Mary Helen Corrigan appeals from the order of the Third Judicial District Court, Deer Lodge County, denying her motion for summary judgment and granting Rebecca Voyich's motion for summary judgment. We affirm. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND 2 The material facts in this case are undisputed. 3 Mary Helen Corrigan is the wife of the decedent, William Corrigan, and personal representative of his estate. Mary Helen and...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Several minority shareholders of Wyo-Ben, Inc., appeal the judgment of the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Wyo-Ben's favor. The court dismissed Appellants' oppression claim, and later ruled that Appellants were not entitled to be paid for their class B shares under Montana's dissenters' rights statute. Appellants also appeal the court's decision regarding the value of their class A shares. We address the following issues...
Chief Justice MIKE McGRATH delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Appellant Mark White (White) appeals from his felony conviction for assault with a weapon in the Eighteenth Judicial District. We affirm. 2 We restate the following issues for review: Issue One: Whether the District Court erred when it determined White was not mentally fit to stand trial at a proceeding in which White was not present. Issue Two: Whether the District Court erred by failing to complete the initial...
Justice MICHAEL E WHEAT delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of nonciteable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 Zachary Shaffer (Shaffer) appeals from the judgments and sentences of the...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 A jury convicted Michael Claude Urziceanu of violating 45-9-110(4), MCA, which...
Chief Justice MIKE McGRATH delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 Brandy Burgess and Amy Burgess Smith ("Burgess") appeal from the order...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 Eric Lat Bailey appeals the Second Judicial District Court's denial of his...
Justice PATRICIA COTTER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Randall Simms appeals the Thirteenth Judicial District Court's grant of summary judgment to Dr. Michael Schabacker. Schabacker was Simms' workers' compensation doctor from 2004 through 2007 following Simms' 1999 work-related accident. Simms sued Schabacker and St. Vincent Healthcare, Schabacker's employer, alleging Schabacker had disclosed private, confidential healthcare information about him to a law enforcement officer...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Lewis E. Pesanti appeals the Second Judicial District Court's final decree of dissolution of his marriage with Terra L. Pesanti and its entry of a final parenting plan for their minor children. We address the following issues: 1. Whether the District Court abused its discretion by awarding primary custody of the children to Terra. 2. Whether the District Court abused its discretion with regard to Lewis's child support...
Chief Justice MIKE McGRATH delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 Jay Nash appeals from the District Court's order granting summary...
Justice BETH BAKER delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports. 2 Thomas Boyles appeals the Eleventh Judicial District Court's denial of his...
Chief Justice MIKE McGRATH delivered the Opinion of the Court. 1 Don and Susan Salminen appeal from the District Court's Order and Rationale on Motion to Dismiss, dated December 26, 2012, and the Order and Rationale on Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, dated August 30, 2013. We reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand. 2 The issue on appeal is whether the District Court erred in dismissing the Salminens' complaint. BACKGROUND 3 The Salminens commenced this action with a...
