Justia Idaho Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Defendant Darrien Dabney forcibly sodomized two six-year-old boys. At the time, Defendant was a developmentally disabled eighteen-year-old and had been living with the boys’ family less than a month. He had previously resided in foster care in Virginia. He appealed the sentence he received, the trial court’s order relinquishing jurisdiction after a period of retained jurisdiction because there was no community-based facility that could provide appropriate treatment for the defendant and security for the protection of the community; and the court’s order denying a motion to reduce the sentence. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Idaho v. Dabney" on Justia Law

In 2013, defendant Andrey Yermola texted his wife asking to meet her so they could talk. She responded that she was at work, but agreed to meet him at the hospital where she worked in Spokane, Washington, during her lunch break. A friend of his was sitting in the back seat. They drove to an apartment complex so the friend could recover his cell phone at someone’s apartment. After he left, Defendant told his wife that his cell phone battery was dead and asked to use hers. The friend returned to the car, and Defendant’s wife asked to be driven back to work. When they arrived at the hospital, Defendant stopped the car and began searching through the contacts on his wife’s phone. She asked for the phone, but Defendant would not give it to her. As they argued, Defendant’s friend got out of the car. Defendant then sped off, with his wife still in the car. He drove recklessly, at a high rate of speed, from the hospital to a casino in Idaho. After entering the casino parking lot, he turned around and drove out of the parking lot and stopped next to the road. Upon stopping, he retrieved a pistol, wiped it off with a sweater, exited the car, and tossed the pistol into the snow. He then drove back to the casino, parked the car, and, after making a loud scene, walked away, tossing his wife’s cell phone into a pond on his way to the casino. Defendant’s wife contacted a security guard, who contacted law enforcement. When the sheriff’s deputies arrived, she related what had happened. The deputies were able to recover the pistol, which had been stolen. Defendant was charged with false imprisonment, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, grand theft by possession of stolen property, willful concealment of evidence of a felony offense, and possession of drug paraphernalia (which items had been found during a search of his car). Defendant appealed his conviction of felony willful concealment of evidence. For that crime to have been a felony rather than a misdemeanor in this case, the object concealed must have been about to be produced, used, or discovered as evidence in an investigation that involved a felony criminal offense. Because the State did not offer any evidence that the criminal offense at issue was a felony, the Supreme Court vacated defendant’s felony conviction and remanded for entry of a conviction for misdemeanor willful concealment of evidence. View "Idaho v. Yermola" on Justia Law

McAdams, LLC sought to hold Peter Cintorino and Tim and Kimberly Resler liable on their personal guarantees of a promissory note made by Fawnwood, LLC, in favor of JBM, LLC. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Cintorino and the Reslers holding that McAdams, LLC was prohibited from filing a collection action in Idaho because its assignor, JBM Company, LLC, was prohibited from filing suit in Idaho under either Idaho’s Assumed Business Name Act (“IABNA”) or Idaho’s Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (“IULLCA”). JBM, LLC, McAdams, and McAdams, LLC collectively appealed the district court’s dismissal of the claims against Cintorino. The McAdams group’s opening brief focused exclusively on whether the district court erred in concluding that McAdams, LLC was prohibited from filing suit in Idaho. Therefore, the Supreme Court limited its analysis to that issue, and reversed: McAdams, LLC was entitled to pursue its claim against Cintorino to enforce the promissory note and his personal guarantee of the same. View "McAdams, LLC v. Cintorino" on Justia Law

Parties Rebecca Foreman and Stanley Sweet shared custody of Child. Prior to this modification proceeding, Sweet had primary physical custody of Child and Foreman had custodial time on alternating weekends and holidays. Foreman filed a petition to modify the child custody order seeking primary physical custody, which the magistrate court granted following trial. Sweet moved to amend the judgment or for a new trial and also moved for reconsideration. The court denied the motion for reconsideration. Sweet moved for a direct permissive appeal, which the Supreme Court granted. After review, the Supreme Court concluded this appeal was premature because the magistrate court had not ruled on Sweet’s motion for a new trial. It was procedurally improper for Sweet to move for reconsideration of the magistrate’s findings of fact and conclusions under I.R.F.L.P. 503(b). However, Sweet had previously sought to introduce new evidence under the correct procedural mechanism, a motion for new trial. In his motion for a new trial under I.R.F.L.P. 807(A)(4), Sweet asked the magistrate to conduct a new trial on the issue of Child’s wishes, including an in camera interview of Child. Those wishes included Child’s concerns regarding Foreman’s new living arrangements. The Court denied Sweet’s request to conduct an in camera interview. However, the record does not indicate that the court ever ruled on Sweet’s motion for a new trial. View "Sweet v. Foreman" on Justia Law

Kara Alexander sued Vianna Stibal for fraud, breach of contract, and punitive damages. A jury awarded Alexander $111,000 on her contract claim, $17,000 on the fraud claim, and $500,000 in punitive damages. Stibal is the owner and operator of Nature Path, Inc. and the ThetaHealing Institute of Knowledge (THInK). In the beginning of 2008, THInK announced that it would offer a newly-created doctoral degree in ThetaHealing. students of ThetaHealing, including Alexander, began to question the validity of her doctoral degrees. In November of 2011, Alexander filed a complaint against Stibal, alleging breach of contract and fraud. During the trial, the district court denied Stibal’s motion for a directed verdict on the fraud and breach of contract claims. Following trial, Stibal moved for a new trial and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV). The district court denied these post-trial motions, but reduced the punitive damages award to $384,000. On appeal, Stibal challenges the district court’s rulings on the contract, fraud, and punitive damages issues. After review, the Supreme Court reversed the district court’s order denying Stibal’s motion for JNOV on the contract claim. The Court vacated the district court’s judgment and remanded with directions for the district court to enter a new judgment reflecting our ruling on the contract claim and the reduction in punitive damages to $100,000. The Court affirmed in all other respects. View "Alexander v. Stibal" on Justia Law

This case was an appeal from the district court’s decision to affirm a magistrate court’s summary dismissal of the Estate of John Cornell’s claims involving the administration of a trust. John and his sister, Toni Johnson, were beneficiaries of their parents’ trust. When the time came to distribute the assets, Johnson refused, which led John to file a petition for the administration of the trust and removal of Johnson as trustee. Shortly after filing the petition, John committed suicide. Consequently, the magistrate court granted Johnson’s motion to dismiss John’s petition. Kareen Cornell, John’s surviving spouse, subsequently petitioned the magistrate court for administration of the trust and to remove Johnson as trustee. The magistrate court once again granted Johnson’s motion to dismiss, basing its decision on the trust distribution survivorship clause and on abatement of the claims. John’s Estate appealed, and the district court affirmed. On appeal to the Supreme Court, the Estate argued that its claims survived John’s death. The Supreme Court agreed, reversed and remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings. View "Estate of Cornell v. Johnson" on Justia Law

Appellant Arthur Schmierer filed a motion under Idaho Criminal Rule 35 to correct an illegal sentence. In the underlying action, Schmierer had pled guilty to an amended superseding indictment that charged him with two counts of enticing children over the internet. Schmierer argued in his defense that the prosecutor improperly amended the indictment without resubmitting the matter to the grand jury, thereby depriving the district court of subject matter jurisdiction to convict him on the second enticement count. The district court denied Schmierer’s motion, concluding that Schmierer had waived any deficiencies in the charging document when he pled guilty. Schmierer appealed. The Idaho Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s order and vacated Schmierer’s conviction on the second enticement count. The Supreme Court granted the State’s petition for review, and affirmed the district court: “[w]here the charging document meets the substantive requirements for an information, but is labeled an indictment, we hold that it may be treated as an information. Here, the prosecutor could have charged Schmierer with enticement by either information or indictment. The labeling of the document as an indictment is a mere defect of form and does not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the charges unless it would tend to prejudice a substantial right of the defendant. Here, we find that Schmierer was not prejudiced by the mislabeling of the charging document and, therefore, we hold that the district court had jurisdiction to convict Schmierer of the second enticement count.” View "Idaho v. Schmierer" on Justia Law

Defendant Jason McClure was convicted of criminal contempt after he failed to make restitution payments required under his 1999 conviction for burglary. The contempt charge was based on a “Motion and Affidavit in Support of Contempt Proceedings” signed and sworn to before a deputy court clerk, rather than a notary public. McClure moved to dismiss the contempt charge against him, challenging the validity of the arrest warrant on various grounds. Each was rejected. Ultimately McClure conditionally pled guilty to the contempt allegation, preserving his right to challenge the denial of his motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals vacated the district court’s judgment of criminal contempt, holding that the document did not impart subject matter jurisdiction over the contempt proceeding because it was not notarized. The State appealed. The Supreme Court reversed: "Here, the document at issue qualifies as an affidavit. A deputy clerk signed it in the presence of a second deputy clerk, whose signature indicated that the document was '[s]ubscribed and sworn to before' the clerk. Because deputy clerks of the court are authorized to administer oaths and affirmations, and because this construction of “affidavit” does no violence to the purpose or spirit of the applicable laws and rules, we hold that the 'Motion and Affidavit in Support of Contempt Proceedings' here was a valid and effective affidavit. As such, it imparted subject matter jurisdiction over McClure’s contempt charge." View "Idaho v. McClure" on Justia Law

Michelle McIntosh appealed her conviction and resulting sentence after she was found guilty of trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, two counts of delivery of methamphetamine, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. This case arose out of three separate purchases of methamphetamine by an undercover police officer from McIntosh. The jury found McIntosh guilty of all charges, and the court subsequently sentenced McIntosh to a total unified term of ten years, with four years fixed. McIntosh timely appealed. McIntosh made two arguments on appeal: (1) her conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver should have been vacated because the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the charge; and (2) the district court abused its discretion when it imposed a unified term of ten years, with four years fixed. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed McIntosh's conviction and sentence. View "Idaho v. McIntosh" on Justia Law

Lorene Lowe had two credit cards issued by Citibank, N.A. Citibank sold both credit card accounts to Pilot Receivables Management, LLC, and in late 2012, it assigned the accounts for collection to Unifund CCR, LLC. On December 2, 2013, Unifund filed this action to collect on Account No. 2085, and on May 23, 2014, it filed an amended complaint to add a claim to collect on Account No. 0415. Lowe filed an answer asserting the affirmative defense of the statute of limitations and four counterclaims. Both parties moved for summary judgment, with the primary issue being the applicable statute of limitations. Unifund contended that the applicable statute of limitations was a five-year statute applicable to an action on a written contract, and Lowe contended that the applicable statute of limitations was a four-year statute applicable to an action on an oral contract. Both parties agreed that the statute of limitations began to run on each account on the date of the last payment. The district court ruled that the five-year statute of limitations applied. Lowe then agreed to withdraw her counterclaims in exchange for an offset of $500 against the amount of any judgment obtained by Unifund. The district court entered a judgment against her in the sum of $35,259.87, which included the principal, prejudgment interest, court costs and attorney fees. Lowe then timely appealed. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Unifund CCR, LLC v. Lowe" on Justia Law