Justia Nebraska Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder and two related counts of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony. Defendant was sentenced to terms of life imprisonment for each of the murder convictions, to be served consecutively. Defendant appealed, raising allegations of error related to an evidentiary ruling, a jury instruction, prosecutorial misconduct, and assistance of trial counsel. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court did not err in its evidentiary ruling; (2) Defendant's claims of prosecutorial misconduct were either without merit or Defendant was not prejudiced by the misconduct; and (3) Defendant’s ineffective assistance claims either failed or could not be addressed on direct appeal. View "State v. Dubray" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the surface owner of various tracts of land in Sioux County, sued the alleged owners of severed mineral interests in those tracts, claiming that the defendants abandoned their interests because they did not comply with the requirements of Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-229 by failing to exercise publicly the right of ownership of the severed mineral interests. All of the defendants filed verified claims to the mineral interests prior to the action filed by Plaintiff. The district court concluded (1) the alleged mineral owners had either strictly complied or substantially complied with the requirements of section 57-229; and (2) the alleged mineral owners had not forfeited their mineral interests, except for one of the claims, which was terminated. Rice appealed, and two of the defendants cross-appealed as to the mineral interests that were terminated. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding (1) strict compliance with section 57-229 is mandatory; (2) several of the defendants abandoned their interests by not strictly complying with the statute, and therefore, the district court erred in failing to terminate their interests; and (3) the district court correctly terminated the remaining mineral interests. View "Rice v. Bixler" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of six felonies arising from a shooting involving multiple victims, including attempted first degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony with respect to Kevin Guzman. The court of appeals reversed Defendant’s convictions as to Guzman and remanded for a new trial, concluding that the trial court erred in excluding Guzman’s testimony as to Guzman’s aggressive and violent character while using drugs and alcohol. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the court of appeals erred in determining that Defendant’s self-defense claim was prejudiced by the exclusion of evidence of Guzman’s aggressive and violent behavior. Remanded with direction that the relevant convictions and sentences be reinstated. View "State v. Matthews" on Justia Law

Jack Irwin owed a warehouse that Shade rented to store personal property. West Gate Bank held notes payable from Shade that were secured by Shade’s personal property. Shade later defaulted on the notes. Irwin and West Gate subsequently agreed to move Shade’s personal property pursuant to an “Abandonment” document. When Shade filed for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court approved distribution of the proceeds in Shade’s personal property to West Gate, concluding that the Abandonment document was not an assignment or release of West Gate’s perfected security interest. Thereafter, Irwin filed this action against West Bank in district court alleging that West Gate breached its obligations under the Abandonment document by failing to pay the proceeds to Irwin. The district curt entered judgment in favor of West Gate. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court’s determination regarding the preclusive effect of the bankruptcy court’s ruling with respect to an assignment or release of West Gate’s security interest in Shade’s property was not relevant to this appeal; and (2) the district court did not err in concluding that the Abandonment document was not an enforceable contract or a warranty.View "Irwin v. West Gate Bank" on Justia Law

RFD-TV, LLC, a television programming service, executed an affiliation agreement with Sunflower Broadband Corporation that granted Sunflower a nonexclusive right to distribute RFD programming to Sunflower’s subscribers in Kansas in exchange for a fee. Knology, Inc., subsequently purchased Sunflower’s assets. Prior to this purchase Knology was providing cable service to subscribers in South Dakota. Knology later became a wholly owned subsidiary of WOW! Cable. Two years later, Knology and WOW ceased distribution of RFD programming and did not pay fees. RFD sued Knology and WOW (collectively, Appellees) for breach of contract. Appellees filed a motion to dismiss, alleging that the district court did not have personal jurisdiction over them. The district court dismissed the complaint with prejudice, finding that the minimum contacts requirement between Appellees, as nonresident defendants, and the State had not been met. The Supreme Court affirmed as modified, holding that the district court (1) did not err in dismissing the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction; and (2) erred in dismissing the case with prejudice. View "RFD-TV v. WildOpenFence Fin." on Justia Law

Defendant pled no contest to one count of burglary and was sentenced to six to eight years’ imprisonment. Defendant argued that he was entitled to credit for time served of 197 days - four for the current charge and 193 for the time he was incarcerated pending his trial for previous charges of which he was acquitted. The district court gave Defendant credit only for time served of four days. The Supreme Court affirmed as modified, holding (1) Defendant was entitled to credit for time served for the 193 days he spent in custody prior to his acquittal in his prior criminal case; and (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Defendant to six to eight years’ imprisonment.View "State v. Carngbe" on Justia Law

Appellant, an inmate incarcerated at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution (TSCI), filed a petition for declaratory judgment alleging that TSCI operational memorandums that generally limited an inmate’s access to the law library to one hour per day violated his right to access the courts. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Appellees, finding that Appellant did not show an actual injury caused by the library time regulations. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that there was no material factual dispute that the law library regulations did not hinder a nonfrivolous and arguably meritorious legal claim regarding Appellant’s sentences or conditions of confinement. View "Payne v. Neb. Dep’t of Corr. Servs." on Justia Law

In 2009, Bonnie Nichols and Margie Nichols were married in Iowa. In 2012, Bonnie filed a complaint in a Nebraska court to dissolve the union. Margie filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that a Nebraska court lacked jurisdiction to dissolve a same-sex marriage. The district court granted Margie’s motion to dismiss for subject matter jurisdiction. The district court’s order purported to dismiss Bonnie’s complaint if Bonnie failed to amend it within fifteen days. Bonnie did not file an amended complaint, and the district court did not enter a judgment dismissing the action. Bonnie appealed. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that Bonnie appealed from a conditional order and not a final judgment, and therefore, the Court lacked jurisdiction over the appeal.View "Nichols v. Nichols" on Justia Law

Martin Linscott, Rolf Shasteen and Tony Brock formed the law firm Shasteen, Linscott & Brock (SLB). Linscott drafted a proposed shareholder agreement contemplating that if a shareholder left the firm, he would receive one-third of all fees from existing in-process cases. After Linscott left the firm, Linscott brought suit individually and derivatively on behalf of SLB against Shasteen and Brock seeking to recover one-third of attorney fees recovered from the SLB cases that existed at the time he withdrew as a shareholder. The district court ultimately concluded (1) the agreement was unenforceable under the statute of frauds; (2) the “unfinished business rule” had no application to this case; and (3) therefore, Linscott was not owed any attorney fees. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the district court erred in (1) determining that the absence of any definition of the term “net fees” prevented the formation of an implied in fact contract; and (2) determining that the statute of frauds rendered any implied contract void. Remanded. View "Linscott v. Shasteen" on Justia Law

The State filed an information charging several counts against Defendant. Defendant was subsequently granted an indefinite continuance. The State then filed an amended information against Defendant, charging him with additional crimes. Defendant later filed a motion for absolute discharge, contending that he was not brought to trial before the running of the time for trial. The district court denied the motion. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court’s denial of the motion for discharge did not violate Defendant’s statutory and constitutional rights to a speedy trial or Defendant’s right to due process because Defendant’s indefinite motion for a continuance was not automatically extinguished by the State’s amended information, and thus Defendant was not relieved of his duty to give notice of a request for trial in order to end the continuance and its accompanying statutory waiver of the right to a speedy trial.View "State v. Hettle" on Justia Law