Justia Nebraska Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

This case revolves around a long-standing dispute between two Nebraska families, the Zeilers and the Reifschneiders, over rights to divert water from their neighboring farmland. The dispute lead to a consent judgment in 1988, where Zeiler's father was ordered to remove a dike and level the area to a uniform elevation to allow for the drainage of surface waters from the Zeiler property to the Reifschneider property. Years later, Michael Zeiler filed a contempt action against Kenneth E. Reifschneider, alleging that Reifschneider had violated the consent judgment by raising the elevation level along the property boundary line, causing water to pool on Zeiler's farmland. The district court found Reifschneider in contempt, concluding he had willfully violated the consent judgment.However, the Nebraska Supreme Court vacated the district court's decision and dismissed the appeal. The Supreme Court concluded that Zeiler lacked standing to pursue the contempt action because the consent judgment did not impose any obligations on Reifschneider. The judgment was a compromise conclusion to the earlier litigation between Reifschneider and Zeiler's father, where the defendant provided consideration in exchange for the plaintiff's dismissal of suit. The court clarified that its decision determined only that Zeiler lacked standing to pursue a contempt action, and made no evaluation of whether Zeiler would have standing or could obtain relief against Reifschneider via a different legal theory. View "Zeiler v. Reifschneider" on Justia Law

In the case before the Nebraska Supreme Court, the defendant, Favion Lara, appealed from the District Court for Hall County, arguing that his sentences should be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing before a different judge. Lara was convicted on five felony charges related to firing gunshots toward law enforcement officers.The court found that there was no breach in the plea agreement. Lara claimed that a letter from a police officer (who was also a victim of Lara's crime) asking for a harsher sentence than the prosecution recommended was a violation of the plea agreement. The court disagreed, noting that the letter was treated as a victim's opinion, and the officer was not acting as an agent of the prosecution when submitting it. There was no evidence that the officer participated in the plea negotiations or consented to act on behalf of the prosecution.Regarding Lara's claim of excessive sentences, the court found no abuse of discretion. The sentencing court considered the relevant factors, such as Lara's age, mentality, education and experience, social and cultural background, past criminal record or record of law-abiding conduct, motivation for the offense, the nature of the offense, and the amount of violence involved in the commission of the crime.Therefore, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "State v. Lara" on Justia Law

In this case, Christopher Mathiesen, the owner of a limited liability company, appealed a court's order dismissing his complaint against Kristi Kellogg, who was alleged to be a co-owner of the company. The court dismissed the complaint after it was consolidated with another case involving the same parties and the same basic underlying facts. The main issue was whether the Nebraska Supreme Court had jurisdiction over Mathiesen's appeal of the order dismissing his complaint. The court found that it did not have jurisdiction because the order was not a final order that decided all the claims between all the parties. Instead, it was an order that only dismissed some of the claims and did so without the required express direction for the entry of judgment and express determination that there was no just reason to delay an appeal. The court also held that when cases are consolidated in Nebraska, they become a single case, and so the order dismissing the complaint did not fully dispose of the entire case. As a result, the court dismissed Mathiesen's appeal for lack of jurisdiction. View "Mathiesen v. Kellogg" on Justia Law

The case concerned the valuation of agricultural land owned by Donald V. Cain Jr. for the 2013 tax year. Cain appealed the decision of the Custer County Board of Equalization, which upheld the assessed values of his land as determined by the county assessor. The Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC) affirmed the decision of the Board. Cain then appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court, arguing that the valuation attributed to the property for the 2012 tax year should have been used for the 2013 tax year. The Supreme Court disagreed and affirmed TERC's decision. The Supreme Court held that each year’s assessment is separate and a property's valuation for one year depends upon the evidence pertaining to that year. The Court also found sufficient evidence of the actual value that the Assessor and the Board attributed to the property, and that the Assessor's mass appraisal methodology was appropriately conducted and supported the assessed valuation of the property. View "Cain v. Custer Cty. Bd. of Equal." on Justia Law

In this case, a couple, Kelley L. and Richard L., sought to have Richard adopt Kelley's daughter, Kate S., without the consent of the child's biological father, Dustin S., alleging that Dustin had abandoned Kate. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the County Court's decision, which denied the adoption petition, holding that Dustin had not abandoned Kate. The Supreme Court found that, although Dustin could have done more to be involved in Kate's life and did not fully comply with court-ordered reunification therapy and child support payments, the evidence suggested that Kelley had hindered Dustin from having meaningful contact with Kate. Therefore, they found that Dustin had not demonstrated a "settled purpose to forgo all parental duties and relinquish all parental claims" to Kate. The court also noted that the county court's reference to unresolved proceedings in the District Court did not constitute an error, as it simply acknowledged another potential route to adoption without Dustin's consent if his parental rights were subsequently terminated in those proceedings. View "In re Adoption of Kate S." on Justia Law

In this Nebraska case, the appellant, Christian G., filed a motion to vacate a domestic abuse protection order issued against him, arguing that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over him and that the court erred in excluding his affidavit, which sought to prove he did not receive timely notice of the hearing. The Nebraska Supreme Court held that by filing a request for a hearing on the protection order, Christian made a general appearance in court, thereby conferring the court personal jurisdiction over him. The court also held that while an affidavit may be used in motion practice, including for preliminary, collateral, and interlocutory matters, it is not exempt from the rules of evidence. The court determined that the portion of Christian's affidavit that contained hearsay was correctly excluded by the district court because Christian did not properly limit his offer to the admissible parts of the affidavit. Therefore, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals, which upheld the district court's ruling that denied Christian's motion to vacate the protection order. View "K. v. G." on Justia Law

The defendant, Tristan T. Horne, was charged with attempted possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. As part of a plea agreement, Horne was admitted into a problem-solving court program (Wellness Court) designed to assist defendants with mental health diagnoses. The program defers sentencing and provides treatment, supervision, and judicial oversight. Successful completion of the program may result in the defendant being allowed to withdraw their plea and have their charges dismissed. However, if the participant is removed from the program or withdraws before successful completion, the conviction stands and the case proceeds to sentencing.Throughout Horne's participation in the program, he repeatedly violated program requirements. These violations included missed drug tests, dishonesty with probation officers, not completing community service hours ordered by the District Court, failing to successfully complete multiple residential treatment programs, testing positive for marijuana, removing his court-ordered GPS monitoring device, and failing to report to jail as ordered after leaving a treatment program. Following these violations, the State moved to remove Horne from the program. The District Court accepted Horne's admission to the violations and removed him from the program. Subsequently, Horne was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.On appeal, Horne challenged his removal from the program, the fact that the District Court did not order a presentence investigation before sentencing him, and the length of his sentence. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the District Court's decision, finding no reversible error. It held that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in removing Horne from the program given his multiple failures to comply with program requirements. The Supreme Court also held that the District Court did not plainly err in not ordering a presentence investigation before sentencing Horne. Lastly, the Supreme Court found that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Horne. View "State v. Horne" on Justia Law

In this case, Patrick Tvrdy was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 to 16 years' imprisonment following a vehicle-motorcycle collision that resulted in the death of the motorcycle driver, Brady Sweetser. Tvrdy appealed on three grounds: that the district court used erroneous jury instructions relating to motor vehicle homicide instead of manslaughter, that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, and that the sentence imposed was excessive.The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the district court's decision. The court found that the jury instructions correctly stated the law and were not misleading. The court noted that the law in Nebraska does not consider a victim's negligence as a defense to manslaughter unless that negligence is the sole proximate cause of the death. This principle was correctly reflected in the jury instructions.Regarding the sufficiency of the evidence, the court found that there was enough evidence to support Tvrdy's conviction. The court emphasized that an appellate court does not resolve conflicts in the evidence, pass on the credibility of witnesses, or reweigh the evidence. The court found that there was sufficient evidence of Tvrdy's intoxication and that there was never enough time for Tvrdy to complete his left turn without causing Sweetser, who had the right of way, to collide with him.As to the sentence, the court found no abuse of discretion by the district court. Tvrdy's sentence was within the statutory limits for his offense, and the court noted his criminal history of multiple speeding and possession of marijuana offenses, as well as a driving under the influence offense. View "State v. Tvrdy" on Justia Law

The Nebraska Supreme Court heard an appeal from Angelina M. Clark who was convicted for terroristic threats and third-degree sexual assault. Clark argued that her trial before an all-male jury violated her constitutional rights to a fair trial and an impartial jury. She also contended that the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction for terroristic threats and that her trial counsel was ineffective.The court held that Clark waived any objection to the all-male jury by failing to challenge the jurors for disqualification during the trial. It also determined that there was sufficient evidence to support Clark's conviction for terroristic threats. The court found that Clark's claim of ineffective counsel was without merit as the statements her counsel failed to object to were not hearsay, and any objection to them on hearsay grounds would have been meritless. Finally, the court rejected Clark’s claim that her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion in limine to exclude certain testimony, as she failed to show she suffered prejudice as a result of this alleged failure.The court affirmed the decision of the lower court, holding that Clark's claims were without merit. View "State v. Clark" on Justia Law

The case involves the State of Nebraska's appeal against a juvenile court's order transferring jurisdiction of a child welfare case involving five Native American children to the Oglala Sioux Tribal Court. The case centered on the interpretation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act (NICWA), both of which aim to protect the best interests of Indian children and promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families.The Nebraska Supreme Court held that the juvenile court's order transferring the cases was conditional and not final, hence not appealable. The court found that the order was dependent on the tribal court's subsequent acceptance or declination of the transfer. If the tribal court declined the transfer, the cases would remain under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. The court also noted that under NICWA, the transfer of a case from the juvenile court to a tribal court is subject to the tribal court's declination. Therefore, the court affirmed the Nebraska Court of Appeals' dismissal of the State's appeals due to the lack of a final, appealable order. View "In re Interest of Ricardo T." on Justia Law