Vermont Supreme Court Decisions 2014
Date: December 19, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 133
Docket Number: 2014-041
Justia Opinion Summary: The Vermont Spay/Neuter Incentive Program (VSNIP) was created in 2006 to subsidize dog, cat, and wolf-hybrid sterilization procedures for low-income Vermonters. Sue Skaskiw and the organization she directed, Vermont…
Date: December 19, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 134
Docket Number: 2014-099
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Marilyn Davis appealed the trial court's grant of defendants' Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss her claims, which sought to rectify alleged harms stemming from disagreements among…
Date: December 12, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 131
Docket Number: 2014-163
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the civil suspension of his driver's license and his conditional guilty plea to driving under the influence (DUI). He argued that the police lacked reasonable grounds to stop him, and thus, the court…
Date: December 5, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 129
Docket Number: 2011-307
Justia Opinion Summary: Latonia Congress was convicted by jury of second-degree murder. The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether, in a murder prosecution, a jury can find a defendant guilty of voluntary…
Date: December 5, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 130
Docket Number: 2013-229
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Kathleen Langlois owned a building with commercial space on the first floor and an apartment on the second. She failed to pay the water bill for the property. Plaintiff alleged that she arranged with a…
Date: November 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 126
Docket Number: 2013-277
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review involved the power of a court to require an estate to create a trust to satisfy potential future claims against the estate, as well as the proper application…
Date: November 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 125
Docket Numbers: 2013-346, 2013-347, 2013-348
Justia Opinion Summary: Neighbors Barbara Supeno and Barbara J. Ernst appealed a superior court's decision to uphold the Town of Addison Development Review Board's (DRB) grant of certificates of occupancy for two detached decks and a…
Date: November 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 127
Docket Number: 2013-419
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal ended a longstanding feud stemming from plaintiff David Ring's renovation of his condominium units, resulting in multiple legal proceedings and several superior court decisions. Ring argued in this appeal…
Date: November 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 124
Docket Number: 2014-049
Justia Opinion Summary: This case raised the issue of whether Act 250 required consideration of alternative siting in every case in which a party objects to a proposed land-use project on aesthetic grounds, pursuant to 10 V.S.A. 6086(a)(8),…
Date: November 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 128
Docket Number: 2014-102
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Garfield and Lucille Goodrum owned 41.54 acres in Reading; all but two acres of land surrounding their home was enrolled in the UVA Program as undeveloped forest land. The Goodrums formed Turtle Hill Farm of…
Date: November 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 122
Docket Number: 2012-479
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for sexual assault. On appeal, defendant argued: (1) the trial court erred by allowing certain hearsay testimony to be considered by the jury; (2) the trial court erred in scheduling a…
Date: November 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 121
Docket Numbers: 2013-224, 2013-300
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated cases, defendants Brian Grenier and Jessica Harris's were charged with driving under the influence (DUI), and appealed the trial court's denial of their motions to suppress the results of their…
Date: November 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 120
Docket Number: 2014-066
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from a dispute between developer Killington/Pico Ski Resort Partners, LLC ("K/P") and the Highridge Condominium Owners Association regarding developer's proposal to construct additional units in the…
Date: November 7, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 116
Docket Number: 2012-415
Justia Opinion Summary: The primary issue in this case involved the rights of a former mother-in-law whose property interests were purportedly adjudicated in the final divorce decree between her son and his former wife in an action to which she…
Date: November 7, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 117
Docket Number: 2013-142
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Paul Choiniere and P&D Consulting, Inc. sued defendants, attorney Anthony Marshall and his law firm, Harris Beach, PLLC, alleging that they made negligent and intentional misrepresentations while representing…
Date: November 7, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 118
Docket Number: 2014-139
Justia Opinion Summary: Two taxpayers appealed a trial court judgment affirming a decision of the board of abatement of the Town of Pownal, which denied their request for tax abatement. The taxpayers sought abatement of the property taxes on…
Date: October 31, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 115
Docket Number: 2013-373
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Town of Ira brought this action to recover from its insurer, Vermont League of Cities and Towns Property and Casualty Intermunicipal Fund, Inc. (PACIF), certain losses related to the embezzlement of town funds…
Date: October 24, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 114
Docket Number: 2013-119
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Maureen Wilt appeals a conviction for driving under the influence (DUI) on grounds that the trial court improperly allowed a police trooper to testify about the results of a field-sobriety test he administered…
Date: September 19, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 111
Docket Number: 2013-303
Justia Opinion Summary: This was an interlocutory appeal of superior court decision, on appeal from a decision of an appellate officer, remanding this disciplinary case to the Board of Nursing to determine whether the Board intended that the…
Date: September 12, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 109
Docket Number: 2013-263
Justia Opinion Summary: This dispute involved the parties' neighboring plots of land. Plaintiffs claimed that through adverse possession, they acquired several strips of land adjacent to their property: a triangular area used for parking, a…
Date: September 12, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 108
Docket Number: 2013-310
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1997, the Village of Derby Center and the City of Newport entered into a contract whereby the Village would supply 10,000 gallons of water per day to the City. The City claimed that the contract did not authorize the…
Date: September 5, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 261
Docket Number: 2013-261
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties in this case met in 2002 or 2003 and had a romantic relationship. In August 2007, the pair bought a house in Orwell. Prior to the purchase, plaintiff had been renting an apartment within the house from the…
Date: August 29, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 105
Docket Number: 2012-041
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner's state-appointed counsel filed an untimely notice of appeal of the trial court's denial of petitioner's first post-conviction relief (PCR) petition. It was uncontested that by failing to timely file a notice…
Date: August 29, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 104
Docket Number: 2013-077
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed a superior court order concluding that defendant violated 13 V.S.A. 3701(c) by intentionally knocking down a tree that belonged to plaintiff and trespassed on plaintiff’s land, and granted plaintiff $1…
Date: August 29, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 107
Docket Number: 2013-084
Justia Opinion Summary: Cases consolidated cases for appellate review stemmed from alleged injuries suffered by plaintiff Faye Ainsworth while she was at defendant Charles Chandler’s business, Chandler Electric. Plaintiff sued claiming she was…
Date: August 29, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 102
Docket Number: 2013-337
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Roger Perry appealed the trial court's issuance of a mittimus ordering the Department of Corrections (DOC) not to give defendant credit for time served in connection with prior convictions. The State did not…
Date: August 29, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 103
Docket Number: 2013-366
Justia Opinion Summary: This case centered on a disputed permit for a wastewater system and potable water supply granted to applicants David and Martha Musto for a home on Lake Bomoseen. Next-door neighbor Carolyn Hignite appealed the…
Date: August 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 99
Docket Number: 2013-101
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated appeals, the Supreme Court reviewed rulings by the environmental and civil divisions concerning a subdivision application for a property located within a residential development in the City of Burlington.…
Date: August 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 100
Docket Number: 2013-147
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Neal Fox’s brother adopted defendant Eugene Fox when defendant was an infant. On April 6, 2012, defendant, a New Hampshire resident in his sixties, and plaintiff, a Vermont resident, attended a probate court…
Date: August 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 90
Docket Number: 2013-183
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs’ family began renting a lakeside property 1949 and eventually purchased it in 1976. Throughout their lease and ownership of the Mahoney Lot, and by the terms of their deed, plaintiffs enjoyed the use of…
Date: August 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 96
Docket Number: 2013-235
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Helena Murphy appealed a superior court judgment in favor of defendant, Patriot Insurance Company, her homeowner’s insurer. The dispute between the parties stemmed from storm damage done to plaintiff's house in…
Date: August 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 95
Docket Number: 2013-280
Justia Opinion Summary: The question in this case presented to the Supreme Court was whether, in response to a post-conviction relief (PCR) petition, the court erred in vacating petitioner Nick Manosh’s 1992 conviction for a misdemeanor count…
Date: August 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 101
Docket Number: 2013-455
Justia Opinion Summary: Thirteen Town of Williston residents appealed the Superior Court, Environmental Division’s grant of a discretionary permit to All Metals Recycling, Inc., to establish an outdoor storage area and install a scale and scale…
Date: August 8, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 98
Docket Number: 2012-442
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with two counts arising from the same alleged incident: (1) violation of a term of a relief-from-abuse (RFA) order that required him to remain at least three hundred feet from his girlfriend and her…
Date: August 8, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 91
Docket Number: 2013-208
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Allen Spaulding appealed his conviction on domestic assault charges. The issues on appeal centered on the admission of the complainant’s written statement as past recollection recorded and claims of…
Date: August 8, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 93
Docket Number: 2013-243
Justia Opinion Summary: This property tax appeal centered on the valuation of five electrical substations, seven transmission lines, a fiber-optic line, land, and utility easements located within the Town of Vernon. Taxpayer Vermont Transco LLC…
Date: August 8, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 88
Docket Number: 2013-364
Justia Opinion Summary: This issue before the Supreme Court in this case arose from a dispute between a general partner and limited partners over the proceeds from the dissolution of their partnership. Appellant Alfred Lunde sought to reverse…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 68
Docket Number: 2012-248
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Tiffanie Felix appealed her conviction for the sale or delivery of 200 milligrams or more of heroin following a jury trial. She argued that the trial court erred in refusing to allow her to impeach the…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 85
Docket Number: 2012-254
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Yetha Lumumba is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He immigrated to the United States in 2004, where he became a legal permanent resident. In 2012, defendant, then a student at the University of…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 89
Docket Number: 2012-344
Justia Opinion Summary: On the evening of September 9, 2009, the complainant was walking home along Colchester Avenue in Burlington when an unknown man attacked her and tried to force her into the cab of a pickup truck that was parked alongside…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 70
Docket Number: 2012-391
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Progressive Casualty Insurance Company insured the vehicle involved in the accident at issue in this case. Given the number of victims, the policy’s liability coverage did not fully compensate at least one of…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 82
Docket Number: 2012-400
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Owen Cornell was convicted by jury of lewd and lascivious conduct with a twelve-year-old child. Defendant argued on appeal: (1) that the boilerplate "sex offender conditions" imposed by the trial court were not…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 97
Docket Number: 2013-013
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Patrick Bostwick was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and sentenced to three to fifteen years, all suspended but six months. Defendant's probation order contained "special sex offender…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 86
Docket Number: 2013-201
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Scott Provost appealed the decision of the criminal division that he violated his probation when he refused to admit the offense and failed to complete a domestic violence program in a timely manner, and…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 81
Docket Number: 2013-205
Justia Opinion Summary: Taxpayer Ugo Quazzo appealed a superior court decision to uphold a determination by the Commissioner of Taxes that he failed to prove a change of domicile for purposes of obtaining an income-sensitive homestead property…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 83
Docket Number: 2013-216
Justia Opinion Summary: James and Leslie Tschaikowsky were married in 1999, and were in the process of divorcing. In between, the parties legally separated, agreeing on terms of separation that were formally incorporated into a final order…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 92
Docket Number: 2013-420
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, plaintiffs Sylvia and Stanley Stroup sued defendants Peter Doran and Peter Doran Landscape Design, LLC for breach of contract, fraud, and consumer fraud after defendants failed to perform landscaping for…
Date: August 1, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 119
Docket Numbers: 2014-119, 2014-359
Date: July 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 84
Docket Number: 2013-045
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed a restitution order requiring him to pay $2,427.36 for damage to a car. On appeal, he argued: (1) the State failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that the victim’s loss was uninsured; (2) the…
Date: July 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 72
Docket Number: 2013-158
Justia Opinion Summary: "At its heart, the present controversy is about noise - specifically, airport-generated noise and its effects on immediate neighbors." Airport neighbor, George Maille, appealed the Superior Court, Environmental…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 75
Docket Number: 2012-372
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Roy Girouard appealed the superior court’s denial of a motion to reopen his Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 75 post-conviction relief petition and to order the Department of Corrections (DOC) to release him on…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 73
Docket Number: 2012-457
Justia Opinion Summary: Developer Vermont North Properties (VNP) appealed from the trial court’s decision in favor of the Village of Derby Center. The dispute centered on VNP’s rights, if any, to water and sewer allocations from the systems…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 71
Docket Number: 2013-089
Justia Opinion Summary: In February 2005, tenants Brian Ayer and Debbie Martell began leasing a single-family home from landlord-plaintiff JW, LLC. Tenants resided in the home with their children and animals, including dogs and chickens. At the…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 78
Docket Number: 2013-120
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Rodney Demag worked for a car dealership which also provided automobile service. As a convenience for customers, he picked up vehicles belonging to customers, leaving his own vehicle and returning the…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 79
Docket Number: 2013-214
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of New Hampshire attempted to extradite Vermont resident and petitioner William LaPlante for failing to appear at a 2009 hearing allegedly related to a criminal conviction in New Hampshire in 1998. Following a…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 66
Docket Number: 2013-240
Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2011, wife Andrea Joseph filed for divorce after twenty-three years of marriage to husband Neil Joseph. In October 2012, the parties entered into a stipulation agreeing to equally divide certain joint Morgan…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 80
Docket Number: 2013-274
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant-taxpayer Elaine Hoiska appealed the Vermont State Appraiser’s valuation of her property in the Town of East Montpelier. She argued that the appraisal incorrectly treated her property as comprising two…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 76
Docket Number: 2013-343
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother appealed the family court’s adjudication of her daughter B.A. as a child in need of care or supervision (CHINS). She argued that the court erred in combining the merits of the CHINS proceeding with the…
Date: July 18, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 74
Docket Number: 2014-036
Justia Opinion Summary: Employer Maple Leaf Farm Association, Inc. appealed a decision of the Employment Security Board finding that its former employee Katherine Kelley was involuntarily terminated from her position and therefore eligible for…
Date: July 11, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 69
Docket Numbers: 2012-087, 2012-101, 2012-102, 2012-103, 2012-207, 2012-231, 2012-309
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants, in consolidated cases, challenged a recent amendment to Vermont's DNA-database statute as unconstitutional. As of July 2011, the amendment mandated warrantless, suspicionless DNA collection and analysis from…
Date: July 11, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 67
Docket Number: 2012-179
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Eric Williams pled guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to serve forty to sixty years in prison. These charges stemmed from a fire in an apartment house in which petitioner…
Date: June 27, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 65
Docket Number: 2012-420
Justia Opinion Summary: Mother appealed a trial court’s final divorce order. She asserted that the court erred in granting the parties a divorce because the statutory requirements for divorce were not satisfied. She also challenged the court’s…
Date: June 27, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 63
Docket Number: 2012-465
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties were married in 1981. In 1998, husband retired from the United States Army after almost twenty-two years of service. About two years later, the parties were divorced in Vermont pursuant to a stipulated…
Date: June 20, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 62
Docket Number: 2013-239
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Aidan Brunner appealed his conviction for possession of brass knuckles or a similar weapon with intent to use it. He argued arguing that the implement at issue is neither brass knuckles nor a similar weapon…
Date: June 20, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 56
Docket Number: 2013-316
Justia Opinion Summary: Vermont State Employees' Association (VSEA) appealed a Vermont Labor Relations Board decision which found that the State was not required to give certain compensation to state employees in the weeks and months following…
Date: June 20, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 64
Docket Number: 2014-096
Justia Opinion Summary: In Fall 2013, defendant pled guilty to a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child as well as four counts of prohibited acts. The court ordered a pre-sentence investigation (PSI) and a psychosexual…
Date: June 13, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 59
Docket Number: 2013-249
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, the Agency of Transportation advertised for bids to reconstruct a half-mile section of North Main Street in downtown Barre. Luck Brothers submitted the low bid and was awarded the contract for the project, which…
Date: June 13, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 55
Docket Number: 2013-250
Justia Opinion Summary: On July 3, 2009, plaintiffs Michaela and David Martin and their three-year-old daughter Gracie spent the day at a campsite that the family rented at a campground in Island Pond, Vermont. Defendants John and Joanna…
Date: June 13, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 61
Docket Number: 2013-413
Justia Opinion Summary: The single issue in this appeal was whether payments by employer 863 To Go, Inc. to its delivery drivers should have been excluded from the calculation of employer's contribution to Vermont's system of unemployment…
Date: June 13, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 60
Docket Number: 2013-463
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Burlington School District appealed an environmental court decision approving Howard Center, Inc.'s application for interior renovations to an existing medical office to accommodate a new methadone clinic. The…
Date: June 6, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 54
Docket Number: 2012-412
Justia Opinion Summary: Landowners Owen and Katherine Beauchesne appealed various proceedings involving their complaints challenging the operation of Hale Mountain Fish and Game Club. Here, they appealed the Environmental Division of the…
Date: June 6, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 57
Docket Number: 2013-051
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented to the Supreme Court centered on the pay due to a state employee pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement when the employee temporarily takes on duties at a higher level. Grievant…
Date: June 6, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 58
Docket Number: 2013-449
Justia Opinion Summary: Husband Gilles Richard appealed a family court order awarding wife Ellen Richard interest on a payment due under the final divorce decree. Husband argued that the award of interest was an impermissible modification of…
Date: May 23, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 52
Docket Number: 2012-398
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed two superior court decisions in a personal-injury negligence action: (1) an order dismissing all claims against defendant Robert Merrill, Sr., in his individual capacity, on summary judgment; and (2)…
Date: May 23, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 53
Docket Number: 2012-474
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed a trial court order granting summary judgment to the State on his petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). Petitioner was originally charged with aggravated sexual assault for allegedly penetrating…
Date: May 23, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 51
Docket Number: 2013-004
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Richard Howell appealed a judgment in favor of plaintiff Kneebinding, Inc. on his counterclaims alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, defamation, trademark violation, and…
Date: May 23, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 50
Docket Number: 2013-180
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants Energize Vermont, Inc. and several individuals challenged the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB)’s affirmance of a permit issued by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), approving an operational-phase…
Date: May 16, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 44
Docket Number: 2013-189
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs James and Elise Brault appealed a trial court's order granting judgment to defendant Jeanne Welch in a dispute over a right-of-way. The deed in question purported to convey "a right of way five feet wide…
Date: May 9, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 48
Docket Number: 2011-233
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the trial court’s order revoking his probation. On appeal, he argued that he did not receive a “certificate explicitly setting forth” his probation conditions, as required by 28 V.S.A. 252(c), and that…
Date: May 9, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 41
Docket Number: 2013-153
Justia Opinion Summary: The Judicial Conduct Board concluded that respondent Judge Ernest Balivet violated Canon 3(B)(8) of the Vermont Code of Judicial Conduct. The Supreme Court ordered review on its own motion. The alleged violation stemmed…
Date: May 2, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 42
Docket Number: 2012-376
Justia Opinion Summary: In a post-conviction relief (PCR) proceeding to vacate convictions based on a change of plea following a plea agreement, the court granted petitioner’s motion for summary judgment. The PCR court concluded that the…
Date: May 2, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 45
Docket Number: 2013-057
Justia Opinion Summary: Husband appealed the trial court’s final divorce order. He argued the court erred by including certain items as part of the marital estate, awarding wife a disproportionate share of the marital estate, and failing to…
Date: May 2, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 46
Docket Number: 2013-179
Justia Opinion Summary: Mother and father were in a long-distance relationship for several years, throughout which mother lived in Vermont and father in Florida. In 2006, the parties had a child together. Although they never lived together as a…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 36
Docket Number: 2012-036
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Kyle Bolaski appealed his conviction for second-degree murder after a jury trial. He argued the trial court erred in: (1) not instructing the jury that the jury had to find an absence of passion or provocation;…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 30
Docket Number: 2012-471
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief (PCR) alleging ineffective assistance of counsel in his underlying criminal case because his lawyers induced him to reject a plea bargain for a much lower sentence…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 43
Docket Number: 2013-125
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Linda Stone sued the Town of Irasburg alleging that the selectboard had acted unlawfully in ordering her, as town treasurer, to raise her bond to $1,000,000. She sought monetary damages based on common law…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 40
Docket Number: 2013-169
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on whether the family division had exclusive jurisdiction over the distribution of marital property acquired during a marriage that ended in annulment. In 2011,…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 39
Docket Number: 2013-220
Justia Opinion Summary: "Belle" is an eleven-year-old German wirehaired pointer who was greatly loved by husband and wife. The parties had no minor children, and they were able to reach an agreement on the division of their property and other…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 38
Docket Number: 2013-278
Justia Opinion Summary: Mark, the father of D.S., and Todd, the father of M.H., appealed the trial court’s order terminating their residual parental rights. The children shared the same mother. Both fathers had extensive criminal records and…
Date: April 25, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 37
Docket Number: 2013-388
Justia Opinion Summary: Father appealed a trial court’s order adjudicating B.R. a child in need of care or supervision (CHINS). He argued that the court’s decision was not supported by evidence. B.R. was born in November 2012. On Monday, March…
Date: April 11, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 33
Docket Number: 2013-143
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose following a fire that destroyed a commercial building in Rutland in 2010. Plaintiff Johnathan Lasek leased the northern half of the building and used the space as a workshop for his house-staining…
Date: April 11, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 32
Docket Number: 2013-375
Justia Opinion Summary: Mother and father appealed a family court order adjudicating the minor A.W. to be a Child in Need of Care and Supervision (CHINS). They argued on appeal: (1) the court lacked jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody…
Date: April 4, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 31
Docket Number: 2012-152
Justia Opinion Summary: In a consolidated appeal, defendant Christopher Moreau challenged the Washington family court's dismissal of his emergency petition for child custody and parentage complaint over children with whom he shares no…
Date: March 28, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 29
Docket Number: 2013-308
Justia Opinion Summary: Applicant Ecos Energy, LLC appealed the Public Service Board's decision that its proposed solar power project did not qualify for a standard-offer power purchase contract under Vermont's Sustainably Priced Energy…
Date: March 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 26
Docket Number: 2012-332
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2002, defendant Richard Hardie borrowed money from Brattleboro Savings & Loan Association in order to purchase a vacation home in Weathersfield. The loan was secured by a mortgage on the property and included a…
Date: March 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 27
Docket Number: 2012-369
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Alvin Stocks appealed the superior court’s order granting summary judgment to the State on his petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). He argued that the trial court did not comply with Vermont Rule of…
Date: March 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 15
Docket Number: 2013-213
Justia Opinion Summary: Grievant John Aleong appealed a Vermont Labor Relations Board holding that his grievance of the termination of one portion of his teaching position at the University of Vermont fell outside the Board’s jurisdiction. …
Date: March 7, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 25
Docket Number: 2012-335
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Sandra J. Murphy (as personal representative and administrator of the Estate of Christopher Murphy) appealed a superior court decision that vacated a jury verdict in her favor and entered judgment as a matter…
Date: March 7, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 23
Docket Number: 2012-341
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case stemmed from a dispute over title to an old railroad bed adjacent to defendants' property that plaintiff purchased with the goal of creating a public recreational trail.…
Date: February 28, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 24
Docket Number: 2012-261
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Nicholas Bonnano appealed the superior court’s grant of summary judgment against him and in favor of his employer, Verizon, and Verizon’s third-party claims administrator, Sedgwick Claims Management. …
Date: February 28, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 21
Docket Number: 2012-320
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants Amherst Realty, LLC, Richard Madowitz, and the personal representatives of the Estate of Douglas Kohl appealed a superior court's grant of summary judgment to The Woods at Killington Owners’ Association on…
Date: February 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 22
Docket Number: 2012-121
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this appeal stems from a final judgment of divorce: whether, as husband contended, the trial court erred in its division of the marital estate by including an offset for the…
Date: February 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 11
Docket Number: 2012-367
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellee taxpayer Trevor Jenkins owned and lived on property in the Town of Milton. He failed to pay property taxes for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 tax years. The Town mailed him three delinquent tax notices, in June…
Date: February 21, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 19
Docket Number: 2012-405
Justia Opinion Summary: Twelve individuals and the Ferrisburgh Friends of Responsible Growth, Inc. appealed the Environmental Division’s affirming the grant of a conditional use zoning permit to Champlain Oil Company. The permit allowed…
Date: February 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 20
Docket Numbers: 2012-094, 2012-236
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated appeals, petitioners, both recipients of home-based long-term care benefits through Vermont's Medicaid-funded Choices for Care (Choices) program, appealed decisions of the Human Services Board disallowing…
Date: February 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 16
Docket Number: 2012-239
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of sexual assault. He appealed that conviction, arguing that his case should have been dismissed on speedy trial grounds and that he was entitled to a new trial based on statements made in closing…
Date: February 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 14
Docket Number: 2013-009
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from the Superior Court, Environmental Division’s affirmance of the zoning board’s grant of a conditional use zoning permit to applicant Group Five Investments, LLC, to build and operate a Dollar…
Date: February 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 17
Docket Number: 2013-355
Justia Opinion Summary: The father of L.M. appealed the trial court's finding L.M. to be a child in need of care or supervision (CHINS). He raised numerous arguments. The Supreme Court found that while father's unstable living situation,…
Date: February 7, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 18
Docket Number: 2013-155
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Vermont appealed the superior court’s reversal of the Vermont Parole Board’s decision to revoke Edwin Rodriguez’s parole. On appeal, the State argued: (1) the court erred in weighing the evidence and…
Date: January 31, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 10
Docket Number: 2013-193
Justia Opinion Summary: The mother in this case appealed the family division's decision to place sole legal parental rights and responsibilities for the parties' two daughters with the father. She also appealed the family division's award of a…
Date: January 24, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 9
Docket Number: 2013-026
Justia Opinion Summary: The Town of Monkton brought a consolidated appeal from decisions of the state appraiser in three property tax cases challenging the Town's 2011 assessment. At issue was the manner in which the Town assessed land that had…
Date: January 24, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 13
Docket Number: 2013-108
Justia Opinion Summary: Applicant Alan Bjerke appealed the Environmental Division's affirmance of the Burlington Development Review Board's decision to deny his application for a zoning permit to alter the exterior of his house. Applicant…
Date: January 24, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 12
Docket Number: 2013-140
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Brian Aubuchon appealed the superior court’s denial of his request under Vermont Rule of Criminal Procedure 35 for additional credit toward his aggregated minimum sentence. Under the facts and circumstances of…
Date: January 14, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 3
Docket Number: 2013-291
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Edward Wesolow was among the signers of a petition to place two articles on the warning for the Town of Lowell’s 2012 annual meeting. One of those articles was an advisory article expressing opposition to a…
Date: January 10, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 2
Docket Numbers: 2012-387, 2012-416, 2013-007
Date: January 10, 2014
Docket Numbers: 2012-387, 2012-416, 2013-007
Date: January 10, 2014
Docket Numbers: 2012-387, 2012-416, 2013-007
Date: January 10, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 4
Docket Number: 2013-078
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed the grant of defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law on his civil driver's license suspension. The trial court held that the State did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that…
Date: January 10, 2014
Citation: 2014 VT 7
Docket Number: 2013-278
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated appeals of a termination-of-parental-rights judgment, appointed counsel for the appellant parent moved to withdraw on the ground that continued representation was barred by Rule 3.1 of the Vermont Rules…
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