Vermont Supreme Court Decisions 2020
Date: December 31, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 107
Docket Number: 2019-324
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner H.H. appealed a Vermont Human Services Board order upholding the Department for Children and Families’ (DCF’s) substantiation of a report that she placed her daughter at risk of harm from sexual abuse. The…
Date: December 31, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 108
Docket Number: 2020-042
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Vermont appealed a trial court order denying its motion for a mental examination of defendant Aita Gurung, who was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife and attempted first-degree murder of his…
Date: December 18, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 109
Docket Number: 2020-034
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Anthony Brunetta appealed the civil suspension of his driver’s license for driving under the influence (DUI), arguing that the criminal division erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence he alleged was…
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 105
Docket Number: 2020-077
Justia Opinion Summary: Husband appealed the parties’ final divorce order relating to property division, arguing that the family division erred by: (1) barring him from conducting discovery of a non-party concerning a trust in which wife had an…
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 2015 VT 112
Docket Number: 2020-106
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 2014 VT 33
Docket Number: 2020-140
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 2009 VT 11
Docket Number: 2020-148
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 2010 VT 10
Docket Number: 2020-157
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 2011 VT 81
Docket Number: 2020-194
Date: November 20, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 104
Docket Number: 2020-055
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether Vermont had to recognize and register an Alabama order granting plaintiff father, W.H., sole physical and legal custody of juvenile M.P., who resided in Vermont and was in the custody of…
Date: November 13, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 102
Docket Number: 2020-122
Justia Opinion Summary: Robert Grundstein appealed the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners’ determination that he failed to establish his eligibility for admission to the Vermont bar in connection with his 2019 application for admission by…
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 99
Docket Number: 2019-368
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2003, Richard Howell invented a binding that has a “special, patented heel release designed to mitigate knee injuries . . . that are common in downhill skiing.” Howell formed a business relationship with John…
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 100
Docket Number: 2020-060
Justia Opinion Summary: Ashlie Brannan appealed a trial court’s determination that Ashton Peralta was a de facto parent of A.Z. pursuant to 15C V.S.A. 501. She argued the court erred both in denying her motion to dismiss and in evaluating the…
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 2018 VT 96
Docket Number: 2020-069
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 98
Docket Number: 2020-147
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff R.L. Vallee, Inc. appealed the Environmental Division’s decision granting an Act 250 permit to the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) for a highway project involving the reconfiguration of an interstate…
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 2009 VT 32
Docket Number: 2020-159
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 2016 VT 130
Docket Number: 2020-193
Date: November 5, 2020
Citation: 2013 VT 24
Docket Number: 2020-242
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 94
Docket Number: 2018-333
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Morris Nelson appealed his convictions for: (1) repeated aggravated sexual assault as part of a common scheme and plan; (2) sexual assault of a victim under the age of eighteen entrusted to his care by…
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 91
Docket Numbers: 2019-022, 2019-023
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Peter Williams and Peter Boissoneault brought a consolidated appeal of the criminal court’s denial of motions to exclude evidence filed in their respective driving under the influence, third offense (DUI-3)…
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 84
Docket Number: 2019-408
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the family division’s decision declining to adjudicate her a de facto parent of J.F. pursuant to 15C V.S.A. 501(b). The family division found that plaintiff had failed to demonstrate by clear and…
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 96
Docket Number: 2020-057
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Robert Caron, Sr. appealed his conviction by jury of sexual assault–no consent. In June 2018, complainant, then thirty-four years old, reported to the Bennington Police Department that she had been sexually…
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 92
Docket Number: 2020-070
Justia Opinion Summary: Damon Petrie appealed the family division’s denial of his motion to dismiss his ex-wife, Angela Blake’s, attempt to enforce a judgment she obtained in their divorce action. Petrie claimed enforcement of the judgment was…
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 95
Docket Number: 2020-097
Justia Opinion Summary: Parents appealed the termination of their rights in A.M. and G.M., ages five and four. Parents struggled with substance abuse and were incarcerated periodically during the underlying proceedings. In January 2018, the…
Date: October 16, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 93
Docket Number: 2020-102
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Raymond Harrington appealed the issuance of a relief-from-abuse order requiring him to have no contact with and stay a hundred feet away from plaintiff Melissa Scheffler (his sister), her residence, and their…
Date: October 9, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 86
Docket Number: 2019-246
Justia Opinion Summary: Juvenile A.P. appealed an adjudication of delinquency based on “open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior” under 13 V.S.A. section 2601. Juvenile argued: (1) the evidence did not support a finding that his conduct…
Date: October 9, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 83
Docket Number: 2019-280
Justia Opinion Summary: Vermont National Telephone Company (VNT) appealed the state Commissioner of Taxes’ determination that, pursuant to Department of Taxes Regulation section 1.5833-1, the capital gain VNT earned from the 2013 sale of two…
Date: October 9, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 46
Docket Number: 2020-038
Date: October 9, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 52
Docket Number: 2020-068
Date: October 9, 2020
Citation: 2008 VT 70
Docket Number: 2020-141
Date: October 2, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 90
Docket Number: 2019-184
Justia Opinion Summary: In prior proceedings, the Vermont Supreme Court remanded this case involving Alpine Haven, a residential development in the Towns of Montgomery and Westfield, Vermont. The case was remanded to the trial court for a…
Date: October 2, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 87
Docket Number: 2019-212
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Robert Stephens appealed after he was convicted by jury of attempted sexual assault. On appeal, he argued: (1) the State’s evidence at trial was insufficient to establish the offense charged in the State’s…
Date: October 2, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 88
Docket Number: 2019-242
Justia Opinion Summary: Homeowner Edward Deptula appealed pro se a judgment in favor of plaintiff Alpine Haven Property Owners’ Association, Inc. (AHPOA) and third-party defendants Estate of Robert Gensburg and Gensburg & Greaves, PLLC…
Date: October 2, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 89
Docket Number: 2019-245
Justia Opinion Summary: During the certificate of need (CON) application process, applicant ACTD, LLC (operator of the Green Mountain Surgery Center (GMSC), a for-profit multi-specialty ambulatory surgery center), indicated that it initially…
Date: September 25, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 85
Docket Number: 2020-011
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff challenged the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion to modify the parties’ parenting schedule. The parties were married in 2012. Plaintiff gave birth to their child in 2015, and defendant adopted the…
Date: September 25, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 80
Docket Number: 2020-111
Justia Opinion Summary: Father appealed a family division order terminating his parental rights to his son C.B., born in August 2016. The State filed a petition alleging that C.B. was a child in need of care or supervision (CHINS) in October…
Date: September 11, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 82
Docket Number: 2019-047
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Jacob Rillo appealed his conviction for selling or dispensing a regulated drug (fentanyl) with death resulting, arguing that his guilty plea lacked a factual basis. After review of the trial court record, the…
Date: September 11, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 77
Docket Number: 2019-387
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, MontChilly, Inc., appealed a trial court’s order requiring it to remove portions of a fence that interfered with plaintiff VTRE Investments, LLC's easement for ingress and egress. MontChilly also contended the…
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 2016 VT 17
Docket Number: 2020-056
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 6
Docket Number: 2020-058
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 2018 VT 121
Docket Number: 2020-074
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 85
Docket Number: 2020-100
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 2010 VT 37
Docket Number: 2020-101
Date: September 1, 2020
Citation: 2018 VT 41
Docket Number: 2020-199
Date: August 28, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 76
Docket Number: 2019-333
Justia Opinion Summary: Todd and Melissa Muller appealed a superior court decision granting summary judgment to their insurer, Progressive Northern Insurance Company. The Mullers challenged the court’s conclusions on how the setoff provision of…
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 72
Docket Number: 2019-075
Justia Opinion Summary: Both the Vermont State Employees’ Association (VSEA) and the State of Vermont appealed a Labor Relations Board decision sustaining and dismissing in part a grievance filed by the VSEA on behalf of grievant Michael Welch,…
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 74
Docket Number: 2019-255
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Gregory Welch was convicted by jury of lewd and lascivious conduct. At trial, the State introduced evidence that defendant fled when police tried to arrest him, and the court instructed the jury on the use of…
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 59
Docket Number: 2019-327
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2006 VT 26
Docket Number: 2019-411
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 73
Docket Number: 2019-423
Justia Opinion Summary: R.L. Vallee, Inc. appealed the superior court’s denial of its motion to intervene in a state condemnation action seeking property rights for a highway project. Vallee argued: (1) it had a right to intervene under Vermont…
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 11
Docket Number: 2020-029
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2011 VT 26
Docket Number: 2020-059
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 32
Docket Number: 2020-066
Date: August 14, 2020
Citation: 2018 VT 96
Docket Number: 2020-115
Date: August 7, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 69
Docket Number: 2019-049
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff lived in Stowe, Vermont with her husband C.D. and their teenage daughter. Plaintiff and her husband co-founded a business, Transegy, LLC, that provided leadership development and executive coaching. Plaintiff…
Date: August 7, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 64
Docket Numbers: 2019-131, 2019-132
Justia Opinion Summary: In May 2018, appellants Green Mountain Fireworks, LLC and its owner Matthew Lavigne, began selling fireworks from a retail store in Colchester, Vermont. As described in their complaint, the “intended purpose” for the…
Date: August 7, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 70
Docket Number: 2019-400
Justia Opinion Summary: Taxpayer Gabriel Martinez appealed a Property Valuation and Review Division (PVR) hearing officer's decision setting the fair market value of his property for purposes of the 2017 Town of Hartford grand list. Taxpayer…
Date: August 7, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 71
Docket Number: 2020-043
Justia Opinion Summary: Father, Joe Golden, challenged a family division magistrate’s order requiring him to continue paying child support past his son S.W.’s eighteenth birthday while S.W. was enrolled in a home-study program. Father argued…
Date: July 31, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 71
Docket Number: 2018-158
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-investors appealed the dismissal of their claims against the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) and current and former state employees arising from the operation of a federally licensed…
Date: July 31, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 68
Docket Number: 2019-097
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Matthew Hinton appealed a superior court’s sentence following his guilty plea to escaping from furlough. Defendant argued that new legislation decriminalizing the conduct should have been applied retroactively…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 65
Docket Number: 2019-034
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Michael Harwood appealed after a trial court concluded he violated one of the conditions of his probation. In 2017, defendant was charged by information with one count of aggravated domestic assault, and two…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 57
Docket Number: 2019-082
Justia Opinion Summary: Katherine Hall appealed an Environmental Division decision granting summary judgment to Chittenden Resorts, LLC and RMT Associates, d/b/a Mountain Top Inn & Resort (the Resort). The Environmental Division concluded the…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 66
Docket Number: 2019-233
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Thomas Gauthier appealed his conviction for violating the Sex Offender Registration Act after he he knowingly failed to comply with reporting requirements while released on furlough status. He argued on appeal…
Date: July 17, 2020
Citation: 2016 VT 64
Docket Number: 2020-039
Date: July 17, 2020
Citation: 2014 VT 65
Docket Number: 2020-089
Date: July 17, 2020
Citation: 2014 VT 38
Docket Number: 2020-119
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 60
Docket Number: 2019-015
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Christina Allcock appealed her convictions for aggravated assault on a police officer, simple assault on a police officer, and impeding a police officer. Law enforcement responded to an emergency call in March…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 58
Docket Number: 2019-072
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented for the Vermont Supreme Court's review in this interlocutory appeal centered on the available legal means for collaterally challenging a predicate conviction to an enhanced charge in light of two…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 52
Docket Numbers: 2019-185, 2019-241
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, a number of independent school districts, school boards, parents, students, and citizens, challenged the implementation of Act 46, as amended by Act 49, regarding the involuntary merger of school districts.…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 59
Docket Number: 2019-257
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Susan Inouye challenged the probate division's allowance of her mother's most recent will. Testator was ninety-two years old and a resident of Windsor County, Vermont when she died in 2016. Testator previously…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 53
Docket Number: 2019-337
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Huntington School District appealed the civil division’s order dismissing its complaint on motion of the two state defendants and granting defendant Mount Mansfield Modified Unified Union School District's…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 55
Docket Number: 2020-012
Justia Opinion Summary: Applicant Lewis Birt successfully completed Vermont’s Law Office Study (LOS) Program in April 2000. Thereafter, applicant sat for the Vermont bar exam four times between 2002 and 2004, failing each time. In July 2019,…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 48
Docket Number: 2019-150
Justia Opinion Summary: A.A., born in February 2003, was first adjudicated delinquent and placed at Woodside, a secure treatment facility for juveniles, in September 2016. He was placed back in his home in the continued custody of the…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 43
Docket Number: 2019-206
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, the Friends of Pine Street d/b/a Pine Street Coalition (Coalition), filed suit attempting to challenge the City of Burlington’s necessity order relating to the construction of the Champlain Parkway project.…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 45
Docket Number: 2019-218
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Fortieth Burlington, LLC filed suit to challenge the City of Burlington’s decision that there was a reasonable need to lay out a portion of roadway for part of a project known as the Champlain Parkway. The…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 47
Docket Number: 2019-249
Justia Opinion Summary: Bernard Boudreau appealed the environmental division’s dismissal of his appeal of a Manchester Development Review Board (MDRB) decision for lack of jurisdiction. The Vermont Supreme Court concluded that Boudreau’s appeal…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 50
Docket Number: 2019-297
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Bradley Newton, who was injured when his brother’s truck broke apart while on a lift in plaintiff’s garage, appealed the civil division’s decision granting summary judgment to defendants associated with the…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 46
Docket Number: 2019-361
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Shannon Huston was stopped by a law-enforcement officer in July 2019 and received notice that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) intended to suspend her license to operate a motor vehicle. Prior to a…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 49
Docket Number: 2020-135
Date: June 12, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 44
Docket Number: 2019-281
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Kirk Wool appeals the superior court’s dismissal of his petition for mandamus relief against the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) for lack of standing and for failure to state a claim upon which relief…
Date: June 5, 2020
Citation: 2016 VT 93
Docket Number: 2019-371
Date: June 5, 2020
Citation: 2012 VT 28
Docket Number: 2019-392
Date: June 5, 2020
Citation: 2015 VT 37
Docket Number: 2020-005
Date: June 5, 2020
Citation: 2010 VT 91
Docket Number: 2020-021
Date: June 5, 2020
Citation: 2008 VT 4
Docket Number: 2020-049
Date: May 29, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 39
Docket Numbers: 2018-061, 2019-190, 2018-067, 2019-196
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Thomas and Katherine Ferguson appealed their respective convictions for animal cruelty and a judgment for animal forfeiture, both arising from the conditions in which they kept over twenty animals in their…
Date: May 29, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 37
Docket Number: 2019-069
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Loren Kandzior challenged his conviction on one count of sexual assault on two grounds: (1) that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of a prior false rape allegation; and (2) that his right to a fair…
Date: May 29, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 38
Docket Numbers: 2019-205, 2019-096
Justia Opinion Summary: Subcontractor Construction Drilling, Inc. (CDI) appealed a trial court’s judgment on the merits in its breach-of-contract claim against Engineers Construction, Inc. (ECI). CDI contended the trial court erred in: (1)…
Date: May 22, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 40
Docket Number: 2020-135
Date: May 8, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 35
Docket Number: 2019-166
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Bourdeau Bros., Inc. was a Vermont company that sold agricultural supplies, feed, and chemicals. Defendants operated a dairy farm in Georgia, Vermont. In July 2016, plaintiff sued defendant Boissonneault Family…
Date: May 8, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 33
Docket Number: 2019-180
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Michael Touchette and Centurion Healthcare brought an interlocutory appeal of a trial court's certification of a class of plaintiffs in a Vermont Rule 75 action. The certified class was comprised of people in…
Date: May 8, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 34
Docket Number: 2020-015
Justia Opinion Summary: Daughter A.W. was born in October 2013 and son A.W. was born in June 2017. In February 2019, father was charged with domestic assault for attempting to strangle daughter, who was five years old at the time. As a result,…
Date: May 1, 2020
Citation: 2013 VT 115
Docket Number: 2019-401
Date: May 1, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 59
Docket Number: 2019-403
Date: May 1, 2020
Citation: 2017 VT 51
Docket Numbers: 2019-420, 2019-421
Date: May 1, 2020
Citation: 2011 VT 3
Docket Number: 2020-040
Date: April 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 32
Docket Number: 2019-215
Justia Opinion Summary: MiHae (Hooper) Randall (mother) filed a motion with the family division requesting Timothy Randall (father) pay a portion of her attorney’s fees relating to proceedings modifying the parties' parental rights and…
Date: April 3, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 23
Docket Number: 2019-036
Justia Opinion Summary: The trial court dismissed plaintiff Paul Civetti's negligence action against the Town of Isle La Motte and the Town Road Commissioner on grounds that: (1) because the Road Commissioner was an “appointed or elected…
Date: April 3, 2020
Citation: 2011 VT 122
Docket Number: 2019-291
Date: April 3, 2020
Citation: 2013 VT 29
Docket Number: 2019-363
Date: April 3, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 11
Docket Number: 2019-374
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 28
Docket Number: 2018-240
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Austin Burnett appealed a trial court’s decision that he violated a condition of his probation. Defendant’s relevant underlying convictions were for sexual assault of a victim under the age of sixteen and…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 30
Docket Number: 2018-355
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Henry Clinton-Aimable appealed his conviction of knowing and unlawful possession of more than one ounce of cocaine. Defendant was charged with possession of cocaine following a traffic stop. On appeal, he…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2019 VT 58
Docket Numbers: 2019-062, 2019-140
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 31
Docket Number: 2019-101
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Eric Nagel appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress and dismiss. A deputy sheriff driving along Route 2 recognized the vehicle in front of him from previous law enforcement encounters. He…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 29
Docket Number: 2019-110
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Darryl Galloway appealed a trial court’s conclusion that he violated a condition of probation when he failed to complete a sex-offender treatment program while incarcerated. He argued that the Department of…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 25
Docket Number: 2019-213
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was the tax status of a 9.9-acre parcel of land containing an 11,500-square-foot garage that was owned and used by Zlotoff Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit charitable organization, for the purpose of…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2018 VT 1
Docket Number: 2019-261
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 2015 VT 52
Docket Number: 2019-328
Date: March 13, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 21
Docket Number: 2018-116
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for first-degree aggravated domestic assault. On appeal, he argued the trial court denied him the right to a fair trial by refusing to grant immunity to his witness or to compel the…
Date: March 13, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 20
Docket Number: 2018-319
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed after she was convicted for conspiracy to commit heroin trafficking. On appeal, she argued the trial court erred in: (1) denying her motion for judgment of acquittal because the State failed to prove…
Date: March 13, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 22
Docket Number: 2019-077
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties in this case disputed access to a segment of road that extended across defendant's property and onto plaintiff's property. The superior court determined plaintiffs had the right to use the road because it was…
Date: March 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 24
Docket Number: 2019-197
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued for quiet title to prevent defendants from using a road that passed through her property to access defendants' adjacent property. The superior court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants, because…
Date: March 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 27
Docket Number: 2019-373
Date: March 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 26
Docket Number: 2020-054
Date: February 28, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 14
Docket Number: 2015-437
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Gregory FitzGerald appealed two superior court decisions entering judgment for the State on his petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). On appeal, petitioner argued he was prejudiced by the cumulative…
Date: February 28, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 18
Docket Number: 2018-274
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Brandon Rolls was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a minor, was acquitted by a jury of that charge, but convicted of the lesser-included offense of sexual assault. Defense counsel objected to the…
Date: February 28, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 17
Docket Number: 2019-021
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Clay Knight appealed the civil division’s affirming a small-claims award to the Town of Bennington for reimbursement of defendant’s salary and benefits pursuant to a contract between defendant and the Town.…
Date: February 28, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 19
Docket Number: 2019-229
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff T.C. sought an order of protection against stalking or sexual assault (SSA order) against defendant L.D. Plaintiff was seventeen at the time she sought the order; defendant was thirteen. The court dismissed…
Date: February 21, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 16
Docket Number: 2019-115
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case before the Vermont Supreme Court was the meaning of “date of loss” for the purpose of an insurance policy’s condition that any action be commenced within one year after the “date of loss.” The trial…
Date: February 21, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 15
Docket Number: 2019-122
Justia Opinion Summary: Applicant, the Snyder Group, Inc., which initially obtained approval from the City of South Burlington Development Review Board (DRB) to construct a planned unit development (PUD), appealed an Environmental Division’s…
Date: February 21, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 12
Docket Number: 2019-127
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a Labor Relations Board decision that grievant Jacob Carnelli, a former correctional officer who was eligible for mandatory reemployment pursuant to the applicable collective bargaining agreement…
Date: February 21, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 13
Docket Number: 2019-169
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from the denial of defendant Mary Ann Theberge’s post-judgment motion to enforce the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to a spousal-maintenance award made in her favor in the parties’ divorce action. The…
Date: February 21, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 11
Docket Number: 2019-269
Justia Opinion Summary: The Town of Ludlow appealed a Property Valuation & Review Division (PVR) hearing officer’s decision lowering the fair market value of two quartertime-share condominium properties, Jackson Gore Inn and Adams House,…
Date: January 31, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 10
Docket Number: 2018-347
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Donald Bouchard pled guilty to two sex offenses, and challenged several of the special sex-offender probation conditions imposed on him. The two offenses related to lewd and lascivious conduct, and one count of…
Date: January 31, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 9
Docket Number: 2019-129
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Reco Jones appealed the civil division’s denial of his postconviction relief (PCR) petition alleging that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty plea was involuntary. Due to his…
Date: January 24, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 6
Docket Number: 2018-368
Justia Opinion Summary: Following a jury trial, defendant Venessa Sarkisian-Kennedy was convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, second offense (DUI-2), and criminal refusal of an evidentiary breath test (refusal). She…
Date: January 24, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 7
Docket Number: 2019-035
Date: January 24, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 4
Docket Number: 2019-094
Justia Opinion Summary: The Chittenden County, Vermont Sheriff’s Department (CCSD) appealed the Vermont Employment Security Board’s ruling that the CCSD was not entitled to relief from several weeks of unemployment compensation benefits which…
Date: January 17, 2020
Docket Number: 2017-320
Date: January 17, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 3
Docket Number: 2019-282
Justia Opinion Summary: Parents appealed the termination of their rights in M.L., born in 2014, and H.T., born in 2015, following a long-delayed initial disposition hearing. They argued the trial court: (1) committed plain error in accepting…
Date: January 10, 2020
Citation: 2020 VT 1
Docket Number: 2019-270
Justia Opinion Summary: Parents appeal the termination of their parental rights to son C.L.S. C.L.S. was born in February 2018. During mother’s last trimester of pregnancy, hospital staff reported to the Department for Children and Families…
Date: January 6, 2020
Citation: 2004 VT 106
Docket Number: 2019-188
Date: January 6, 2020
Citation: 2017 VT 64
Docket Number: 2019-207
Date: January 6, 2020
Citation: 2013 VT 62
Docket Number: 2019-248
Date: January 6, 2020
Citation: 2018 VT 93
Docket Number: 2019-262
Date: January 6, 2020
Citation: 2013 VT 58
Docket Number: 2019-330
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