A different “two-step” analysis Quinones v. Bouffard, 2017 VT 103 By Andrew Delaney I’m once again in my “home office,” which means I’m lying in bed with my laptop and telling my wife: “I’m working.” It beats doing the dishes. If there’s an upside to this virus crisis it’s that we here at SCOV Law are making progress on the backlog. This one is a 2017 case about modification of parental rights and responsibilities. The…

This is a legal malpractice case. Just the phrase “legal malpractice” makes me a little sweaty and nervous. Such is a lawyer’s lot in life. Ms. Sachs had a brief relationship with a man in the summer of 2010. She got pregnant. When she told the father about the pregnancy, he “expressed his wish not to be involved with plaintiff and the child.” I quoted that directly from the opinion because that’s got to be…

A mixed “football” metaphor  State v. Burnett, 2020 VT 28 By Elizabeth Kruska The phrase “moving the goalposts” is a metaphor, and it feels apt here. It refers to situations where a process has started, but then the goal gets shifted, and the participant feels a sense of unfairness as a result of the change in goal. Suppose you went to work on Monday and there was a goal to manufacture 100 widgets…

I doubt DOC’s choice of bus was a circa-1970s VW peace bus,but a girl can dream, can’t she?  State v. Galloway, 2020 VT 29 By Jacob Oblak The Department of Corrections (DOC) screwed up. No other way to start this story. Mr. Galloway was serving a 10-year sentence from 2009 for sex crimes totaling four counts, and he maxed out on two counts (done with jail time), leaving only his remaining probation for the last…

Well, maybe.  HSBC Bank v. McAllister, 2018 VT 9 By Elizabeth Kruska This’ll be quick. A property in Windham County went into foreclosure, and after the six-month redemption period an auction was held. The only people who showed up for the auction were the auctioneer and the appellant. The auctioneer was hired by the bank, but the bank didn’t send a personal representative. The bank sent a bid to the auctioneer to be entered at…

What do you know about the Compelled Support Clause of the Vermont Constitution? As someone who’s taught the Vermont Constitution to college students, I probably shouldn’t admit that I know almost nothing about it, but there it is. We’re going to learn together today. This decision came out about two-and-a-half years ago. It involves a historic church, the Town’s payments for repairs, and taxpayers challenging those proposed expenditures. Let’s take a look at what happened.…

This is not a K-Mart “blue light special” State v. Clinton-Amiable, 2020 VT 30 by Jacob Oblak Things are not always as they seem. That’s a major theme in Macbeth. (My high school English teacher would be so proud of me.) Fine, you want a current reference? Think Morpheus and the red pill. Wait, The Matrix is over 20 years old now? How about “a cover is not the book”; it’s…