This tiger says, “negligence is made up ofduty, breach, causation, and harm.”
Stephan Palmer v. Mark Furlan and State of Vermont
The facts of this case are fairly straightforward. The legal analysis of this case includes an excellent one-paragraph refresher of a law school torts class and a concurrence that reminds us we never really know what judges are going to do until they do it.
Mr. Palmer was in jail serving a sentence. He…
In re Petition of New Haven GLC Solar
This is a pretty long opinion, because it details a lot of things that happened. I am generally going to skip those things, because this is a “summary” and not a “longary” which is a word I made up but you know what I mean.
New Haven GLC Solar (GLC) wanted to build a net-metered solar array in the town of New Haven. A net-metered system is…
Where’s the key?
In re Affidavit of Probable Cause, 2019 VT 43
By Elizabeth Kruska
Interestingly, court records—by and large—are public documents. Suppose you read about a legal case on the interwebs and you think, “Huh. I think I’d like to know more about that case.” You can. You just go to the courthouse, ask to see the file, and in most cases, you get to look at it. You can even make copies. I…
Not an entirely lost art . . .
Brandt v. Menard, 2019 VT 32
By Elizabeth Kruska
A wise man once said, “when you control the mail, you control… information.” OK, maybe a wise man wrote the line. Oh, to be able to write like Larry David. But, I write like Elizabeth Kruska, so that’s what you’re getting.
Anyway, at relevant times, Mr. Brandt was an inmate serving a Vermont sentence. When someone’s…
Are they really lies?If there’s a privilege, it won’tsupport a defamation claim
Couture v. Trainer, 2017 VT 73
By Andrew Delaney
Dad sued mom and aunt because he claimed that they coached daughter in saying “Daddy hit me.” He also alleged that they submitted defamatory audio and video recordings of daughter’s statements to his parole officer, and that mom made false statements to his parole officer and in mom’s petition for relief from abuse. Dad…
A merry-go-round of litigation
In re Faignant, 2019 VT 29 (mem.)
By Andrew Delaney
I like Google Scholar a lot. In fact, that’s what I usually link to because the Judiciary is always fiddlin’ with its website and I never know if the links will work a week or two from now (go ahead—look at some of our older posts and click those links for a super-fun 404 error). Google’s links have a much better…
A bird. Because there aren’t really any good photos ofthe rules of civil procedure.
I’ll keep this short.
Mr. and Mrs. Weitz want or wanted to get divorced. One or both of them live or lived in Massachusetts. They also have a house in Vermont and a house in New Hampshire. Mrs. Weitz filed for divorce in Vermont. Initially Mr. Weitz wanted the case to be heard in New Hampshire, but then agreed to Vermont.…
These biscotti have almonds baked in,not alimony
Atherton v. Atherton, 2019 VT 15
By Chris Larson
I’m writing about this case from the Speakeasy Cafe in Rutland, eating a plate of almond cookies. As an aside, this is a really good cookie and a fabulous coffee shop. Check it out if you’re in our fair city.
This aside is related to our discussion of this case because these cookies have fat almonds baked into them…
This is just a cool bird.
In re Appeal of Sharon McSweeney
This case seems like it’s about adoption but it’s really about statutory construction and administrative agency authority.
There’s a federal law that provides for assistance with adoptions. If a child is adopted through DCF, DCF has a pool of federally-provided funds available to provide subsidies to the adoptive parents until the child turns 18. This makes sense; kids aren’t cheap, and to help…
Scales. Get it?
Since I love analogies, I’m going to start with a true story analogy. My husband recently bought a car from someone he knows. This was a pleasant transaction and both parties walked away happy. So, here’s my husband, driving around in his new-to-him car. He gets home and decides he’s going to vacuum the floormats or something and he finds some stuff left behind in the car by the prior owner. He…
