New Hampshire Supreme Court
Cases Accepted - July 1997
* denotes appealing parties
96-703 In re: Heather D.
Richard Cornelius for father*
Benette Pizzimenti for mother
Jeffrey Philpot, GAL
Termination of parental rights - sufficiency of evidence;
where all records of father's mental health provider
turned over, whether father/respondent must provide
general release before being permitted to call provider's
employees to testify; denial of interrogatories regarding
prospective adopter; limitation on respondent's access to
mother/petitioner's mental health records
96-762 Harvey,* Daniel W. v. Hsu, Douglas T. and Mary
James S. Schulte Thomas R. Watson
Quiet title - whether plaintiff owns the land in
question; whether defendants established adverse
possession; allocation of burden of proof as to adverse
possession; erroneous construction of 1844 deed
97-032 State of NH v. Pierson,* Steven
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Stuart Dedopoulos
Felonious sexual assault - sufficiency of the evidence
97-156 State of NH* v. Locke, Danny
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Andrew R. Schulman
Second degree murder, robbery - whether defendant may be
charged as an accomplice to a crime requiring proof of
the culpable mental state of recklessness; suppression of
statements to codefendant on grounds that police violated
the one-party consent provision of the wiretap statute
97-279 SAU #16 Cooperative School Board,* Appeal of
(public employee labor relations board)
Douglas S. Hatfield for SAU #16
James F. Allmendinger for Exeter Education Association
Attorney General
Public employee labor relations - successor organization;
whether the appellant is a successor to the Exeter School
District and bound by its collective bargaining
agreement; failure of board to recognize formation of new
political entity
97-298 N.B. Development* v. KMart Corporation
K. William Clauson Mark E. Howard
Landlord-tenant - commercial lease; whether affidavit was
based on personal knowledge of admissible facts; whether
court erred in concluding defendant was not in default of
lease obligation to construct expansion; whether material
disputes of fact should have precluded summary judgment
97-301 Manchester Association v. Mayor, City of Manchester
of Police Supervisors*
Eugene R. Quinn, Jr. Kevin M. St. Onge
Municipal employees - longevity step increases; whether
court erred in determining that public employee labor
relations board or an arbitrator should determine if
plaintiff's claims involve matters covered by collective
bargaining agreement
97-311 Cusson,* Gerard and Bertha v. Beauregard, Dennis A.
Stephen E. Borofsky Carol L. Hess
Negligence - motorcycle accident; whether court erred in
dismissing plaintiff's action following plaintiff's
opening statement; failure to allow plaintiff to amend or
enlarge his opening statement
97-332 Mercier,* David, Appeal of
(workers' compensation appeals board)
Leslie H. Johnson for Mr. Mercier
Eric Bernard for National Fence & Granite Company
Eric Falkenham for Pitco Frialator
Attorney General
Workers' compensation - failure to award disability
benefits despite work-related injury and claimant's
inability to find job within his restrictions; failure to
require seasonal employer to offer light work to claimant
97-334 Town of Stratham,* Appeal of
(public employee labor relations board)
Robert P. Leslie for town
Thomas D. Noonan for Teamsters Local 633
Attorney General
Municipal employees - bargaining unit certification;
inclusion of "on call" employees in bargaining unit;
including truck/heavy equipment operators in same unit as
police officers; whether police chief's secretary holds
confidential position; whether police lieutenants and
sergeants hold supervisory positions
97-342 Pivero, Anthony J. v. Largy,* Chief Clifton
Peter C. Phillips James M. McNamee
Police personnel files - whether a police investigatory
file concerning citizen's complaint about a police
officer that was found to be not sustained must be
released to police officer; whether said file became part
of police officer's personnel record; whether said file
is confidential under Right-to-Know Law and thus exempt
from disclosure under RSA 275:56
97-343 State of NH v. Smith,* Dennis A.
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Ronald L. Abramson
Violation of protective order, resisting arrest, simple
assault, criminal trespassing - whether defendant may be
sentenced to enhanced sentences of over one year in
prison for misdemeanors where defendant was not indicted
by grand jury; whether State required to prove actual
conduct alleged in resisting arrest information; whether
resisting arrest and simple assault convictions violated
double jeopardy; consideration by court of felony charge
of which defendant had been acquitted; whether sentence
violated part I, article 18 of the State Constitution
97-352 State of NH v. Dunton,* Lewis
Attorney General Jefferson K. Allen
Aggravated felonious sexual assault - denial of mistrial
where prosecutor made personal assertions during closing
argument as to the truth; whether State has burden to
show that prosecutorial overreaching was harmless error
beyond a reasonable doubt
97-379 State of NH v. Gray,* Brian
Attorney General Stephen E. Gaige
Aggravated felonious sexual assault - denial of
deposition of key witness for State; exclusion of witness
who would have testified regarding victim's reputation
for truthfulness; sufficiency of evidence; whether court
erred in instructing jury that victim's testimony did not
need to be corroborated
97-384 State of NH v. Daniels,* David
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Dorothy Graham
Theft by unauthorized taking - sufficiency of evidence of
intent to permanently deprive owner of property; whether
jury instruction created risk of lack of jury unanimity
as to when defendant obtained property with the purpose
to deprive; whether jury instruction impermissibly
amended indictment
97-387 State of NH v. Bennett,* Eric
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Caroline L. Smith
Manslaughter - exclusion of evidence of defendant's
actions on the night of the incident; exclusion of expert
testimony regarding recklessness of use of neck restraint
and lack of common knowledge of lethal nature of neck
restraint; exclusion of defendant's statements to police
officer as hearsay; exclusion of evidence that defendant
waived Miranda rights and cooperated with police
97-432 Acadia Insurance Co. v. McNeil, Michael & a.
Bruce W. Felmly Christine M. Rockefeller
Marilyn L. Lytle
Insurance - ocean marine insurance policy; whether RSA
412:2 (II) applies to the liability component of an ocean
marine insurance issued in New Hampshire; certified
question from U.S. Court of Appeal
97-460 Bursey,* Arthur H., Petition of
Paul J. Haley for Arthur Bursey
Dorothy F. Silver for Faith Bursey
Ralph Stein for Doris Bursey
Fred J. Forman for Diversified Financial Systems, Inc.
Roy A. Duddy for Edmund Nichols
Divorce proceedings - contempt; whether court erred in
ordering petitioner, without an evidentiary hearing, to
pay all property taxes due on corporate property when
petitioner owns only half the stock; whether court erred
in finding petitioner, without an evidentiary hearing, in
contempt and in issuing capias for his arrest
97-480 State of NH* v. Cannuli, Michael and
Cynthia Cannuli
Attorney General Sven Wiberg for Mr.
Cannuli
David P. Mooney for Ms.
Cannuli
First degree assault, theft by extortion, witness
tampering, arson, insurance fraud, theft, criminal
mischief, altering certificate of title - search warrant;
whether defendants have standing to challenge validity of
warrant authorizing seizure of property from a third
party's residence; whether warrant was supported by
probable cause