New Hampshire Supreme Court
Cases Accepted - September 1998
98-087 State of NH v. Vargas,* Aida
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Barbara A. Bradshaw
False report to law enforcement, willful
concealment - sufficiency of evidence; whether
superior court erred by remanding de novo appeal
to district court after defendant failed to
personally appear at pretrial conference
98-137 Shaughnessy,* John J. v. City of Laconia,
pro se Daniel E.
McKeever, Ron
Carrier,
William Johnson
Walter L. Mitchell
Welfare - whether court erred in refusing to
docket complaint unless indigent plaintiff either
paid $2,000 in attorney's fees or posted a bond;
whether court erred in finding claim brought in
bad faith without holding a hearing
98-150 Simpson, Barbara v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Denise A. Gallagher d/b/a
Sam's Club*
Craig L. Staples
Negligence - slip and fall; denial of directed
verdict in absence of notice to defendant of
slippery condition or evidence of length of time
slippery condition existed; improper jury
instruction; admission of hearsay; exclusion of
expert report that contradicted plaintiff's
testifying expert
98-153 Simonsen, Edwin and v. Town of Derry*
Stephanie Edmund J. Boutin
John J. Ratigan
Municipal regulation - whether court had
jurisdiction to hear appeal of planning board
decision when plaintiffs failed to file duly
verified petition as required by RSA 677:15, I;
whether planning board had authority to require
plaintiffs to pay assessment for offsite
improvements to road occasioned by plaintiffs'
development; cross-appeal - failure to award
attorney's fees
98-165 State of NH v. Ashton,* Edward
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Darcie E. Spence
Aggravated felonious sexual assault - motion for
new trial; ineffective assistance of counsel
98-180 Smithfield Dodge, Inc. d/b/a Nissan of
Exeter,* Appeal of
(department of labor)
Mark Sullivan, for petitioner
William J. Ouellette, pro se
Attorney General
Whistleblowers' Protection Act - use of improper
statutory standard; whether employer's reasons for
termination of employee were valid; sufficiency of
evidence
98-209 O'Neill, Sarah T. v. O'Neill,* Peter F.
Kathleen Goulet Mark H. Campbell
Divorce - whether court erred in awarding over
two-thirds of marital property to plaintiff when
order states that property distribution is
"approximately equal"; whether court erred in
awarding unequal property shares based on marital
fault ground where divorce was decreed on no fault
grounds
98-262 Shaughnessy,* John J. v. Lewis, Diane
pro se pro se
Defamation - failure of court to accept petition;
whether court erred by refusing to accept
plaintiff's petition on the basis of an order
requiring plaintiff to pay $2,000 in attorney's
fees before filing any further pleadings despite
plaintiff's indigency and inability to make said
payment; due process; access to courts; equal
protection
98-299 State of NH v. Miller,* Nick
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Lia Stuhlsatz
Driving after certification as a habitual
offender - failure to dismiss based on State's
failure to provide substantial corroboration of
defendant's confession; whether court erred by not
giving deadlock jury instruction
98-337 Crown Paper Co. d/b/a v. City of Berlin*
Crown Vantage, James Robert Upton II
River-N.H. Electric, Inc. Charles W. Grau
Margaret H. Nelson
Property tax abatement - proper definition of
"factory machinery"; whether certain telephone
poles, wires and equipment are taxable as real
estate; whether on remand after earlier appeal,
trial court may reconsider taxability of hydro
turbines and generators; interlocutory appeal
98-358 Wakefield School District,* Appeal of
(public employee labor relations board)
Michael S. Elwell
Steven Sacks
Attorney General
Unfair labor practice - whether school district
breached collective bargaining agreement when it
purchased long term disability insurance that
included a mental illness limitation; waiver,
estoppel, statute of limitations; doctrine of
impossibility; whether requirement for such
insurance was unenforceable due to failure to
submit cost items to legislative body for
approval; whether relief awarded by board was
outside its jurisdiction
98-383 Fabich, Kimberly M. v. Fabich,* Robert A. Sr.
R. Robert Gaumont, Jr. John D. Cameron
David J. Braiterman
Divorce - whether State retirement system
accidential disability benefits are marital
property subject to equitable distribution;
whether accidental disability benefits are
composed of "retirement component" and "disability
component"; whether court erred in ordering
payment of benefits to plaintiff to begin
immediately rather than at defendant's normal
retirement age; inequitable property distribution;
failure to consider plaintiff's retirement plan
and anticipated workers' compensation award
98-385 State of NH v. Tucker,* Paul
Attorney General James E. Duggan
John E. Durkin
Bribery - whether questioning of defendant aimed
at determining if defendant was in violation of
probation constituted "interrogation" for purposes
of Miranda analysis
98-413 In re Estate of Scott D. Wiggins
Gregory M. Sorg, for intervenor Nancy Cruger*
Kate Strickland, for administratrix
Probate estate - settlement proceeds; whether
court has jurisdiction over proceeds of class
action settlement; whether, in light of limited
modification that RSA 556:9-:14 makes to common
law rule against survival actions of tort for
personal injury or wrongful death, settlement
proceeds are property of the estate
98-418 State of NH v. Akeroyd,* Derry
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Julia M. Nye
Welfare fraud - whether applications for welfare
were admissible under business records exception
to hearsay rule
98-421 State of NH v. Fall,* Summer R.
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Thomas A. Ficarra
Criminal threatening - sufficiency of evidence;
denial of bill of particulars; failure of
indictment to identify victim and lack of
opportunity to cross-examine victim
98-437 State of NH v. Blake,* Scott Allan
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Rebecca A. Ivry
Driving after certification as a habitual offender
- whether stop of car constituted illegal seizure
98-438 State of NH v. Demyanovich,* Brian
Attorney General Mark L. Sisti
Second degree assault, criminal threatening -
denial of trial counsel's motion to withdraw;
denial of motion to enforce agreement with State;
denial of opportunity to present evidence of
insanity; denial of evidentiary hearing on motion
to enforce agreement; failure to allow counsel to
make a full record
98-450 State of NH v. Glanville,* Charles
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Christopher Keating
Attempted robbery - whether defendant reasonably
appeared to the victim to be armed with a deadly
weapon; legality of investigatory stop; legality
of protective frisk; whether search of defendant
exceeded scope of protective frisk; failure to
delete portions of presentence investigation
report
98-469 State of NH v. McCabe,* Kenneth
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Thomas A. Ficarra
Reckless conduct, criminal threatening -
sufficiency of evidence; denial of speedy
sentence; failure to seal psychiatric records
submitted for use at sentencing; failure to
instruct jury on lesser included offense
98-481 State of NH v. Haycock,* Walter
Attorney General Stan Hawthorne
Accomplice to second degree assault - numerous
issues including speedy trial; conflict of
interest by prosecutor; sufficiency of indictment;
whether defendant was competent; denial of
continuance due to unavailability of witness;
admission of reputation evidence as to
truthfulness of witness; jury instructions
98-482 State of NH v. Haycock,* Jack
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Sven D. Wiberg
Second degree assault - sufficiency of indictment;
sufficiency of evidence; improper argument by
State regarding prior bad acts and references to
facts not in evidence; whether testimony regarding
defendant's failure to give statement to police
violated his right against self-incrimination
Note: The court has consolidated 98-137 and 98-
262.