New Hampshire Supreme Court
Cases Accepted - August 1999
* denotes appealing parties
98-517 State of NH v. Timmons,* Richard
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Bruce R. Jasper
Imposition of deferred sentence - whether defendant
received notice of specific claim of alleged failure to
testify truthfully; sufficiency of evidence
98-547 State of NH v. Nason,* Melissa
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Michael C. Shklar
Imposition of deferred sentence - sufficiency of
circumstantial evidence; failure to require presentence
report upon resentencing
98-780 Piper, Beth, David v. Hillside Estates
Dipietro, Steven W. Condominium Association*
Nickson Scott W. Flood
Mark C. Rouvalis Timothy J. Arel
Sarah B. Knowlton
Condominium association - attorney's fees; whether court
erred in awarding attorney's fees to petitioners under
RSA 356-B:15, which only authorizes attorney's fees to be
awarded to the unit owners' association; whether any
statutory ground or case law exception authorizes the
award of attorney's fees
99-125 Peterson,* Ralph D., v. Town of Dummer, Michael D.
Jeannette L. Peterson Dandeneau, Ruth C.
Jack P. Crisp, Jr. Dandeneau
James E. Michalik
Petition to quiet title - whether town is bound by
representations of elected official to purchaser
regarding boundaries of land owned by town; estoppel;
relationship between warranties and covenants given by
town as seller of realty and RSA 477:34 and RSA 231:43
99-312 Hammell,* Michael v. Warden, NH State Prison
James E. Duggan Attorney General
Gary Apfel
Habeas corpus - whether superior court has concurrent
jurisdiction to try misdemeanor that took place within
territorial jurisdiction of district court designated to
be regional jury trial court; whether court erred in
refusing to consider issues that could have been raised
on direct appeal; denial of speedy trial; denial of
probable cause hearing
99-315 State of NH v. Douthart,* Richard
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Caroline L. Smith
First degree murder - failure to order State to preserve
through audio recordings all statements of co-defendant;
failure of State to preserve exculpatory evidence;
exclusion of evidence of co-defendant's prior conduct;
whether "acquittal first" jury instruction barred jury
from considering all defenses
99-317 Tilton Associates a/k/a v. Tilton Variety, Inc. d/b/a
Tilton Plaza Associates, Ben Franklin Crafts
L.P.* Charles W. Chandler
Arthur G. Greene
Glenn A. Perlow
Landlord-tenant - commercial property; collateral
estoppel effect of bankruptcy court order permitting
assumption and assignment of executory contract; whether
plaintiff had opportunity to fully and fairly litigate
issues before bankruptcy court; denial of motion to
reconsider
99-319 Slope Side Realty Trust* v. Loon Mountain Recreation
Francis X. Quinn, Jr. Corporation, Loon Realty
Corp.
Kevin M. Fitzgerald
Easements - default; denial of motion to strike default
without a hearing; whether plaintiff demonstrated
accident, mistake or misfortune; whether court erred in
entering default; whether court erred in striking motion
for summary judgment
99-323 In the Matter of Mark W. Peirce* and Joy N. Peirce
John A. Macoul
Keri Marshall
Post-divorce proceedings - modification; whether
petitioner must show reason to modify original agreement
when seeking three-year statutory readjustment of support
under RSA 458-C:7; failure to adjust petitioner's
financial obligations; failure to find substantially
changed circumstances; failure to provide petitioner with
credit for monies received by respondent from third party
99-332 State of NH v. Lee,* Michael
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Patrick W. Fleming
Robbery - sufficiency of evidence that defendant used a
deadly weapon; whether court erred by admitting testimony
that police found three knives in possession of other
occupants of car
99-341 Boger, Cynthia L. v. Valliere,* Reginald R.,
William S. Orcutt Indian Rock Village
Condominium Association,
and Ludger Roy d/b/a
Advanced Septic Service
Kenneth M. Brown
Negligence - personal jurisdiction; whether service of
process made at defendant's former abode was sufficient
to give court personal jurisdiction over defendant
99-342 In re Phineas F.*
James E. Duggan
Jeffrey S. Levin
Attorney General
Simple assault - juvenile; whether court forfeited
jurisdiction when disposition hearing was not held within
thirty days of the adjudicatory hearing
99-353 In re Randy N.*
James E. Duggan
Carol Gray
Attorney General
Criminal threatening - whether district court had
jurisdiction over petitions that had been previously
dismissed due to violation of juvenile time limits under
RSA 169-B:7; denial of right to seek clarification of
order from issuing judge; speedy trial violation
99-357 State of NH v. Carter, * Donald
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Julia M. Nye
Sentence modification - whether disclosure of uncharged
offense as prerequisite to completion of conditions of
sentence violates right against self-incrimination or due
process
99-373 O'Sullivan, Jean C. v. O'Sullivan,* Dennis D.
Cynthia M. Weston Ralph Stein
Divorce - whether court erred in basing alimony and child
support upon defendant's combined income from two jobs;
failure to set termination date for alimony; failure to
rule upon requests for findings and rulings; failure to
deviate from child support guidelines where defendant
obliged to support two post-separation children; failure
to address rights of post-separation children to living
standard equal to that of children from the marriage
99-380 Royal Oak Realty Trust, v. Modita Realty Trust,*
Ernest M. Cherry, Jr., Beverly P. Mutrie,
Trustee, Ernest M. Trustee, Lone Pine
Cherry, Jr., Carole M. Realty Trust, Ernest
Cherry, Individually M. Cherry, Jr., Trustee,
Raymond P. Blanchard Charles B. Mutrie
Robert A. Shaines
Joint venture - trusts; numerous issues including whether
court misconstrued joint venture agreement; whether
trustee breached fiduciary duty to trust; placement of
burden of proof on trust beneficiaries to prove trustee's
misuse of funds where trustee failed to keep proper
records; sufficiency of evidence
99-383 State of NH v. Duquette,* Roger
Attorney General Rodkey Craighead, Jr.
Securities fraud, theft by deception - sentencing;
whether defendant is entitled to credit against his
prison sentence for time spent pretrial under home
confinement; whether condition of sentence limiting
future ability to engage in investment work or self-
employment is undue restriction on defendant's liberty
and autonomy
99-391 In the Matter of Avis S. McKenzie and John C. McKenzie*
Douglas C. Gray
Mark S. Moeller
Robert G. Eaton
Post-divorce proceedings - whether court made
mathematical error in dividing assets; whether court
abused its discretion by considering post-decree motion
to enforce that essentially sought reconsideration of
property distribution in divorce decree
99-395 Hynes,* Stephen, v. Hale, Karen D., Board of
Trustee for Holiday Manufactured Housing
Acres Venture Trust Patricia Wallace
d/b/a Holiday Acres Attorney General
Mobile Home Park
Denis O. Robinson
Manufactured housing - whether board of manufactured
housing is unlawful usurpation of judiciary power by an
executive tribunal; whether board lacked jurisdiction
over fence issue after tenant had been served with notice
to quit; whether movant implicitly granted permission for
six foot fence; whether board may issue injunctive relief
NOTE: The court has consolidated 98-517 and 98-547.