New Hampshire Supreme Court
Cases Accepted - October 2000
* denotes appealing parties
00-146 In the Matter of Gerard F. Cote* and Amy L. Miller
(Cote)
Joshua L. Gordon
C. Michael Celenza
Paul Shagoury, GAL
Post-divorce proceeding - child custody; whether court
erred by changing custody; whether court erred by
basing change in custody on ability of one parent to
stay home; allowing GAL to testify as an expert;
failure of court to enforce wishes of parties contained
in divorce stipulation
00-164 State of NH v. Porter,* Gary
Attorney General pro se
Aggravated felonious sexual assault, kidnapping -
motion to set aside verdict; numerous issues including
allowing alternative kidnapping indictments to proceed
to trial; jury instructions; double jeopardy; multiple
punishments for same offense
00-166 Stark,* Patricia v. Kelson, William, Executor
Michael J. Bolduc of the Estate of Michael
Bennett
Thomas C. Tretter
Post-divorce proceedings - whether court's abolishment
of obligations imposed upon defendant's decedent by
divorce decree related to retaining life insurance
proceeds in irrevocable trust was error; whether court
erroneously modified divorce decree related to security
for payment of credit card and other financial
obligations; failure to address issue of attorney's
fees
00-271 Brooker,* Scott v. Warden, New Hampshire
pro se State Prison
Attorney General
Habeas corpus - denial of parole; whether requirement
that petitioner pass lie detector test as part of
sexual offender program in order to obtain parole is
constitutional; ex post facto violation; due process
violation; equal protection violation
00-332 In the Matter of the State of NH o/b/o Chad E. Bourque
and Paul Edward Rabb*
Richard Thorner
Attorney General
Paternity, child support agreement - whether release
and discharge language of child support agreement
approved by court in 1983 prohibits modification of
agreement that would require payment of additional
child support from date of State's petition
00-372 State of NH v. Boyer,* Matthew
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Joachim H. Barth
Arson - failure to give jury instruction on lesser-
included offense of criminal mischief
00-393 State of NH v. Burr,* Bettina L.
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Landya B. McCafferty
Animal cruelty - restitution; whether humane society
suffered economic loss when expenses for caring for
dogs were offset by donations received; whether claimed
expenses were "reasonable charges" under restitution
statute
00-443 State of NH* v. Nemser, Adam
Attorney General George Ostler
Possession of marijuana - search and seizure; whether
Dartmouth Security and Safety officers were acting as
agents of the State when they seized contraband from
defendant
00-464 State of NH v. Briggs,* Daniel, Dana
Attorney General Briggs, Bradley Briggs
B.J. Branch
Obstructing government administration - sufficiency of
evidence that defendants purposely interfered with
public servant performing official function; whether
statute is unconstitutionally broad; whether public
official was engaged in an official function; whether
exception to law should exist when defendant has good
faith belief that public servant is committing a crime
00-473 In the Matter of Michael S.
In the Matter of Noel S.
Gary H. Bernier, for father*
Jorel V. Booker
Child custody - failure to give full faith and credit
to Massachusetss custody order; failure to award
custody to surviving parent; whether Uniform Child
Custody Jurisdiction Act prevented exercise of
jurisdiction in light of Massachusetts order
00-502 Dubois,* David R., v. State Farm Insurance
Liza M. Dubois Company, Acadia Insurance
David L. Nixon Company
Kevin M. Leach Gordon A. Rehnborg, Jr.
Andrew D. Dunn
Underinsured motorist coverage - whether State Farm is
obliged to provide underinsured motorist benefits in
light of supreme court decision issued five weeks after
settlement with tortfeasor's liability insurance
carrier; whether requirement in Hull v. Town of
Plymouth pertaining to "permission to settle" should be
applied prospectively; whether State Farm was
prejudiced by settlement reached without its
permission; whether Acadia is obliged to provide
underinsured motorist benefits of $178,000 under the
formula in Ellis v. Royal Globe
00-506 Sweeney, James, v. Town of Hampton,* Hampton
Kathleen Ligus Zoning Board of
Grant Kidd Adjustment
John H. McEachern
Jonathan S. Springer
Alexander J. Walker, for
intervenor Telecorp
Realty
Municipal regulation - special exception; whether court
erred by narrowly construing zoning ordinance regarding
telecommunications facilities
00-509 Collins,* Kevin, Kevin v. City of Manchester
Barry, John Begin, Todd
T. Boucher, Richard
Brennan, Richard
Charbonneau, Stephen Coco,
Robert Cunha, Lloyd
Doughty, II, Richard Ell,
Timothy Feliciano, Thomas
Gonzales, Paul Grugan,
Tyrone Guyse, Jeffrey
Harrington, Cornelius
Joyce, Robby Leathers,
Scott Legasse, Richard R.
Mello, Ronald Mello,
Robert Oxley, Scott Page,
Gregory Pepper, Daniel
Rivard, Eugene Robinson,
Brian Santos, Robert
Scanlon, Andrew Snowdon,
James Soucy, James Tareco,
Nathanael Taveras, Kristen
Taylor, Enoch Willard
Lachance,* Marc M., v. City of Manchester
John C. Patti, Nicole Robert J. Meagher
Ledoux, Brian Neil
O'Keefe, Eve Eisenbise,
Joseph Ryan
Francis G. Murphy
Public employment - municipal employment contracts; law
of the case doctrine; whether training agreements with
police are enforceable through contract action in
superior court; whether court erred in reversing its
ruling granting partial summary judgment; dismissal of
plaintiffs' claims for ordinance-based compensation;
whether PELRB has primary jurisdiction to address
plaintiffs' individual civil rights claims
00-517 Robinson,* Kathleen, M., v. Faiella, Christine J.,
Esquire, guardian of James M. Faiella,
minor Tyler Lennon Christine Faiella as
Gary B. Richardson trustee of the
Woodside Trust, Jean
M. Gagnon, Gypsum
Construction Corp., Jemco
Builder & Developer,
Inc., M.L. Halle Oil
Service, Inc., Janas
Plumbing & Heating, Inc.,
Tri-State Home
Inspections, Inc., Karl
Lennon, Nicole Lennon
Mark L. Mallory
Debra Weiss Ford
Douglas S. Steere
Thomas A. Ficarra
Carol L. Hess
M. O'Shaughnessy
Negligence - whether RSA 508:4-b violates equal
protection clause, due process clause, or provisions of
NH Constitution that guarantee every injured person a
remedy; interlocutory appeal
00-518 Tidd, William, Melanie v. Town of Alton Zoning
Tidd, Patricia Scribner, Board of Adjustment,
Richard Humphreys Richard Holt,* Gaye Holt
Arthur Greene James N. Sessler
Rachel Hampe Arthur W. Hoover
Janice McLaughlin
Municipal regulation - special exception; whether court
erred in determining whether there was a change in
subsequent application that satisfied standards in
Fisher v. Dover, 120 N.H. 187; whether court erred in
applying Fisher standard when the use requested was a
permitted use as a special exception; whether court
erred in determining whether requirements for special
exception were met; consideration by court of evidence
and findings made by board on prior applications which
were different and distinct applications with different
facts
00-520 McCabe,* Thomas, Appeal of
(personnel appeals board)
Michael C. Reynolds
Attorney General
State employment - reassignment; failure to notify
employee of valid applicable procedural rules prior to
hearing; denial of due process by acceptance of written
testimony in lieu of live witnesses; whether appointing
authority created new classified position in violation
of rules and statute; whether appointing authority
engaged in ex parte communication
00-521 Dobe,* Christopher v. NH Department of Health and
Alan S. Greene Human Services, Ward &
Denise F. Shore Slatoff Professional
Association, Carol Drago,
Debra (Schwartz) Stevens
Attorney General
Michael A. Pignatelli
Edward M. Kaplan
Negligence, interference with custodial relationship -
statute of limitations; where administrative body
issues preliminary finding subject to appeal, does
statute of limitations run from date of initial finding
of that administrative body
00-551 N.A.P.P. Realty Trust v. CC Enterprises a/k/a CC
Edward A. Jordan Multi-Media Enterprises,
Inc.,* Christopher K.
Currier
Steven A. Bolton
Landlord-tenant - commercial eviction; whether court
erred by finding that tenant's use of premises was
authorized by lease but also violated provision of
lease prohibiting offensive uses; whether court erred
in construing provision of lease prohibiting offensive
uses; cross-appeal - whether landlord had other good
cause to evict tenant; whether lease incorporated town
ordinance that prohibited tenant's business in the zone
where it was located
00-637 Campaign for Ratepayers Rights,* Appeal of
(public utilities commission)
Joshua L. Gordon
Robert A. Backus
Roy H. Stewart
Robert A. Bersak
Gerald M. Eaton
James K. Brown
Attorney General
Michael W. Holmes
Judy Reardon
Public utilities - electric deregulation; numerous
issues including whether PUC erred by ordering
consumers to reimburse Public Service Company of NH for
past generation expenditures through a stranded cost
recovery charge in violation of statute and/or the NH
Constitution; whether PUC erred in creating class-based
differing stranded cost recovery charges; whether PUC
erred by setting interim rates so low that new stranded
costs will result; whether PUC erred by creating
artificially high stranded cost recovery charge for
non-special contract customers
00-638 Granite State Taxpayers,* Appeal of
(public utilities commission)
Joshua L. Gordon
Robert A. Backus
Roy H. Stewart
Robert A. Bersak
Gerald M. Eaton
James K. Brown
Attorney General
Michael W. Holmes
Judy Reardon
Public utilities - electric deregulation; whether
stranded cost charges violate RSA 374-F:3, XI or XII;
whether low transition rates set by PUC create
deferrals, which are post-restructuring stranded costs
disallowed by statute; whether stranded costs are
unconstitutional taking or violate part II, article 83
of NH Constitution
Note: 00-637 is consolidated with 00-638