Case Summaries
Family Law
[06/24]
Doe v. Reed
In a First Amendment case arising out of a state law extending certain benefits to same-sex couples, involving a challenge to the Washington Public Records Act based on its provision permitting the disclosure of referendum petition signers' names and addresses, the Ninth Circuit's reversal of the district court's preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiffs is affirmed where disclosure of referendum petitions does not as a general matter violate the First Amendment.
[06/23]
In re Marriage of Hartman
Trial court's denial of wife's motion to vacate an order restraining her from interfering with ex-husband's child custody time is affirmed as the restraining order is neither ambiguous nor overbroad.
[06/22]
In re Kyle E.
In juvenile dependency proceedings, the juvenile court's visitation order is reversed and remanded as it unlawfully delegated the responsibility of whether or not the father's visitation would occur at all to the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services.
[06/18]
Elliot v. Carcieri
In a class action lawsuit on behalf of foster care children who are under the legal custody of Rhode Island's Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), claiming that systematic deficiencies in the state's child welfare and foster care systems deprived the plaintiffs of their rights under the U.S. Constitution and several federal statutes, district court's judgment dismissing the complaint on the ground that the Next Friends lacked capacity to sue on behalf of plaintiffs is reversed where: 1) the district court erred in finding that the state appointed guardians ad litem or CASA advocates precluded plaintiffs from filing suit by a Next Friend; 2) under the circumstances of the case, Rule 17(c) allows federal courts discretion to appoint a Next Friend to represent the children in federal court; and 3) the proposed Next Friends are suited to represent the children in this case.
[06/17]
Estate of Charania v. Shulman
In a tax deficiency case, the judgment of the tax court is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the tax court's judgment that all of the Citigroup shares were the separate property of the decedent for federal estate tax purposes and, thus, were includable in his gross taxable estate is affirmed, as the rule of De Nicols is that a change in marital domicile does not, in itself, effect a change in the marital property regime governing the spouses' rights in personal property acquired throughout the course of the marriage; but 2) the tax court's approbation of the late-filing penalty was in error and is therefore reversed.
[06/15]
In re D.R.
In the County Social Services Agency's appeal from a juvenile court's order denying the agency's motion to terminate the de facto parent status of respondent, and granting the application of respondent's partner for de facto parent status, the order is affirmed where: 1) the juvenile court had the authority to determine that respondent's conduct constituted serious physical abuse, but conclude that the single incident of misconduct found to have occurred did not rise to the level warranting termination of his de facto parent status; and 2) the juvenile court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to terminate respondent's de facto parent status.
[06/15]
US v. Novak
A conviction under 18 U.S.C. section 228(a)(3) for willfully failing to pay child support is affirmed over two challenges to the district court's jury instructions on venue where: 1) the district court did not err when it defined "resided" as "the act or fact of living in a given place permanently or for an extended period of time," and the evidence was sufficient, for purposes of venue, to establish that defendant resided in the Eastern District of Virginia during the time period alleged in the indictment; and 2) even assuming the district court's instruction was erroneous, defendant could not show any harm.
[06/10]
Fields v. Fields
In a divorce action, the appellate division's order affirming the trial court's equitable distribution order is affirmed where the husband's one-half interest in the parties' residence -- a Manhattan townhouse that the husband purchased during the marriage and where the parties had lived for nearly thirty years -- was marital property.
[06/10]
G.R. v. Intelligator
In an attorney's special motion to strike plaintiff's complaint, arising from her representation of plaintiff's ex-wife in postmarital dissolution proceedings, trial court's judgment is affirmed where: 1) attorney's filing a copy of plaintiff's credit report in support of a motion was protected petitioning activity; 2) plaintiff failed to meet his burden of demonstrating probability of success on his claims; and 3) plaintiff failed to show either that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding the attorney fees and costs or that it erred in denying his motion for reconsideration.
[06/09]
In re Marriage of Jill & Victor D.
Juvenile court's judgment terminating a father's parental rights so the minors could be adopted by their stepfather is affirmed where: 1) the court properly held that the circumstances by which the minors' mother initially assumed sole physical custody of them was irrelevant to the determination whether the father left the minors within the meaning of the statutory scheme; and 2) the father's claim that there was insufficient evidence to support the juvenile court's finding that he left the minors for one year with the intent to abandon them during that time is rejected.
[06/08]
Lantz v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
Tax Court's judgment invalidating the two-year deadline that the Treasury has imposed on claims under section 6015(f), and thus reversing the IRS's denial of a taxpayer's application for innocent-spouse relief, is reversed as the fact that Congress designated a deadline in two provisions of the same statute and not in a third is not a compelling argument that Congress meant to preclude the Treasury Department from imposing a deadline applicable to cases governed by that third provision.
[06/02]
San Joaquin County Human Serv. Agency v. Marcus W.
Juvenile court's decision ordering a minor (a Jehova's Witness), who has sickle cell anemia, to undergo periodic blood transfusions to prevent him from suffering a third stroke and possibly death, is reversed as the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to issue the order against the minor's will and over the objection of his parents because the requirements of Welfare and Institutions Code section 369 were not met.
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