Background: This case concerns a quarter-century dispute over a complex real estate settlement involving the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's lands in Jerusalem. In 2000, the Patriarchate leased approximately 520 dunams in the Rehavia and Talbia neighborhoods to the Jewish National Fund (KKL) for 99 years. That year, a fraudulent scheme unfolded: intermediaries claiming to represent the Patriarchate…
Held: The Supreme Court denied Himnuta's request for a further hearing on the Court's prior decision of July 14, 2025. That decision had reversed the district court's $13 million judgment against the Patriarchate by a vote of 2–1 (Justices Grosskopf and Wilner; Justice Amit dissenting). The majority held that the Protocol was not a binding settlement agreement because it failed to…
Background: In January 2011, thirty-seven-year-old Jason Nadeau drove his sixteen-year-old cousin Danielle from Fort Kent to Bangor during a family emergency — his father had suffered a heart attack on a snowmobile trip. During the hours-long drive through a snowstorm, Jason subjected Danielle to unwanted sexual questions and repeatedly groped her breasts, leg, and genitals over…
Held: The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed in part and vacated in part. On the statute of limitations, the court unanimously rejected Jason's argument. Maine's civil limitations statute, 14 M.R.S. § 752-C, permits actions based on "sexual acts toward minors" to be brought at any time. Jason conceded the touching was sexual and non-consensual but argued that the unlawful-sexual-contact predicate required…
Background: In December 2024, Uinta County Sheriff’s Deputy Kerby Barker investigated an abandoned stolen U-Haul truck at Narrows Reservoir near Evanston, Wyoming. The truck, bearing Arizona registration, had been rented by a third party under the name Demetric Matlock and never returned. While examining the scene, Deputy Barker reviewed three receipts found in the cab and…
Held: Affirmed. Writing for a unanimous five-justice panel, Justice Fenn held that Deputy Barker’s affidavit, evaluated under the totality-of-circumstances standard, established probable cause to search the Campbells’ residence. The court applied de novo review.
Background: Arthur Wildgoose was convicted by a Somerset County jury of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child for the November 2015 rape of 12-year-old B.P., the daughter of a woman he had befriended as a youth basketball coach. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison under the Jessica Lunsford Act (JLA),…
Held: In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Pierre-Louis, the Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division in full. The Court held that Wildgoose's claims are procedurally barred under Rule 3:22-4(a) because he and his counsel were admittedly aware of both the Attorney General's Guidelines and the State's decision not to tender a pre-indictment plea offer at the time of his direct…
Background: Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. (TYG) and Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. (NTG) are Maryland closed-end investment funds managed by Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. under advisory contracts tying Tortoise's fees to total assets under management. The funds used financial leverage—at times reaching 37–40% of assets, well above their stated 20–30% policy—to invest in master…
Held: The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed and used the case to clarify the demand-futility standard under Werbowsky v. Collomb, 362 Md. 581 (2001). The Court held that futility turns on the board's capacity to consider a litigation demand in conformity with the director standard of conduct codified in Corporations & Associations Article § 2-405.1(c)—not on the shareholders' prediction of how…
Background: Plaintiffs Vanessa Carlton and John McCauley — both professional musicians — own and reside at 141 Post Road in Warwick, Rhode Island, a home within the Pawtuxet Village Historic District and zoned residential. They purchased the property in March 2021. The adjacent parcel at 175 Post Road, owned by defendants Artak Avagyan and Lee Beausoleil,…
Held: The Rhode Island Supreme Court, per Justice Robinson, affirmed the preliminary injunction in all respects. On the first prong — likelihood of success on the merits — the Court rejected defendants' federal preemption argument. Defendants had urged that OSHA regulations requiring construction vehicles to carry audible reverse signal alarms, 29 C.F.R. § 1926.601(b)(4), preempted Warwick's noise ordinance. The Court found…
Background: Kerstin Mey served as President of the University of Limerick from October 2021. In May 2023, she attended a meeting of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) regarding a controversial property purchase (the Rhebogue transaction). When asked why the Chief Corporate Officer was absent, Mey explained that he had a long-standing personal engagement. The CCO…
Held: Justice Bolger granted the plaintiff's application for interlocutory injunctive relief, restraining the University from proceeding with the reopened investigation. The Court found a serious question to be tried that the settlement agreement precluded continuation of the impugned process. Clause 20 of the settlement warranted that the University would not proceed with disciplinary action "in relation to any matters to the…
Background: Daren Fenderson was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting in Detroit and charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony-firearm, and escape from lawful custody. The day after his arrest, Detroit Police Sergeant Reginald Beasley and Detective Douglas Williams conducted a videorecorded custodial interrogation. Beasley provided standard Miranda warnings and Fenderson signed an advice-of-rights form. After…
Held: In a 6-1 decision authored by Justice Thomas, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the trial court's suppression order. The Court held that police violated Fenderson's Fifth Amendment rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436 (1966), and Edwards v. Arizona, 451 US 477 (1981). Once a suspect invokes the right to counsel, interrogation must…
Background: Dzintars Jezdauckis, a Latvian national residing in the United Kingdom since September 2021, was arrested on 30 January 2024 pursuant to a European arrest warrant issued by Latvia. He was accused of conspiracy to produce and sell large quantities of narcotic substances allegedly between May and July 2017. Notably, Jezdauckis was imprisoned in Latvia during…
Held: Justice Kimblin upheld the extradition order, but only after obtaining specific assurances from Latvia regarding prison placement and conditions. On the Article 3 claim, the Court initially identified a real risk of degrading treatment given the Appellant's particular circumstances. The Appellant had provided expert medical evidence from Dr. Juliet Cohen documenting approximately 22 lesions consistent with assault during his prior…
Background: Two concurrent arbitrations arose from disputes over a vessel chartered under materially identical charterparties. The Owner sued the head charterer (Defendant) in the Head Reference, while the head charterer sued the subcharterer (Claimant) in the Sub-Reference. Both proceedings involved the same underlying facts: a specialist gangway system installed on the vessel collided with a Floating…
Held: Aidan Xu J dismissed the application. While acknowledging that 108 of 211 paragraphs in the Sub-Reference award showed substantial similarity to the Head Award, the court found these similarities did not establish apparent bias or breach the fair hearing rule. The court emphasized that both arbitrations proceeded concurrently under a Concurrency Order that the Claimant had agreed to and explicitly…
Background: Beth and Scott Spicer own a small lakefront seasonal cottage in Hampstead, New Hampshire. Because their lot is non-conforming due to insufficient size and frontage, the Hampstead Zoning Ordinance required them to obtain a special exception before altering or enlarging the structure. The Spicers applied to the Town of Hampstead Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)…
Held: The Supreme Court reversed the HAB's decision and remanded with instructions to reverse the ZBA. The court held that an applicant seeking a special exception bears the burden of presenting sufficient evidence to support a favorable finding on each criterion the ordinance requires. Here, the Hampstead Zoning Ordinance conditioned a special exception on proof that the alteration would be within…
Background: The applicant, a Dutch organization, filed a patent application on March 4, 2019, claiming priority to a European Patent Office application filed March 5, 2018, for a method of electrochemically reducing carbon dioxide in an electrochemical cell. The claimed method involves introducing a CO₂-rich absorbent into the cathode compartment of an electrochemical cell, applying sufficient…
Held: The Intellectual Property High Court held that the Patent Office's appeal decision must be reversed due to a procedural violation of the Patent Law. The court found that the sodium carbonate solution or alkanolamine solution cited in the rejection notice and the formic acid/sodium formate mixture solution identified in the appeal decision are entirely different materials used in completely different…