Background: The case involved a couple who met online in 2008. The mother, a Czech national, moved to Israel in 2009, converted to Judaism, and married the father, an Israeli citizen, in a religious ceremony in Israel in 2010. They also had a civil marriage in the Czech Republic in 2011. Throughout their entire marriage, the…
Held: Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Gila Kanfi-Steinitz granted the mother's petition, ruling that the Israeli Rabbinical Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matters of custody and property. The Court's analysis focused on the interpretation of Section 1 of the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction Law, which grants jurisdiction in matters of "marriage and divorce of Jews in Israel." The Court reaffirmed…
Background: In February 2024, Otter Tail Power Company and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. ("Utility Companies") applied to the North Dakota Public Service Commission ("PSC") for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity ("CPCN") to construct a 345-kilovolt transmission line. The PSC published notice of the proceeding in various newspapers, held hearings, and issued an order granting the…
Held: The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court, holding that the Petitioners lacked standing to appeal the CPCN order and that the PSC did not abuse its discretion in denying post-hoc intervention. Regarding standing, the Court reiterated its three-part test requiring a party to be directly interested, factually aggrieved, and to have *participated* in the administrative…
Background: The New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) received a report of neglect concerning H.H. and B.H., leading to their removal from their great-grandparents' home where their father, identified as "Father," resided. A child protective services worker observed a handprint on a child and Father's living quarters cluttered with unsanitary items. Father was…
Held: The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's order terminating Father's parental rights. The Court first addressed Father's argument that he had corrected the conditions of neglect, noting that the trial court properly considered his regression during the 90-day extension period. The Supreme Court clarified that a 90-day extension under RSA 169-C:24-b, IV does not limit review to only…
Background: The claimant, Mr Goh, and the first defendant, Mr Yeo, were co-founders of the Cleanmage group of companies. They began their business relationship in 2007 with a cleaning services LLP, which was later incorporated as Cleanmage Pte Ltd (“Main Co”) in 2008, with each party holding 50% of the shares and serving as a director.…
Held: The High Court found in favour of Mr Goh, holding that he had successfully established his claim for oppression. The Court determined that the relationship between Mr Goh and Mr Yeo was a quasi-partnership. This was evidenced by their history as co-founders, their equal initial shareholding in Main Co, their joint management of the business from the start, and the…
Background: A jury convicted Stephen Pina of first-degree murder and unlawful firearm possession for a 1993 Mission Hill shooting. The prosecution presented no physical, video, or photographic evidence tying him to the crime; its case rested principally on two eyewitnesses. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the convictions in 1999. Pina later filed a third motion for…
Held: The SJC unanimously affirmed. Justice Gaziano explained that Massachusetts Rule of Criminal Procedure 30(b) permits a new trial when justice may not have been done, and that rare cases allow a judge to examine how several factors act in concert rather than demand that each independently justify relief. Newly discovered evidence casts “real doubt” on a conviction when it probably…
Background: The applicant, BLD, sought judicial review of two primary decisions: a Magistrate’s refusal of her application for a domestic violence order (DVO) against her former partner, and a police officer’s decision to withdraw a police-initiated DVO application. Additionally, BLD sought review of alleged failures by police to investigate breaches of a temporary protection order and…
Held: The Supreme Court of Queensland dismissed the application for judicial review. Justice Henry found that the police officer’s decision to withdraw the DVO application was not a "decision to which this Act applies" under section 4 of the Judicial Review Act. This decision was not deemed to be of an administrative character made under an enactment (s 4(a)) nor under…
Background: Constance Beane, a condominium owner, sued the developer, Village on Great Brook, LLC, to enforce a settlement agreement. The agreement resolved a dispute over the developer's proposed changes to the condominium plan. The developer agreed to perform infrastructure work, pay the homeowners' association $35,000, and convey a vacant lot (Lot 26) to the association. In…
Held: The Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated the lower court's dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings. The Court held that the trial court erred in concluding, as a matter of law, that the missed deadline automatically terminated the contract. It clarified that whether a deadline is strictly mandatory ("time is of the essence") is a question of fact that…
Background: The appellant, Forcevalley Concierge K.K., sued its former director (Y1), several former employees (including Y2), and their new company, Beyond Technologies K.K. Forcevalley alleged that the former director and employees conspired to misappropriate confidential customer information and other trade secrets for the benefit of Beyond Technologies, an act Forcevalley claimed constituted unfair competition under Japan's…
Held: The Intellectual Property High Court dismissed the appeal, affirming the lower court's judgment in its entirety. The court agreed with the trial court's conclusion that Forcevalley's claims were "all without merit." It held that the appellant failed to meet the evidentiary burden to prove that its trade secrets were misappropriated.
Background: Kyeem Antonio King was convicted in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County of two counts of second-degree murder and related firearms offenses arising from the fatal shootings of Davion Brandon and Antonio Taitano-Walker. The State’s evidence included King’s cellphone in the victims’ car, surveillance footage placing him in the backseat, his statement that he…
Held: The Supreme Court of Maryland reversed the Appellate Court. It held that Abruquah did not establish a categorical rule barring unqualified firearms-identification testimony in every case. Rather, Abruquah was a case-specific Daubert-Rochkind determination based on the evidentiary record developed at the reliability hearing in that case. A defendant seeking to challenge the methodology must raise the issue through a proper…
Background: Italy sought the surrender of the appellant, Christian Sunday Asaiki, under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to serve the remainder of an eight-year sentence for drug trafficking. The conviction and sentence were imposed in 2018 following a trial conducted in absentia. Mr. Asaiki had previously spent six months in pre-trial detention in Italy and was…
Held: The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the High Court's order of surrender. The central issue was whether a person could be deemed to have implicitly but unequivocally waived their right to be present at trial, even without being explicitly informed of the trial date or the consequences of non-appearance. The Court held that such a waiver could be…
Background: On July 27, 2026, the director of the Board of Professional Conduct filed a certified copy of a judgment entry confirming a felony conviction against Richard Salvatore LaPilusa, an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio. This filing was made in accordance with Gov.Bar R. V(18), which outlines the procedures for disciplinary…
Held: Upon consideration of the certified felony conviction, the Supreme Court of Ohio ordered the interim suspension of Richard Salvatore LaPilusa from the practice of law, effective July 29, 2026. This immediate suspension was mandated under Gov.Bar R. V(18)(A)(4). Furthermore, the court referred the matter to disciplinary counsel for a thorough investigation and the initiation of formal disciplinary proceedings, indicating that…
Background: The parties own neighboring property in or near the Keck Acres Minor Subdivision in Butte. The recorded subdivision plat depicts a 60-foot-wide private road easement for ingress and egress, known as Kelsey Lane, that includes an unimproved southern loop running through David Vicevich and Gillian Clark’s property beside Urban and Lucinda Kultgen’s Lot 4. Although…
Held: The Montana Supreme Court held that the Kultgens possess an express 60-foot-wide ingress-and-egress easement benefiting Lot 4. Their deed incorporated the recorded subdivision plat, which clearly depicted and labeled the easement, including the southern loop. A later plat aggregating other lots expressly preserved easements of record. The 2021 agreement could not extinguish or alter the Kultgens’ property right because they…