Background: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court considered consolidated appeals by Charles Clayton Cassell III and Joshua Scott, each convicted after another person died from fentanyl. Cassell paid for a woman’s ride to York, contacted dealers, financed the purchase, and told police he let her take as much as she wanted. Scott acted as an intermediary between two…
Held: The Court affirmed both judgments of sentence. Justice McCaffery wrote that the General Assembly did not create a joint-acquisition-and-use defense to PWID or DDRD. A person can constructively deliver drugs by intentionally facilitating a transaction—providing money, transportation, dealer access, or another essential link—even without physically handing over the narcotics.
Background: Isaac Ludwig was driving eastbound on Interstate 84 at night in 2019 when he struck a cow owned by Robert Howard. Ludwig suffered significant injuries, and his vehicle was totaled. Howard Grazing Association, LLC, held grazing permits near the collision site. The Idaho Transportation Department maintained right-of-way fencing and cattleguards along that portion of I-84…
Held: The Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Howard and the grazing association. Under controlling precedent, land qualifies as open range for purposes of Idaho Code section 25-2118 when it lies outside a city, village, or herd district; the existence of fencing does not itself remove the land from open-range status. Because Ludwig did not show that the collision site fell…
Background: Yuval Castelman was fatally shot after intervening in a terrorist attack at the Givat Shaul junction entrance to Jerusalem on November 30, 2023. After helping neutralize the attackers, he discarded his handgun, removed his coat, threw his identification in front of him, knelt, and raised his hands to show that he was not a terrorist.…
Held: The Court unanimously dismissed the petition. It held that law-enforcement authorities have especially broad discretion in deciding whether to open a criminal investigation and that judicial intervention is reserved for rare cases involving extreme unreasonableness or a material distortion. That restraint applies with particular force to a decision made by the Attorney General as head of the prosecution system.
Background: Peter David Hall breeds purebred Hereford cattle belonging to what he called the Hereford Original Population, or HOP. Defra had previously listed “Hereford (Orig)” separately as a native breed at risk, making breeders of those cattle eligible for agri-environment support payments. Following a consultation and expert advice favoring conservation of whole breeds, Defra introduced a…
Held: The court refused to extend time for the challenge to the 2 June decision. Time ran from the date that decision was made, not from Defra’s later correspondence supplying further explanation. Hall knew the substance of the decision within the three-month period but did not send his pre-action letter until after it expired, and he provided no adequate reason why…
Background: Police suspected Justin Winter Vanpelt of two vehicle-related shootings that occurred after a driver fled a traffic stop. Days later, officers responding to a welfare-check report found Vanpelt unconscious on a motorcycle with a firearm holstered to his leg. Concerned about how an armed and potentially intoxicated person might react upon waking, an officer removed…
Held: The Colorado Supreme Court held that officers lawfully seized the firearm. Vanpelt’s unusual slumped-over condition on a motorcycle supported reasonable suspicion that he had been driving under the influence, even though innocent explanations were possible. Because officers encountered an armed, unconscious, and unpredictable person who might react dangerously when awakened, temporarily removing the weapon was reasonable for officer safety under…
Background: Michael Turner, a Grand River Dam Authority power-plant maintenance technician, suffered a heart attack in 2018 and returned to work with restrictions against exposure to coal dust, ash, and other airborne particulates. GRDA gave him a special-duty assignment at Pensacola Dam for two years, while retaining his former title and pay. After his restrictions became…
Held: The Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed the district court and affirmed OMES’s final agency order. It held that the Civil Service and Human Capital Modernization Act, 62 O.S. § 34.301, does not create a constitutionally protected property interest in continued state employment. The statute provides a post-termination complaint procedure but neither limits discharge to specified grounds nor requires just cause; procedural…
Background: Timothy Dasler and Jennifer Knapp were formerly married and share a minor child. After Knapp obtained a final relief-from-abuse order against Dasler and the parties divorced, Dasler repeatedly pursued litigation connected to the divorce and related family-court proceedings. The family division eventually entered an order under Vermont’s abusive-litigation statute restricting Dasler from pursuing litigation against…
Held: The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed. It first held that the civil division did not err by transmitting the appeal after Dasler filed his notice of appeal. Although a timely motion to alter or amend would have tolled the appeal deadline, the notice transferred the matter to the Supreme Court, and Vermont Rule of Appellate Procedure 11 required the superior court…
Background: Fondation Marie-Louise employed M. [N] as a night-shift nurse in a specialized residential care facility beginning May 4, 2015. His employment was governed by the March 15, 1966 national collective agreement for establishments and services serving people with disabilities or other special needs. He brought an employment claim on August 2, 2018 concerning the performance…
Held: The Court of Cassation held that the paid one-hour rest period under Article 15 of Annex 10 is not a “salary-based consideration for night work” within the meaning of Article 5.1.1 of the 2002 sector agreement. Although the rest period is paid because it counts as working time, it provides no additional remuneration. The facility therefore did not fall within…
Background: Scott Wilson shook several-week-old Hannah G. in 1985, causing severe brain trauma. A jury acquitted him of felonious assault but convicted him of misdemeanor assault for recklessly causing serious physical harm. Hannah remained profoundly disabled and died in 2006. An autopsy attributed her death to encephalopathy resulting from the late effects of blunt-force head trauma.
Held: The Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed. It held that a defendant asserting a due-process challenge to preindictment delay bears the burden of proving both that the delay caused actual prejudice to the defense and that the State intentionally delayed prosecution to gain a tactical advantage. Actual prejudice requires a concrete showing that missing evidence would have been favorable, material, and…
Background: NPS International School Pte Ltd and Raffles Assets (Singapore) Pte Ltd signed a letter of intent concerning NPS’s proposed lease of Raffles’s property at 51 Merchant Road for use as a Foreign Systems School. Although headed “NON-BINDING, AND SUBJECT TO CONTRACT & BOARD APPROVAL,” the LOI required NPS to obtain regulatory approvals within eight weeks,…
Held: The High Court dismissed NPS’s claim and held that the LOI created binding obligations despite its “non-binding” and “subject to contract” heading. The contemplated tenancy agreement would not have governed several pre-tenancy matters addressed by the LOI, including obtaining regulatory approvals and handling the initial deposit. The LOI’s language, the commercial setting, the parties’ negotiations, and their subsequent conduct showed…
Background: R.V. admitted eight delinquency charges arising from incidents involving attempted vehicle thefts and related conduct. One charge—conspiracy to attempt to commit theft—would have been a felony if committed by an adult; the other seven would have been misdemeanors. In August 2022, the Youth Court adjudicated R.V. a delinquent youth and serious juvenile offender and placed…
Held: The Montana Supreme Court held that the commitment was illegal because it exceeded the statutory maximum applicable to an adult convicted of the offense that authorized R.V.’s placement. Reading Sections 41-5-1513 and 41-5-1522, MCA, together, the court concluded that a youth court may impose a commitment for a determinate number of years and that the commitment may not exceed the…
Background: The Roberta Ann K.W. Wong Leung Revocable Trust pursued a books-and-records inspection involving Amazon.com, Inc. in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The dispute on appeal concerned a restriction governing the forum in which the stockholder could use the inspection materials.
Held: The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s judgment for the reasons stated in its November 5, 2025 letter opinion. It rejected the Trust’s contention that Treppel limits a court to a fixed set of factors when considering a forum restriction. The court explained that Treppel gives courts broad discretion to impose and evaluate inspection conditions based on the…