Background: The applicants, residents of the Palestinian Authority, alleged that they fled their homes because they were suspected of cooperating with Israeli security authorities. They entered Israel in mid-July 2026 and, on August 5, applied to the Threatened Persons Committee for recognition under the Ministry of Defense procedure governing people allegedly threatened because of suspected security…
Held: Justice Yael Wilner denied leave to appeal without requesting a response from the State. She reiterated that trial courts have broad discretion over temporary remedies and that appellate intervention is reserved for exceptional cases in which the ruling is likely to affect the parties’ rights substantially and create an irreversible situation. This case did not meet that standard.
Background: The oil tanker “Prestige” sank off the Spanish coast in 2002, causing extensive pollution damage in Spain and France. Its owners and managers were insured by the London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association, a protection and indemnity club, under a contract containing a “pay to be paid” clause and requiring disputes to be arbitrated in…
Held: The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the Club’s appeal. It held that the conditional benefit principle placed the States under a legal obligation equivalent to a contractual obligation—not an equitable obligation—to comply with the arbitration clause when enforcing rights derived from the insurance contract. The appropriate monetary remedy was therefore common-law damages rather than equitable compensation.
Background: Canandaigua Town Justice Walter W. Jones sought review of a Commission on Judicial Conduct determination sustaining two misconduct charges and recommending removal. One charge arose from his repeated use of a racial slur while recounting a story outside the county jail. The second arose from comments from the bench after a Black defendant complained of…
Held: The Court of Appeals accepted the Commission's determination and ordered removal. It held that the slur and the on-record comments reflected racial bias and undermined the appearance of impartial justice. The Court rejected the suggestion that its precedent imposed strict liability for offensive language; the decision rested on the complete record, the close timing of the two incidents, the credibility…
Background: Rory Schade pleaded guilty to murdering Van Chinh Vu at Vu’s home on 22 May 2024. The two men were friends, had occasionally been sexually intimate, and had previously been patients at the same mental health facility. Schade had been sleeping on Vu’s couch for about a week. On the day of the killing, they…
Held: Rigg J found the murder was unplanned but objectively grave: it occurred in Vu’s home, involved several distinct violent acts, and ultimately involved an intent to kill. The Court accepted that Vu had probably made some contact with Schade using a weight bar, but did not find provocation, serious violence by Vu, or that Vu actually prevented Schade from leaving.
Background: Joseph L. Weddington, Jr. died intestate in March 2021. Estate administrator Teresa D. Robinson distributed certain estate assets to Jone Posey, Danielle Whitaker, and Paul Whitaker before paying the estate’s debts, then sought their return and disputed whether the recipients were Weddington’s children and therefore his intestate heirs. Robinson relied principally on evidence that their…
Held: The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed. It held that 12 Del. C. § 508 expressly permits posthumous paternity to be established by a preponderance of the evidence for intestate-succession purposes. That standard applied despite the marital and birth-certificate circumstances on which Robinson relied and despite her argument that a statutory presumption under 13 Del. C. § 8-204 required clear and convincing…
Background: Tyler Frederick Erickson was charged with criminal mischief and threats and other improper influence in official and political matters after damaging property at the Lake County Courthouse and jail and threatening detention officers. The parties negotiated plea agreements, but the District Court rejected them. Erickson later entered an open guilty plea to both charged offenses,…
Held: The Montana Supreme Court held that Erickson waived his challenge concerning the amended plea agreement. By knowingly and voluntarily entering an open guilty plea, he waived nonjurisdictional challenges arising before the plea. He did not obtain the prosecutor’s consent and the court’s approval to reserve any adverse pre-plea ruling for appeal, as Montana law requires.
Background: The Norman City Council called an April 7, 2026 election on an $8 million general-obligation bond issue to acquire, construct, improve, and equip a homeless shelter community facility owned exclusively by the city. The proposition received 54.25% of the votes cast. The city treated the shelter as a public utility under Article 10, Section 27…
Held: The court affirmed. Reviewing the dismissal de novo and accepting the residents’ factual allegations as true, it held that an exclusively city-owned homeless shelter community facility is a “public utility” under Article 10, Section 27 as a matter of law. Oklahoma precedent has long treated “public utility” in that provision as synonymous with public use or public benefit, not merely…
Background: Gregory and Leah Sempel have lived on property in Benewah County since 1979 and operate Pokey Creek Farm there. A 5.95-acre tract immediately north of their deeded parcel is enclosed by an aging barbed-wire fence but is record-owned by the State of Idaho, which acquired the larger parcel containing the tract in a 1996 land…
Held: The Idaho Supreme Court vacated the partial judgment, reversed the grant of partial summary judgment to the State, and remanded. It held that the district court erred by declining to decide the parties’ motions to strike before ruling on summary judgment. Admissibility of summary-judgment evidence is a threshold issue, and the court could not effectively disregard, weigh, or resolve conflicts…
Background: A jury convicted Devon M. Stewart of Class A gross sexual assault after a January 2025 trial in Somerset County. The evidence, viewed favorably to the verdict, showed that Stewart pushed the sixteen-year-old victim against a railing on a railroad trestle, pulled down her clothing, and penetrated her while she said “no” and screamed for…
Held: The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the conviction. The victim’s testimony that Stewart pushed her against the railing, penetrated her despite her verbal protests, and caused her to freeze in fear was sufficient for a rational jury to find compulsion. Stewart waived appellate review of the 9-1-1 issue by repeatedly agreeing to admission and playback of the call while the…
Background: Since 2016, a bowl-shaped area within Auckland’s Monte Cecilia Park had been an official off-leash dog area, while the rest of the park required dogs to be leashed. Following complaints about dog behaviour and public safety, the Puketāpapa Local Board proposed in December 2024 that the bowl also become on-leash.
Held: Becroft J dismissed the application. The Board was entitled to take account of public safety, dog-related incidents, and the conduct of irresponsible dog owners when considering an amendment to the dog access rules. The Court held that the relevant statutory considerations in s 10(4) of the Dog Control Act 1996 informed the local board’s delegated decision-making role; they were not…
Background: A.A. petitioned the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas for a civil stalking protection order against S.P. After denying ex parte relief, the court referred the matter to a magistrate, who conducted a full hearing and granted the requested protection order. The trial court adopted the magistrate’s decision and entered the order under Civ.R. 65.1.
Held: The Supreme Court of Ohio held that failure to file objections under Civ.R. 65.1(G) does not deprive a court of appeals of jurisdiction. A judgment adopting, modifying, or rejecting a magistrate’s ruling on a civil protection order is expressly designated a final, appealable order, and the objection requirement does not alter that finality.
Background: Jason Kapena Wood sought review of a decision arising from Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals case number CAAP-24-0000528 and circuit court case number 3CPC-20-0000454. He filed his application for a writ of certiorari on August 30, 2026.
Held: The Supreme Court of the State of Hawaiʻi rejected Wood’s application for a writ of certiorari.