Hale McCown

This case involves a post-divorce child custody modification dispute concerning a young daughter. The father petitioned for custody, alleging changed circumstances, while the mother and maternal grandparents jointly counter-petitioned for joint custody with the grandparents on best-interests grounds. The trial court awarded physical custody to the grandparents. On de novo review, the Nebraska Supreme Court reversed that award, holding that the evidence did not establish parental unfitness or forfeiture and that the original custody decree in favor of the mother should be reinstated, while affirming the modified visitation schedule.

family law

In Plettner v. Sullivan, adjoining landowners disputed title to a strip of real estate and use of a shared access road after a 1979 survey revealed that the true boundary placed part of the road and adjacent land on the Sullivans' property, which the Plettners had used since 1962. The trial court found that the Plettners had acquired title by adverse possession to land west of a line 10 feet from certain chickenhouses and had obtained reciprocal prescriptive easements over the road. On appeal, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the adverse possession ruling as modified but held that the Plettners could not acquire title to the road area itself because their possession was not exclusive, given the Hatchery's joint use; however, the court found that the Plettners had satisfied the elements for a prescriptive easement over the road through open, continuous, and adverse use for more than 10 years under a claim of right, and it reversed the reciprocal easement portion of the decree. The core reasoning centered on the distinct requirements for adverse possession (requiring exclusive possession excluding all others) versus a prescriptive easement (requiring exclusive use that need not exclude the owner but excludes the public at large).

property

This case involved a personal injury lawsuit in which plaintiff Charles Frahm, injured in a 1978 car accident, sued defendant David Carlson after signing a release for $3,550 that covered "all injuries, known and unknown." Frahm later developed a herniated cervical disc requiring surgery and claimed the release was invalid due to mutual mistake, as both parties believed at signing that his injuries were limited to minor, known symptoms like headaches. The trial court denied the defendant's motion for directed verdict, instructed the jury on mutual mistake under Nebraska precedent from Simpson v. Omaha & C.B. Street R. Co., and entered a $35,000 jury verdict for Frahm. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the release did not bar recovery for wholly unknown injuries where the evidence supported mutual mistake and the jury instructions were proper. The core reasoning applied the majority rule allowing avoidance of releases for unknown injuries absent clear intent to settle all possible claims.

torts & liabilityprocedure

This case was a paternity action under Nebraska law in which Margaret Gail Gregory sought to establish that Willie L. Davis was the father of her child born in November 1979. The District Court, trying the matter without a jury, found Davis to be the father based on evidence of their sexual relationship and supporting testimony, and ordered child support. Davis appealed only the paternity determination. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed, applying the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard and requiring corroboration of the mother's testimony; it held that the trial court's findings on credibility, opportunity, and inclination were not clearly wrong and were supported by corroborating evidence from other witnesses.

family law

The case concerned the dissolution of a partnership formed in 1976 between Sadallah Badran and Virginia Bertrand to sell gift items, with both parties seeking an accounting and distribution of remaining assets. The trial court awarded all assets to Bertrand as the sole contributor of capital, and the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed on de novo review. Badran claimed his sales expertise and services amounted to a capital contribution of property under the agreement, but the court held that the written partnership agreement required contributions of cash or property, that Badran provided none, and that his services were compensated separately rather than treated as capital. Evidence showed Bertrand supplied over $113,000 while Badran contributed no funds, leading to assignment of the remaining inventory valued at approximately $65,600 to her after settling partnership debts.

business & regulatoryproperty

This case involved an appeal by real estate salesperson Louis Weiner from a Nebraska district court judgment affirming a one-year suspension (with nine months stayed on probation) of his broker's license by the State Real Estate Commission. The commission found that Weiner violated Neb.Rev.Stat. § 81-885.24(23) by failing to promptly place in his employing broker's custody two commission payments—one for $34,500 on a Music Box property sale and another for $896 on a Century 21 Wear Co. transaction—after receiving them in 1980. The Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed, holding that the statute unambiguously requires a salesperson to turn over all such funds, including commissions, to the employing broker; that substantial evidence supported the commission's factual findings of the violations; and that the sanction was not arbitrary or capricious under the applicable standard of review.

business & regulatory