Thomas Joseph Burke

The case involved a dispute over whether the 1956 transfer of 1,272.54 shares of American Life and Casualty Insurance Company stock from plaintiff John Hook to defendants John P. Crary and V. W. Crary in exchange for $1,272.54 constituted a loan secured by the stock as collateral or an outright sale with an option to repurchase. Hook sued for conversion after the Crarys sold the rapidly appreciating stock in 1959 without offering it back to him, and a jury returned a verdict awarding Hook damages. The trial court denied the defendants' motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial, and the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the order, ruling that the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict supported a finding of a loan and that alleged trial errors caused no prejudice.

propertytorts & liabilityprocedure

This case involved a challenge to Chapter 319, Laws of 1965, a North Dakota statute regulating which entities could provide electric service in rural areas outside municipal limits. After McLean Electric Cooperative complained that Otter Tail Power Company's contract with the City of Coleharbor violated the law, the Public Service Commission issued a cease-and-desist order; the utilities then sued for a declaratory judgment that the statute was unconstitutional and obtained an ex parte temporary restraining order from a district judge halting enforcement pending further hearings. The relator asked the Supreme Court to exercise its original supervisory jurisdiction to set aside the restraining order, but the Court denied the petition. It reasoned that the order was not appealable until the district judge had an opportunity to reconsider it in an adversary proceeding, that any harm to the cooperative was only temporary monetary injury, and that the facts did not show the gross injustice or denial of justice required for extraordinary superintending control.

business & regulatoryprocedure

The case involved the First National Bank of Minot attempting to recover a $40,000 balance from MacDonald Construction Company based on an assignment of payments due to subcontractor A & A Contractors, Inc., a limited guaranty by MacDonald, and claims of estoppel arising from approved work estimates. Judgment had been entered against A & A by default, but after a bench trial the district court dismissed the claims against MacDonald, and the Bank appealed seeking a trial de novo. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the subcontract permitted MacDonald to charge the cost of completing the work against unpaid estimates in the event of A & A's default, that the guaranty was expressly limited to amounts MacDonald owed A & A (which was zero), and that estoppel did not apply because the Bank possessed a copy of the contract and was aware its provisions qualified the estimates.

business & regulatory

Skelly Oil Company filed a declaratory judgment action to determine conflicting claims to royalty payments under oil and gas leases on land in McKenzie County, North Dakota. The trial court ruled that the State of North Dakota owned an undivided half interest in the minerals and that Carrie Ceynar Oltesvig owned the other half subject to 1937 royalty assignments she and her former husband had made. On appeal, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the foreclosure of the 1931 mortgage extinguished the prior royalty grants as to the State's interest but that the doctrine of estoppel by grant applied to the reacquired title: when William Ceynar purchased the land from the State in 1945 and Carrie later succeeded to his interest, that title inured to the benefit of the royalty grantees under the warranties in the 1937 assignments.

property

The case involved a defendant convicted of perjury in district court based on his testimony in a prior police magistrate trial for speeding, where he claimed he was stopped and served with a summons in a 35 mph zone rather than the 25 mph zone described by the officer. The court rejected arguments that the evidence was insufficient because the statements were not material, that witnesses only testified to the effect rather than substance of the prior testimony, or that witness memories were inadequate. It reversed the perjury conviction and granted a new trial, however, because the trial judge was absent during the jury's view of the scene, contrary to the mandatory requirement of N.D.C.C. § 29-21-26, and this error was deemed prejudicial.

criminal lawprocedure

This case involved an appeal by Tenneco Oil Co. from a district court judgment upholding the State Industrial Commission's denial of an exception to the established 80-acre spacing pattern in the Glenburn Oil Field. Tenneco sought permission to drill in a non-standard location on leased land after initially failing to secure an exception and later acquiring an adjacent unproductive lease to reconfigure the spacing unit. The Commission denied the request, finding the supporting evidence inconclusive and determining that the proposed well would not be necessary to avoid waste or protect correlative rights. The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the Commission's decision was supported by substantial evidence and that Tenneco's lease acquisition constituted an improper attempt to circumvent the spacing rules, as operators must contract with reference to existing regulations rather than create conditions necessitating exceptions.

business & regulatoryproperty