Fred H. Blume

The case involved the Wyoming Wool Marketing Association suing wool producers William Woodruff and H. D. Bischoff for a $9,153.32 deficiency after advancing funds under a 1951 marketing agreement and selling their wool through the National Wool Marketing Corporation. The producers defended on grounds of the Association's alleged negligence in marketing the wool, which the trial court treated as a counterclaim, and the jury was instructed to offset any proven damages against the claimed deficiency. The jury returned a general verdict for the defendants, and the trial court denied the Association's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, finding sufficient evidence of negligence, that damages were reasonably ascertainable from the record without exact precision, and no error in the instructions or failure to impute contributory negligence.

business & regulatorytorts & liability

In Voss Oil Company v. Voss, the corporation brought a counterclaim against former president Dale Voss and his son Warren Voss seeking recovery of a $39,502 secret profit from a 1954 subcontract for drilling ten wells under an operating agreement with Buckhorn Production Company. The district court awarded the Vosses unpaid director fees, expenses, and salary while rejecting the company's counterclaim, but the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed on the counterclaim and affirmed the fee awards. The court held that Dale Voss, acting as president, could not profit from a transaction involving the corporation without clear evidence that it was open, fair, and fully disclosed, which was not provided; Warren Voss, who knowingly participated, was also liable. Both were therefore jointly responsible for the profit siphoned from the company, while the salary and fee claims stood because they lacked a substantial connection to the breach.

business & regulatory

In Lore v. Town of Douglas, owners of a frozen food locker plant sued the Town of Douglas for damages from repeated basement flooding caused by the town's pressurized flushing of nearby sewer lines, alleging negligence and public nuisance without prior notice. The trial court entered judgment for the town, but on appeal the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed, holding that the plaintiffs' evidence—showing a known trouble spot with sand and gravel buildup, repeated incidents, and lack of rebuttal—made a prima facie case that the town failed to exercise reasonable care in maintaining the sewers. The court noted the complaint's pleading deficiencies regarding duties and governmental versus proprietary functions but found that subsequent pleadings and unrebutted testimony effectively amended the issues. It remanded for a new trial to apply definite standards of care, emphasizing that municipalities are liable for negligence in sewer maintenance but not as insurers. The topics are procedure and torts & liability.

proceduretorts & liability

This case involved a dispute between Svilar Light and Power, Inc. and Riverton Valley Electric Association over the right to construct a three-phase electrical transmission line to serve coal mines near Hudson, Wyoming, and the proper scope of Svilar's Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. The Public Service Commission denied Svilar's applications, granted RVEA the authority to serve the mines based on its approved system improvements, and limited Svilar's territory to the town limits and a half-mile radius. The district court affirmed, and the Wyoming Supreme Court upheld that decision. The court found the Commission's order supported by substantial evidence, including RVEA's service to far more customers in the surrounding area and its rate information from agency records, and held that the Commission had properly interpreted the certificate's "immediate vicinity" language based on historical service patterns.

business & regulatory

The case Torgeson v. Connelly involved a dispute over ownership of interests in two federal oil and gas leases originally held by Heintze, with plaintiff Connelly claiming title through assignments from Transco Gas and Oil Corporation to Austgen and then to himself, while defendant Torgeson claimed rights via an assignment of an operating agreement from McElroy and Markey that granted drilling rights and a retained working interest. The district court entered judgment quieting title in Connelly, and the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed. The court reasoned that when parties trace their titles to a common source, the plaintiff need only show superior title or equity against the defendant rather than against the world, that Wyoming recording statutes and requirements for acknowledgment and federal approval did not invalidate Connelly's chain, and that the evidence supported the trial court's findings on notice and recording. The operating agreement's unrecorded status and related statutory arguments did not overcome Connelly's position.

property

This case involved a dispute between a prime contractor (defendants) and subcontractors (plaintiffs) over a subcontract to perform road construction work at the Glasgow Air Force Base under a U.S. government prime contract. The plaintiffs sued for unpaid amounts due under the subcontract and for damages arising from a two-month delay in starting work caused by the defendants' failure to complete preliminary utility work. The trial court awarded the plaintiffs the claimed contract amounts plus delay damages based on idle labor costs and equipment rental value. On appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the contract award and the labor cost portion of the delay damages but modified the equipment damages award, holding that it must be reduced by the amount of normal depreciation that would have occurred if the equipment had been in use, and remanded for determination of that deduction based on evidence. The court reasoned that the contract bound the parties to the prime contract terms and that the defendants' directive to mobilize before the site was ready caused foreseeable idle costs, but the rental-value measure of damages required adjustment to avoid overcompensation.

business & regulatory

This was a divorce case in which the husband sued citing the wife's indignities, including excessive drinking and abusive language, while the wife countersued alleging cruelty and indignities by the husband and sought an equitable division of property acquired during their marriage and prior cohabitation. The trial court granted the divorce to the husband and divided the property, awarding the wife apartments and a cash sum. On appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the evidence supported the husband's claims of indignities, that recrimination did not bar relief due to conflicting testimony on the husband's conduct, and that the property division was appropriate in light of the contributions made by the husband's children to the family business.

family lawproperty

The case concerns a petition for rehearing in a labor dispute involving the United Mine Workers of America, focusing on the extent of state court jurisdiction over conduct that may fall outside clear federal coverage under the National Labor Relations Act. The court examines Supreme Court precedents such as Garner, Weber, Guss, and Garmon regarding the "no man's land" area of labor relations not preempted by federal law, as well as the distinction between matters entrusted to the NLRB and those left to the states. It determines that its prior opinion on state authority was overly broad in light of recent authority holding that debatable questions of federal protection require initial determination by the NLRB, modifies that aspect of the ruling, and denies the petition for rehearing.

labor & employmentfederal power

This case involved a dispute over ownership of a 1 percent overriding royalty interest in oil and gas on certain Wyoming lands, which had been assigned multiple times by the same grantor, D. L. McDonald, to R. D. Dame, Bruce Anderson, and E. T. Mileski. Mileski, who purchased last but recorded his assignment first in the county records, sued to quiet title against Dame and others, claiming status as a good-faith purchaser without notice. The court ruled in favor of Mileski, finding that he had acquired the interest for valuable consideration in good faith and without actual or constructive notice of Dame's prior assignment. The core reasoning was that filing the assignment with the federal Bureau of Land Management did not provide constructive notice under Wyoming law, Mileski's county recording took precedence under state recording statutes protecting bona fide purchasers, and any objection to defect of parties had been waived by answering without raising it.

property

This case concerns an appeal by the Wheatland Irrigation District from a district court order striking a $37,500 item for "Land Loan Repayment-Ringsby" from the district's annual budget. The district, formed in 1947 as successor to prior irrigation companies, had sought authority to borrow funds including for purchasing ranch lands and water rights in other counties, as well as related construction and improvements, and had included repayment in its yearly budget submission under Wyoming irrigation district statutes. The court held that such expenditures for land acquisition, water supply improvements, and extension of works are not properly included in the annual budget for current expenses under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 71-824 but instead require compliance with separate statutory procedures, including a preliminary engineering report under § 71-801 and a commissioners' report on benefits under § 71-814, followed by hearings and court approval. The Supreme Court affirmed the order striking the item, emphasizing that the annual budget process protects landowners only for routine maintenance and operations, while larger projects demand additional safeguards to inform affected parties and enable judicial review.

propertyprocedurebusiness & regulatory

This case involved a World War I veteran who challenged a 1955 Wyoming statute limiting veterans' property tax exemptions to a cumulative maximum of $800 after he had already received benefits exceeding that amount and was denied further relief on his 1956 taxes. The trial court certified multiple constitutional questions to the Wyoming Supreme Court regarding whether the law's restrictions violated state provisions on political equality, uniform taxation, retroactive application, single-subject requirements, and prohibitions on gifts or donations. The court upheld the statute's validity, reasoning that tax exemptions are not vested rights, legislative classifications enjoy a presumption of constitutionality unless shown to be arbitrary, and the benefits do not amount to unconstitutional gifts under the state constitution.

taxespropertycivil rights

The case concerned water rights and reservoir permits in Wyoming, specifically whether a reservoir and its impounded waters were appurtenant to certain lands at the time of 1916 mortgages whose foreclosure transferred title to the Condicts. The court had previously held that a condition in the original reservoir construction permit tied the waters to the Edwin Ryan lands, rendering later statutes and assignments ineffective as to that issue. On petition for rehearing, the court denied relief, finding the 1921 recording statute did not apply retroactively, that an attempted 1927 assignment of water rights was defective for lack of proper execution and acknowledgment, and that the decisive question remained the appurtenance established by the permit condition rather than any secondary permit procedures. The opinion rejected claims that the court had overlooked evidence or misapplied statutes, concluding that other arguments had been abandoned.

property

In Sawyer v. Sawyer, a father who acted as general contractor to build a house for his son sued the son, daughter-in-law, and a mortgage lender to recover an unpaid balance on the construction contract and to enforce a builder's lien against the property that would take priority over the lender's mortgage. The lender had recorded its mortgage shortly after construction began, while the father filed his lien several months after the house was finished. The trial court ruled that the lien was untimely under Wyoming statute because the house was completed in April 1954 rather than May, making the September filing too late to establish priority, and the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the evidence supported the earlier completion date and that minor finishing work after substantial completion did not extend the filing deadline.

property

The case involved a dispute in a Wyoming special partnership formed in 1944, where after one general partner bought out other special partners and later sold his interest to the remaining general partner Coady, Coady sued special partner Batchelder to declare the partnership dissolved by the sale, obtain an accounting from 1956, and claim the remaining assets upon paying her capital contribution. The district court dismissed the claim, and Coady appealed. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, holding that under the state's Uniform Partnership Act (specifically § 61-504(1)), a partner's conveyance of his interest does not of itself dissolve the partnership, and § 61-601 must be read in pari materia with specific statutory causes of dissolution rather than triggering automatic dissolution from any change in partner relations.

business & regulatory

In Rocky Mountain Trucking Co. v. Taylor, the plaintiff, a drilling company employee, sued the trucking company and its winch operator after his hand was crushed when a tank being lifted during a rig move was suddenly lowered without warning. A jury awarded damages, which the trial court reduced, and the defendants appealed on grounds including insufficient evidence of negligence, contributory negligence, assumption of risk, improper admission of evidence and testimony, excessive award, erroneous instructions, and jury misconduct in obtaining and using a dictionary. The court affirmed the judgment, holding that the evidence established the defendants' liability, that questions of contributory negligence and assumption of risk were properly resolved by the jury in the plaintiff's favor, and that the jury's unauthorized use of the dictionary, while improper, was not shown to be prejudicial where the verdict was supported by the evidence.

torts & liabilityprocedurelabor & employment

This case involved citizens and taxpayers of Cheyenne, Wyoming, challenging the validity of a city ordinance authorizing the issuance of $250,000 in revenue bonds to extend the sewerage system, with bonds to be paid from revenues of the entire system. The trial court upheld the ordinance, and the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed that decision. The court reasoned that the city had statutory authority to issue such bonds, as established in prior precedent, and that pledging revenues from the whole sewerage system, including for junior bonds, was permissible under state law, with any concerns about prior bond pledges being matters for bondholders rather than the plaintiffs. The ordinance was deemed valid in all respects, allowing the bonds to proceed.

business & regulatory

This case concerned ownership of a one-fourth mineral interest in certain Wyoming lands, arising from a chain of 1914 warranty deeds. In the first deed, the Edwardses conveyed the property to the McDonalds while reserving a one-fourth interest in oil and petroleum rights; the McDonalds then conveyed to Body and Cheney while purporting to reserve the same one-fourth interest for themselves. The trial court quieted title to three-fourths of the minerals in the plaintiffs (successors to Body and Cheney), holding that the McDonalds' reservation was subject to a resulting trust or estoppel for the benefit of the Edwardses. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed, reasoning that the McDonalds' warranty covenants estopped them and their successors from asserting any mineral interest and that the statute of limitations did not bar the quiet-title and declaratory action because the plaintiffs had remained in possession and no controversy had been asserted earlier.

property

The case involved the Chicago & North Western Railway Company's application to the Wyoming Public Service Commission to discontinue express service between the Wyoming-Nebraska state line and Douglas and Casper, which it had previously agreed to provide after discontinuing passenger trains in 1950. The commission denied the application, and the district court affirmed that decision. On appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the denial, reasoning that the railway bore the burden of proof to show either lack of public necessity or that the losses were more burdensome than in 1950, but failed to present sufficient evidence, with financial figures being unconvincing and generalized. The court noted that the service stemmed from a voluntary offer and no due process violation occurred.

business & regulatoryprocedure

This case involved the State of Wyoming seeking reimbursement from an injured worker, Russell L. Brown, for payments made from the Industrial Accident Fund after Brown recovered a $22,500 settlement from a third-party tortfeasor responsible for his on-the-job injury. The trial court entered judgment for the state in the amount of $9,172.76, but the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed, ruling that the applicable statute required reimbursement of only $6,259.16. The court reasoned that the statute's cost-deduction limit of one-third refers to the employee's recovery from the third party ($22,500), not to the amount of compensation paid by the fund, and that the fund was entitled to the excess over that deduction.

labor & employmenttorts & liability

The case involved the probate of James V. Travis's estate after his death in 1955, where his two sons from prior marriages were initially listed as heirs, but his third wife Elaine Travis objected, claiming she was the surviving widow and that a son born after his death was also an heir; this objection was based on a pending petition to vacate a 1952 divorce decree between Travis and Elaine. The probate court found the divorce decree void, vacated it, and ruled that the heirs included Elaine and three sons. On appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court held that the probate court lacked authority to collaterally attack the divorce decree issued by the district court, that Elaine's testimony about her relationship with the deceased violated the dead man's statute and was inadmissible, and that the probate decree improperly attempted to set aside the divorce more than three years later. The court reversed and remanded, determining that the divorce decree remained valid on the record and that the challenged testimony was incompetent and prejudicial.

family lawprocedure