The extent to which a judge’s personal background influences his or her decision-making is a matter of debate. Before being appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor remarked that “[p]ersonal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see” and gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may…

The Idaho Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that reveals the critical importance of case preparation. See Hilliard v. Murphy Land Company, LLC, No. 42093-2014 (May 21, 2015).

In Hilliard, millions of dollars were at stake. The plaintiffs sold their farm to the defendant. Three million dollars of the sale price was placed in trust to be available to compensate the purchaser for any loss resulting from an anticipated delay in its ability to take possession. The sale closed in December 2010, and the purchaser obtained possession in May 2012. The sellers then filed an action seeking the money held in trust. The purchaser filed a counterclaim seeking those same funds.
Continue Reading A Recent Idaho Supreme Court Decision Shows the Care Litigants Must Take to Adequately Present Their Case at Trial and on Appeal

The Idaho Supreme Court recently made clear that its authority to award attorney fees under a federal statute is not constrained by United States Supreme Court precedent. In James v. City of Boise, 2015 Opinion No. 49 (May 21, 2015), the Court affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint seeking…

I have been drafting an article on appellant advocacy for the August edition of the Idaho State Bar’s The Advocate. As part of my research, I reviewed statistical data from the United States Courts of Appeal available at www.uscourts.gov. The website compiles statistics, by circuit, on appeals commenced, terminated, and pending in detailed…

The Idaho Supreme Court has released its May calendar [link http://www.isc.idaho.gov/appeals-court/isc-calendar]. It will be hearing arguments in Boise on May 4, 6, and 8, in Idaho Falls on May 12, and in Pocatello on May 13. For the hearings in Boise, you can watch the arguments via live streaming through the above link.

The…

When key issues are left to the sound discretion of the trial court, and the trial court carefully weighs the evidence in deciding those issues, should the party on the wrong side of the decision appeal? That is a difficult and recurring question facing appellants. A recent Idaho Supreme Court decision suggests that appellate attorneys…

The Idaho Court of Appeals recently addressed when an appeal is moot and when it is appropriate for an appellate court to review an otherwise moot issue. Hansen v. Denney, 2015 Opinion No. 14 (Mar. 27, 2015), does not add much to Idaho jurisprudence on the mootness doctrine but continues a line of…

The Idaho Supreme Court is implementing rule changes that will impact, for the most part, intermediate appeals from the magistrate to district court. Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure (“I.R.C.P.”) 83(a) lists the judgments or orders rendered by a magistrate that can be appealed to the district court. Currently, Rule 83(a)(4) allows appeals of “[f]inal orders…

As mentioned in a recent post, a panel of law clerks from the Idaho Supreme Court and the Idaho Court of Appeals provided advice on the practice of appellate law, based on their experience as clerks, at the April meeting of the Idaho Appellate Practice Section of the Idaho State Bar. Here are some…

The Idaho Appellate Practice Section of the Idaho State Bar held its annual meeting on Thursday, April 9. As part of the meeting, a panel of law clerks from the Idaho Supreme Court and the Idaho Court of Appeals discussed what they have learned regarding the dos and don’ts of appellate practice during their clerkships.…

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Welcome to the Stoel Rives Appellate Law blog, dedicated to providing those in appellate law practices regular updates on significant decisions from courts of appeal within our regions of practice. It is our goal to build out this blog to be a handy resource for both keeping up to date on new decisions and quickly locating information about past decisions.