Opinions from Oklahoma & the Northern District

Judge McConnell dismissed an appeal today as frivolous. Not only was the appeal frivolous, but the Court noted: "Appellant's Brief is gibberish." The definition of gibberish is: meaningless or...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2008/10/gibberish.html

Judge Frizzell heard extended arguments and evidence on the State of Oklahoma's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction in the chicken litter case. The Court recently issued a surprisingly short ord...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2008/10/chicken-litter-case-denial-of-states.html

In an unusual order , the Tenth Circuit divided equally in a decision over whether to rehear a case en banc. The equally-divided order means the request to rehear the case was denied and the pan...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2008/08/ten-commandments-and-seven-aphorisms-of.html

In Snyder v. Maldonado , the Supreme Court reversed a defense verdict in a trucking case, finding that the trial court erred in submitted a contributory negligence jury instruction. The defendant...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2008/08/3-random-new-decisions.html

In a recent case decided by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the minority accused the majority of "mutilating" and "eviscerating" the standards normally applied to cases that reach the appellate cour...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2008/08/mutilation-and-evisceration.html

"Sua sponte" is Latin for "of one's own accord." Well, in a recent order (available here ), Judge Ronald White of the Eastern District of Oklahoma, made a sua sponte finding that a multi-million...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2008/07/sua-sponte-remittitur.html

In Waters v. Continential Insurance Co., 07-282 , Judge Kern denied Plaintiff's Motion for Remand citing evidence in the Notice of Removal that Plaintiff's claims aggregated to more than $75,000....

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/12/fact-of-removal.html

In Shero v. City of Grove, --- F.3d --- (10th Cir. 2007) , the Tenth Circuit held, as a matter of law, that "being properly named as a defendant in a declaratory judgment suit, however styled, wo...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/12/declaratory-actions-are-not-retalitory.html

In a number of opinions issued in 2007, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has determined that trial courts have abused discretion in refusing to hold evidentiary hearings related to disputed fact issues...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/11/in-number-of-opinions-issued-in-2007.html

The Sunday edition of the Tulsa World contains an article by Ben Braun detailing the varying style of dress donned by various courthouse players, from civil clients and criminal defendants to the...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/08/personal-dress-and-freedom-to-express.html

Courts have broad discretion to bifurcate claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(b). In a recent case, the defendant requested that the District Court for the Northern District of ...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/08/bifurcation.html

An interesting opinion was issued by the Northern District of Oklahoma recently. Interesting on several fronts, actually. The case involved a "devout Muslim" who followed the tenets of Islam that...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/08/summary-judgment-to-non-moving-party.html

The Tenth Circuit issued a new opinion today in an ADEA case. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendant, finding that the plaintiff had failed to bring forth sufficient eviden...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/08/proffer-vs-establish-or-show.html

In the recent case of Weston v. Indep. School Dist. No. 35 of Cherokee County , 2007 OK 61, the parties received a lesson in the vagaries of appellate "standard of review" in a teacher discharge ...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/in-recent-case-of-weston-v.html

The Tenth Circuit issued an interesting decision today regarding discharge of certain student loans known as "HEAL" Loans (more fully known as "Health Education and Assistance Loans"). Such loan...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/discharge-of-heal-loans-in-bankruptcy.html

For good or ill, the filing of civil lawsuits is on the upswing. (See here and here .) Between January and June of 2007, 9,522 civil lawsuits were filed in Tulsa County District Court. For the s...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/record-pace-for-civil-lawsuit-filings.html

There was interesting article in the Tulsa World today (here and here ), wherein the world of grade school football (yes, grade school football) intersected with the state and federal court syst...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/football-and-courts.html

Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires only a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." And, for years, the federal standard for di...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-pleading-standard.html

Despite the Oklahoma Supreme Court's willingness to exercise its muscle to strike down certain recent legislation, (see here ), the Court has also recently held that it could not review a particu...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/educational-funding-standing-and.html

A previous post discussed the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to strike down part of the state's workers compensation laws. In that case , the Court found that the law inappropriately limited ...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/update-on-state-constitutional.html

This billboard sits directly in front of City Hall in Picher, Oklahoma, located in the far northeast corner of the state. For those unfamiliar, the Picher mines supplied a large percentage of the...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/welcome-to-pitcher-oklahoma.html

Following a recent Supreme Court case, Garcetti v. Cebalis , 126 S.Ct. 1921 (2006), freedom of speech retaliation claims are now governed by a new FIVE-part test. In Garcetti, the Court held that...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-five-part-garcetti-pickering-test.html

The Tulsa World recently published an article devoted to the 70+ attorneys who volunteer their time for the benefit of the public and the Court. The article by David Harper can be found here . ...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/frontline-justice.html

Oklahoma is unique in that it allows citizens the right of iniative petition. The purpose is to allow the people to propose laws and, following a petition process, attempt to enact them into law ...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/initiative-petitions.html

Do you like your Constitution raw or well done? The recent Supreme Court decision in Scott v. Harris , 127 S.Ct. 1769 (2007),* contains a concurrence by Justice Breyer questioning the Saucier fra...

http://ndopinions.blogspot.com/2007/07/qualified-immunity-and-order-of-battle.html