Justia Wyoming Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

While working on a road paving project Plaintiff was hit and dragged by an asphalt paving machine being driven by a co-employee. Plaintiff suffered serious injuries, including brain damage and amputation of a leg. Plaintiff filed suit against two co-employee supervisors (Defendants), claiming their willful and wanton misconduct was the cause of his injuries. The district court granted summary judgment for Defendants, finding that they did not intentionally act to cause physical harm as defined under Wyo. Stat. Ann. 27-14-104(a). The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that no genuine issues of material fact existed and that Defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. View "Vandre v. Kuznia" on Justia Law

In 2005, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hired Plaintiff. In 2007, the DEQ terminated Plaintiff on the ground that he improperly incurred $2,500 in personal charges on a state-issued cell phone. Plaintiff challenged his termination, claiming the ground was pretext, and the Office of Administrative Hearings reinstated Plaintiff to his original position. The DEQ sought review of that position in district court and made an offer to settle, to which Plaintiff did not respond. The DEQ subsequently notified Plaintiff it was accepting his resignation because he had taken a job in Montana. The DEQ then withdrew its petition for review. In 2009, Plaintiff filed suit in federal district court, claiming the DEQ's failure to comply with the conditions of his proffered resignation constituted wrongful termination. The federal court dismissed the lawsuit. Plaintiff then filed suit in district court, alleging, inter alia, breach of contract and breach of the purported settlement agreement. The district court dismissed the case, ruling that Plaintiff's claims were time-barred. The Supreme Court dismissed Plaintiff's appeal for failure to follow the Wyoming Rules of Appellate Procedure. View "Armstrong v. Wyo. Dep't of Envtl. Quality" on Justia Law

Appellant injured her neck and shoulder in a work-related accident. The Workers' Safety and Compensation Division approved Appellant's application for temporary total disability benefits but denied payments of two medical bills related to Appellant's lower back, concluding that the case was only left open for shoulder and neck injury. The office of administrative hearings (OAH) upheld the Division's denial of benefits. Appellant appealed. While on review in the district court, Appellant's counsel discovered documentation of a physical therapy session held approximately one month after Appellant's workplace accident that indicated she was experiencing pain in the middle of her back. Appellant unsuccessfully filed a motion to supplement the record with the physical therapy record. Appellant subsequently dismissed her appeal. Appellant then filed a Wyo. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for relief from final judgment based on the physical therapy record. The OAH denied the motion. The district court affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Appellant provided no evidence to support her claim that the failure to introduce the physical therapy record was caused by her trial counsel's mistake or inadvertence, and (2) Appellant failed to prove the significance of the medical record to her claim for benefits relating to her low back. View "Tegeler v. State ex rel. Workers' Safety & Comp. Div" on Justia Law

Appellant filed suit against a paragliding company and the company's employees, owners, and agents (collectively, Appellees) after he sustained injuries during a paragliding training clinic conducted by Appellees. At the time of the incident, Appellant was a member of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (USHPA). Appellees filed a motion to dismiss, seeking to enforce a forum selection clause contained in an assumption of risk agreement that Appellant had signed as a condition of his membership with USHPA. Based upon the forum selection clause, Appellees contended that California was the appropriate forum for the litigation. The district court granted the motion to dismiss. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the forum selection clause contained in the agreement between Appellant and USHPA was not enforceable as between the parties to the present litigation, as Appellees were not parties to that contract and did not consent in advance to the jurisdiction of the California courts. Remanded. View "Venard v. Jackson Hole Paragliding, LLC" on Justia Law

Appellee left her car unattended with the motor running in her private driveway while she briefly returned to her home to retrieve her pocketbook. In the interim, Colbey Emms stole her vehicle. Emms later got into a high-speed chase, which ended when the car he was driving collided with a vehicle driven by Appellant, the mother of two children (collectively, Appellants). Appellant sued Appellee, alleging that Appellee breached a duty of due care to her and her children by leaving her car unattended with the keys in the ignition. The district court granted Appellee's motion for summary judgment on the basis that no duty was owed to Appellants under either the common law or by statute, and that Appellee's leaving of her keys in her car with the motor running was not the proximate cause of the accident. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Appellee's conduct was not proscribed by statute and therefore did not result in the violation of a statutory duty of care; and (2) Appellee did not owe Appellants a common law duty of care to protect them from the harm that occurred in this case. View "Lucero v. Holbrook" on Justia Law

Appellant was injured in an accident that occurred during the course of her employment. After receiving a permanent partial impairment award from the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division, Appellant sought permanent partial disability benefits. The Division denied Appellant's application, stating that she had not complied with the statutory work search requirements. After a contested case hearing, the Office of Administrative Hearings granted summary judgment for the Division, concluding that Appellant had not timely submitted documentation showing she had sought work. The district court affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) Appellant's work search submission was timely; and (2) Appellant was entitled to a hearing and the opportunity to present evidence showing that she actively sought work. View "Stallman v. State ex rel. Wyo. Workers' Safety & Comp. Div." on Justia Law

The Wyoming Workers' Safety and Compensation Division issued a final determination awarding Appellant a two percent permanent partial impairment benefit after Appellant was injured in a work-related accident. After a hearing, the Medical Commission upheld the Division's final determination. The district court's issued an order affirming the Medical Commission's decision. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) in light of expert opinions, the criteria set forth in the AMA Guides, Appellant's medical records, and Appellant's symptoms at the time of the hearing, the Medical Commission's findings were supported by substantial evidence; and (2) even if the Court found that the Medical Commission's credibility findings were not supported by the record, substantial evidence would remain to support the Commission's decision. View "Willey v. State ex rel. Wyo. Workers' Safety & Comp. Div." on Justia Law

Petitioner was injured in an accident while driving his motorcycle to work. He filed a claim for worker's compensation benefits asserting that his injuries were covered because he sustained them while traveling to work and his employer reimbursed him for travel expenses. The Wyoming Worker's Compensation Division denied his claim. After a hearing, the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) also denied his claim. The district court affirmed the denial. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the OAH's conclusion that Petitioner failed to meet his burden of proving he was reimbursed for travel expenses was not contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. View "Bilyeau v. State ex rel. Wyo. Workers' Safety & Comp. Div." on Justia Law

After a hearing, the district court entered an order stating that Appellant concealed, embezzled, conveyed away and/or disposed of monies and other property of John Hibsman, Jr.'s estate and finding prima facie evidence of the right of the estate's personal representative to recover an amount "not less than $137,566." At issue on appeal was whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to hear Appellant's appeal. The Court dismissed the appeal, determining it lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal because (1) the order from which Appellant took his appeal was made in a "special proceeding" as contemplated by Wyo. R. App. P. 1.05; but (2) no substantial right of Appellant's was affected by the court's decision, as the proceeding appealed here merely determined a prima facie case that the personal representative could initiate litigation to determine if there was a wrongful taking of at least that amount of money. View "Hibsman v. Mullen" on Justia Law

Appellee was sexually assaulted by a county detention officer while she was an inmate at the county detention center. Appellee filed claims under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act against the officer, the county sheriff, and the county board of commissioners for damages stemming from this assault. The sheriff, county, and county commissioners were the Appellants in these proceedings. The trial court denied the sheriff's and the county's motions for summary judgment on the claims against the sheriff for negligent supervision and training and on the sheriff's motion for qualified immunity and also denied the county's and board's motions as to statutorily imposed liability. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the record did not support the trial court's ruling that the sheriff was not entitled to assert the defense of qualified immunity; and (2) based on the holding that the sheriff was entitled to qualified immunity, the ruling against the county and the board must also be reversed. View "Uinta County v. Pennington" on Justia Law