General Litigation

On November 2nd this year, New Hampshire voters will be asked to vote on whether to give the power of administration of the Courts to the legislature. Here is the language from the proposed statute: “The legislature shall have a concurrent power to regulate the same matters by statute. In the event of a conflict between a statute and a court rule, the statute, if not otherwise contrary to this constitution, shall prevail over the rule.” The New Hampshire Bar Association has come out in complete opposition to the rule, as noted on their website here. There is a significant danger of giving the power of administration over to the Courts to a legislature that does not have the wherewithal nor the knowledge to administer…

In a recent decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, two ex-spouses argued about whether they had to pay for college expenses. The case, titled In the Matter of Christian Poulin and Rose Marie Poulin Wall, took a hard look at the specific language used in the parties’ Divorce Decree. The language stated, in pertinent part, “The parties agree to contribute to their children’s college education to the extent each party is financially able. The actual contributions shall be determined when each child is near college age.” The mother asked the father to pay 75%, the father refused and attempted to pay a lower number, and this case ensued. The father argued that the agreement lacked specificity, and cited another New Hampshire Supreme Court case,…

Today in a landmark decision, the United States Supreme Court struck down three of the four major portions of Arizona’s immigration law. Arizona passed legislation that, among other things, allowed police to stop people that they had a suspicion could be illegal immigrants, check immigration papers on stops, and demand that all immigrants carry their papers with them at all times. In a 5-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down three major pieces of the troubled legislation. First, the Court struck down the authorization the legislation gave local authorities to arrest alleged immigrants where “probable cause” exists that they are in the country illegally. This was a major piece of the legislation that garnered opposition at it seemed to give local authorities the power to…

As reported in the Concord Monitor on May 13th, the New Hampshire Legislature has proposed new legislation that will undue the centralized management that has been put in place in the New Hampshire Court systems over the past year. The proposal will not undue the newly implemented circuit court system, but it will eliminate the centralized management that is running the administrative side of New Hampshire’s courts presently. House Speaker O’Brien has indicated that they have received complaints from Judge’s about their inability manage courthouse staff under the new system. He has also indicated that police prosecutors have complained about the Judge’s in place are no longer familiar with their communities. These concerns resulted in the proposal being submitted on Friday to undue the centralized…