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Appellate Procedure

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Legal Ethics

North Carolina Court of Appeals

N.C. State Bar v. Cummings — DHC’s Five-Year Suspension Vacated in Part; Hearsay and Willfulness Failures Undermine Three of Four Misconduct Findings

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a DHC finding that attorney Mark Cummings lied to Bar investigators about compensating a paralegal, but vacated three other misconduct findings—on failure to file 1099s (no willfulness finding by the DHC), a courtroom recording device (no evidence of an actual misrepresentation), and a residency misrepresentation (prior out-of-court statement inadmissible under Rules 804(b)(5) and 803(24) because the declarant testified live at the hearing). The case was remanded for the DHC to reconsider appropriate discipline based only on the violations that survived review.

Wyoming Appellate Procedure Constitutional Criminal

Wyoming Supreme Court

Campbell v. State — Totality of Circumstances, Not Paragraph-by-Paragraph Scrutiny, Controls Probable Cause Review

/ July 16, 2026

The Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the denial of Christopher Campbell’s motion to suppress evidence seized from his Evanston residence, holding that Deputy Barker’s search-warrant affidavit established probable cause under the totality-of-circumstances test. The court rejected Campbell’s paragraph-by-paragraph critique of the affidavit as methodologically improper: Wyoming law requires courts to evaluate the affidavit as a whole, not in piecemeal fashion. Viewed in its totality, a convergence of circumstantial links—a matching U-Haul seen at the residence, receipts tying an associate to both the truck and the address, Arizona connections shared by the stolen vehicle and the occupants, and matching tire tracks—established the required nexus between the evidence sought and the place to be searched.

New York Appellate Procedure Criminal Procedure discovery

Appellate Division, Second Department

People ex rel. Barta v. Richards — Second Department Sustains Habeas Writ After Deficient Supplemental Certificate of Compliance

/ July 15, 2026

The Appellate Division, Second Department sustained a habeas writ for a defendant held more than 90 days without a valid certificate of compliance, finding the People’s supplemental CoC deficient because 60-plus automatic discovery items—including mandatory impeachment materials—remained outstanding at the time of filing.

Pennsylvania Appellate Procedure Workers Compensation

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Niculcea v. Susquehanna Valley NRC (WCAB) — Substantial Evidence Supports WCJ Credibility Determination; Capricious Disregard Standard Applied to Pro Se Workers’ Comp Appeal

/ July 12, 2026

The Commonwealth Court affirmed denial of workers’ compensation benefits to a pro se claimant, holding that substantial evidence supported the WCJ’s credibility determinations and that rejecting a claimant’s medical evidence is not capricious disregard — and rejecting the employer’s motion to quash under the post-2014 version of Pa.R.A.P. 1513.

New York Appellate Procedure Civil Procedure defamation

Appellate Division, First Department

Leffler v. Kotick — Defamation Defendant Barred From Raising Privilege Defense He Strategically Withheld in First Summary Judgment Motion

/ July 11, 2026

The First Department applies the law of the case doctrine to bar a pro se defamation defendant from asserting privilege on a second summary judgment motion, where he had deliberately withheld the defense in the first motion and the prior appellate decision found his statements went to a ‘nonprivileged party.’

Utah Appellate Procedure Civil Procedure Family Law

Court of Appeals of Utah

Christensen v. Christensen — District Court Must Hold Hearing and Apply Independent Review to Commissioner’s Child Support Recommendation

/ July 11, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a post-decree minivan enforcement order because ordering payment of lost equity fell within the four corners of the divorce decree, but reversed a child support arrearage ruling because the district court refused to hold an evidentiary hearing mandated by Utah R. Civ. P. 108(d)(2) and applied abuse-of-discretion review instead of the independent assessment required by rule 108(f).

Wyoming Appellate Procedure Breach of Contract Real Estate

Wyoming Supreme Court

Cross v. Albright — Mediated Settlement Email Unenforceable Where Parties Never Agreed on Mechanism for Ditch Access or Storage Restriction

/ July 10, 2026

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed a finding that a mediated settlement email was unenforceable because the parties never agreed on whether ditch access would be implemented through an easement, license, or other interest and never specified whether a storage restriction would run with the land or remain a personal obligation, leaving essential terms undefined and creating at most an agreement to agree.

Wyoming Appellate Procedure Constitutional Criminal

Wyoming Supreme Court

Allen v. State — Guilty Plea Does Not Waive Challenge to Court-Ordered Asset Sale Securing Public Defender Fees

/ July 9, 2026

The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed and remanded a criminal case in which the district court ordered the defendant to sell a vehicle and deposit the proceeds as a condition of maintaining his public defender appointment. The court held that the subsequent guilty plea did not waive the challenge because the issue was unrelated to guilt or conviction, and that the district court exceeded its statutory authority under Wyoming’s public defender reimbursement statute by compelling a pre-sentencing forced asset liquidation.

Wyoming Appellate Procedure Child Custody domestic-violence

Wyoming Supreme Court

Idler — Divorce Appeal Summarily Affirmed Where Counsel’s Briefs Lacked Cogent Argument

/ July 8, 2026

The Wyoming Supreme Court summarily affirmed a divorce decree granting Mother sole custody of ten children and assigning nearly all marital debt to incarcerated Father, holding that Father’s nine-issue opening brief contained no cogent argument — just general legal principles with no case-specific analysis — and that his reply brief improperly raised four new issues while failing to respond to Mother’s arguments. Attorney fees under W.R.A.P. 10.05 were declined as a matter of discretion, but costs were awarded.

Nevada Administrative Law Appellate Procedure Civil Procedure

Nevada Supreme Court

Rocha v. DHHS — Missing Party in Judicial Review Caption Strips Court of Jurisdiction Under NAPA

/ July 4, 2026

The Nevada Supreme Court vacated and remanded with instructions to dismiss, holding en banc that while a party may challenge a district court’s jurisdiction over a first petition for judicial review in a subsequent NAPA petition, the subsequent petition must itself strictly comply with NRS 233B.130(2)(a) by naming all parties of record. Rocha’s second petition, which named DHHS but not the Personnel Commission, was jurisdictionally defective from the outset, and a belated amendment could not cure the defect.

Nevada Appellate Procedure Attorney Fees Civil Procedure

Nevada Supreme Court

Lytle v. September Trust — Actual Billing Rate Controls Lodestar Calculation Unless Discounted for Public Interest

/ July 4, 2026

The Nevada Supreme Court reversed a 43 percent markup on an attorney fee award under NRS 22.100(3), holding that for a paying client with private counsel at a freely negotiated hourly rate, the billed rate presumptively establishes the market rate for lodestar calculations. A district court may award a higher rate only when the applicant demonstrates the firm discounted its rates for pro bono or public-interest representation — a finding that the firm “could have charged more” is insufficient.

Pennsylvania Administrative Law Appellate Procedure Right-to-Know Law

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Wilkins v. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General — OOR Lacks Jurisdiction Over RTKL Appeals from OAG Denials

/ June 28, 2026

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the dismissal of a Right-to-Know Law appeal from an OAG denial, holding that the Office of Open Records has no jurisdiction over such appeals because Section 503(d)(1) of the RTKL expressly requires the Attorney General to designate its own appeals officer, a jurisdictional carve-out analogous to the one applicable to judicial agencies.

New York Appellate Procedure Civil Procedure Criminal Procedure

Appellate Division, Second Department

Matter of Rocah v. McCarthy — Writ of Prohibition Cannot Challenge Evidence Preclusion Under CPL 245.80

/ June 26, 2026

The Appellate Division, Second Department holds that CPLR Article 78 prohibition does not lie to challenge a criminal court’s evidence preclusion order under CPL 245.80(1)(a), even when the order would effectively prevent the prosecution from presenting its case.

Indiana Appellate Procedure Family Law Marital Property

Court of Appeals of Indiana

Hicks v. Hicks — Contingent Sale Provision Creating 4%/96% Property Split Was Abuse of Discretion When Court Found Only a Slight Deviation Warranted

/ June 26, 2026

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a dissolution decree’s property division because a contingent forced-sale provision—triggered if the husband could not refinance the mortgage—would have awarded the wife 96% of the marital estate, dramatically contradicting the trial court’s own finding that only a slight deviation from equal division was warranted.

South Carolina Appellate Procedure Constitutional Criminal

Court of Appeals of South Carolina

State v. Manigo — SC Court of Appeals Dismisses Pretrial Detainee’s Appeal of Order Releasing Jail Phone Calls as Non-Appealable Interlocutory Order

/ June 26, 2026

The South Carolina Court of Appeals dismissed a pretrial detainee’s appeal of a circuit court order releasing his jail telephone calls to the media, holding the order was non-appealable as interlocutory, and reaffirming that South Carolina requires evidence of actual juror bias rather than presumed prejudice from pretrial publicity.

New York Appellate Procedure Artificial Intelligence Attorney Sanctions

Appellate Division, Second Department

Landberg v. City of New York — Second Dept. Sanctions Attorney $8,000 for AI-Hallucinated Case Citations

/ June 25, 2026

The Appellate Division, Second Department imposed $8,000 in sanctions on an attorney and $2,500 on his firm after he submitted a brief containing three fictitious AI-generated case citations, fabricated Court of Appeals quotations that directly contradicted actual law, and misrepresentations of real cases — then denied using AI at oral argument.

Wyoming Appellate Procedure Constitutional Family Law

Wyoming Supreme Court

In re: AC and BI — Juvenile Court’s Mid-Hearing Cure Satisfies Due Process When Pro Se Parent Declines Opportunity to Cross-Examine

/ June 25, 2026

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed a child neglect adjudication under plain-error review, holding that a juvenile court’s failure to invite a pro se mother to present opening and closing statements or to cross-examine witnesses was cured mid-hearing when the court three times offered her the opportunity to recall and question any witness—an opportunity she declined.

Utah Appellate Procedure Family Law Orders of Protection

Court of Appeals of Utah

Canteros-Alvarez v. Green — Conditional Text Threat Does Not Establish Imminent Physical Harm Under Utah’s Cohabitant Abuse Act

/ June 21, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals vacated a protective order against a sister whose angry text—expressing a conditional desire to fight—did not place the petitioner in reasonable fear of imminent physical harm under the Cohabitant Abuse Act, because the threatened violence was contingent on a future event, the parties were physically distant, and there was no history of violence between them.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Criminal Evidence

North Carolina Court of Appeals

State v. Moore — Cross-Examination with Prior Flee-from-Police Incident Upheld Under Rules 404(b) and 403 as Proper Impeachment

/ June 19, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a DWI/fleeing-to-elude conviction, holding that the trial court did not err under Rule 404(b) when it allowed the State to cross-examine the defendant about a prior urban police encounter that contradicted his trial testimony that he “would have pulled over” if approached in the city, and that the Rule 403 determination did not rise to an abuse of discretion despite the evidence’s limited probative value and high prejudice potential.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Child Custody Juvenile Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

In re J.Q. — Trial Court Erred by Ceasing Reunification Efforts at Review Hearing; Only Permanency Planning Hearings Authorize That Step

/ June 19, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated a review-hearing order ceasing reunification efforts, holding that N.C.G.S. § 7B-906.2(b) reserves that power exclusively for permanency planning hearings; the trial court’s failure to schedule a permanency planning hearing within the statutory thirty-day window was an error but not prejudicial on appeal, with mandamus the proper real-time remedy.

Wyoming Appellate Procedure Evidence Family Law

Wyoming Supreme Court

In re AC and BI — Wyoming Supreme Court Affirms Neglect Finding, Upholds Admission of Post-Removal Hair Follicle Tests

/ June 18, 2026

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed a juvenile court’s finding that Father neglected his two minor children, holding the court did not abuse its discretion in admitting hair follicle test results collected after the date of alleged neglect, because the tests covered the relevant period and any challenge to their probative force went to weight rather than admissibility.

Utah Appellate Procedure Criminal Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Court of Appeals of Utah

State v. Perez — Jurors’ Brief Hands in Voir Dire Did Not Compel For-Cause Removal; Ineffective Assistance Claim Fails

/ June 13, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed convictions for aggravated burglary and related charges, holding that trial counsel was not ineffective in declining to challenge for cause three jurors who raised their hands to leading voir dire questions and then affirmed their ability to follow jury instructions in response to the prosecutor’s follow-up.

Texas Appellate Procedure Constitutional Municipal Law

Texas Court of Appeals, Eighth District (El Paso)

City of El Paso v. Pickett — City’s “Environmental Franchise Fee” Was an Unlawful Tax, Eighth Court Holds

/ June 13, 2026

The Eighth Court of Appeals affirmed that El Paso’s monthly Environmental Franchise Fee—charged to all residential solid-waste customers and raised without cost studies to fund police and fire equipment—was an impermissible tax, not a legitimate regulatory fee, and that governmental immunity did not bar a refund because nonpayment was criminal.

Indiana Appellate Procedure Civil Procedure Family Law

Court of Appeals of Indiana

Blair v. Fields — GAL Report Ten-Day Deadline Runs on Calendar Days, Not Business Days; New T.R. 7(D) Governs Continuance Motions

/ June 11, 2026

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a custody modification to Mother, holding that a GAL report filed electronically ten calendar days before a hearing was timely — the ten-day deadline runs on calendar days, not business days — and that Indiana’s new Trial Rule 7(D) requires continuance motions to include timing estimates or risk procedural denial.