Court of Appeals Digest: Nov. 4, 2019.

Byline: Minnesota Lawyer

Civil Unpublished

Common Carriers

Foreseeability

Appellant appealed from the District Court's order granting respondent Metropolitan Council's motion for summary judgment dismissing appellant's complaint with prejudice. Appellant brought action after she was allegedly assaulted by another passenger while on a bus. Appellant argued that the District Court erred in concluding that respondent was not liable as a common carrier because appellant's injury was unforeseeable and that respondent has both statutory and vicarious official immunity from liability. The Court of Appeals concluded that appellant's lone argument that the bus driver, with whom she had not communicated at all before the altercation, should have foreseen trouble was insufficient to survive summary judgment. Affirmed.

A19-0328 Dorliae v. Metro Transit (Hennepin County)

Domestic Relations

Child Protection; CHIPS

Police officers received a report that a 48-year-old man, appellant, sent a note to a 10-year-old girl in which he encouraged her to meet him at an inconspicuous location at midnight. In a subsequent investigation, police officers found six nude photographs of the man's young daughter on his home computer. The county petitioned the District Court for a determination that the man's five children were in need of protection or services. After an evidentiary hearing, the District Court so found. On appeal, appellant argued that the District Court's findings were inadequate to allow appellate review, that the District Court erred by finding that all of the children were in need of protection or services, and that the District Court did not make a proper finding concerning the children's best interests and safety. In light of the finding that appellant engaged in child abuse and domestic child abuse of his oldest child, the Court of Appeals concluded that the District Court did not err by finding that all five of the children resided with both a victim and a perpetrator of child abuse and domestic child abuse. Affirmed.

A19-0785 In re Welfare of Children of A.B. (Brown County)

Domestic Relations

Child Protection; Termination of Parental Rights

Appellant-mother challenged the termination of her parental rights to her child, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support the District Court's findings that reasonable efforts failed to correct the conditions leading to the child's out-of-home placement. Appellant also argued that the District Court abused its discretion by determining that termination of her parental rights was in the child's best interests. Noting that mother's case manager testified, after summarizing all of the services that had been offered, that there were no other services that could have been offered to help mother obtain sobriety, the Court of Appeals concluded that clear and convincing evidence supported the finding that reasonable efforts failed to correct the conditions leading to out-of-home placement. Affirmed.

A19-0871 In re Welfare of Child of K.M.D. (Morrison County)

Domestic Relations

Child Protection; Termination of Parental Rights

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