Court Summaries
| Citation | Vol. 46 No. 5 Pg. 52 |
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 52 |
Anna Reeves Olson is Senior Counsel in the Casper office of Long, Reimer Win-egar LLP.
Anna Reeves Olson
Robert, Ashley, Savannah and Braylon Cardenas v. Siegel J. Swanson
S-22-0223
July 5, 2023
The Cardenas family (Robert, Ashley, Savannah, and Braylon) owned three St. Bernard dogs (Brooklyn, Barkley and Jax) and they lived in the foothills of Casper Mountain. One day in November 2014, the dogs were running around outside and, while Barkley and Jax eventually returned home, Brooklyn did not.
Several days later while Savannah and Bray-lon continued the search for Brooklyn with their other two dogs, Barkley suddenly ran ahead and down a ravine. Savannah and Braylon followed and found Barkley caught in a snare. Savannah and Braylon tried unsuccessfully to free Barkley from the snare and in the process, Braylon injured his hands.
Sadly, Jax was also caught in another snare and died along with Barkley. Brooklyn was also found dead in a snare.
Siegel Swanson, a trapper, had set the snares that caught the dogs. The Cardenas family sued Swanson for infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted summary judgment to Swanson.
On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed and held that dogs are property and the Cardenas family cannot recover for emotional distress for the loss of property.
The Court also held that even if the Cardenas could clear the property damage hurdle, they had no claim for witnessing the deaths of their dogs because of the "traditional impact rule." Under this rule, a plaintiff cannot recover for mental injuries unless they are also linked to an actual or threatened physical impact caused by the defendant.
Furthermore, although Braylon incurred minor injuries to his hands when he attempted to free the dogs from the snares, the Court held that minor physical injuries do not give rise to a claim for emotional distress damages.
Steven Johnson, et al., v. Danielle M. Mathey & Mathey Law Office, P.C.
S-22-0243
July 18, 2023
In 2017, Steven Johnson retained attorney Danielle Mathey to represent him in various matters, including (1) litigation against the City of Rock Springs and (2) litigation against Factory Homes Outlet.
City of Rock Springs Matter
In July 2015, the City of Rock Springs experienced heavy rainfall and one of Johnson's storage facilities flooded with sewer water. The flooding caused $7,145 in damages. Johnson believed that the cause of the flood was the City's lift pumps shutting down so he sent a demand letter to the City, but the City denied the claim and contended that the flood was the result of a natural disaster. Mathey agreed to seek recovery of the damages from the City on Johnson's behalf. However, Mathey never filed suit against the City and, instead, forged a default judgment for $7,145. Mathey then paid Johnson $7,145 from her own account and told Johnson that it was from the City.
Factory Homes Outlet Litigation
In 2010, Johnson began working as a sales associate for Factory Homes Outlet, a company that constructs modular homes. After a year of working for Factory Homes...
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