Court Summaries
| Publication year | 2015 |
| Pages | 58 |
P. Craig Silva Williams, Porter, Day & Neville P.C.
State of Wyoming, by and through the State Treasurer of Wyoming and the State of Wyoming Retirement System v. Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. et al.
S-14-0236
May 11, 2015
This case relates to personal jurisdiction. Te State of Wyoming fled a lawsuit against Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), wherein the State claimed numerous investment rating agencies were liable for State investment losses on mortgaged backed securities during the 2007 to 2008 financial crisis.
Moody’s, as well as the other appellees involved in this matter, provide ratings on investments. All appellees were corporations with their principal place of business in New York, and none of these entities had any physical presence in Wyoming. Te Amended Complaint alleged primarily that the rating agencies provided false credit ratings, which the State relied upon in purchasing investments during the financial crisis, which investments later lead to losses for the State. Te rating agencies moved to dismiss.
Discovery was allowed on the issue of personal jurisdiction. Te trial court granted the motion to dismiss and the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed. Te State claimed personal jurisdiction existed because the rating agencies knew these investments would be sold to a targeted portion of the investment marketplace, including Wyoming. Te Court held this allegation alone is not sufficient to allow for personal jurisdiction. There was no evidence or allegation that the rating agencies expressly aimed their tortuous conduct at Wyoming. Without more to go on, the district court properly concluded there was a lack of personal jurisdiction.
Ryon Termaine Fennell v. State of Wyoming
2015 WY 67
S-14-0239
May 12, 2015
This is an ineffective assistance of counsel case. A jury found Ryon Termaine Fennell guilty of three counts of delivery of cocaine. On appeal, Mr. Fennell claimed prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. The Wyoming Supreme Court found prosecutorial error, but that the error was essentially harmless. The high court reversed on the ineffective assistance of counsel issues.
Jeff Wheeler was an employee of Goofy’s Bar in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mr. Wheeler approached law enforcement to advise of drug trafficking in the area, and was thereafter involved with numerous controlled buys with Mr. Fennell. Mr. Fennell was charged and convicted based on those controlled buys.
The first claim of ineffective assistance was that Mr. Fennell’s counsel did not object to admission of the drug tests, but instead stipulated to their admission. The Court held given that the defense was not whether the substance was cocaine or not, but instead that Mr. Fennell and Mr. Wheeler were meeting because Mr. Wheeler owed Mr. Fennell money resulting in Mr. Wheeler setting up Fennell, that a stipulation to the fact that the substance was cocaine did not affect the defense.
The third claim was also held to be ineffective assistance. Factually, for the third claim the prosecution played parts of the audio tapes of controlled buys. Mr. Fennell claimed if the tapes would have been played in their entirety, they would have shown Mr. Wheeler was not under complete surveillance and the drugs could have come from someplace other than from him. The Wyoming Supreme Court agreed that failure to play the tapes in their entirety affected Mr. Fennell’s right to a fair trial.
Te third claim was also held to be ineffective assistance. Factually, for the third claim the prosecution played parts of the audio tapes of controlled buys. Mr. Fennell claimed if the tapes would have been played in their entirety, they would have shown Mr. Wheeler was not under complete surveillance and the drugs could have come from someplace other than from him. Te Wyoming Supreme Court a greed that failure to play the tapes in their entirety affected Mr. Fennell’s right to a fair trial.
Sheridan Newspaper, Inc. v. Board of Trustees of Sheridan County School District #2, State of Wyoming
S-14-0259
May 14, 2015
For some time, the school board had been exploring ways to upgrade the Sheridan High School’s recreational facilities. On plan was a multi-use facility that both the school district and the community at large could use. These plans, however, had only been discussed...
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