January 2013 Archives

Wyoming-born, Wyoming-raised, and Wyoming-educated, you might just call Attorney General Gregory Phillips "Mr. Wyoming." Generations of his family have come from Uinta County. Phillips completed high school, college, and law school - all without leaving the great State of Wyoming. According to his state-provided bio, he then clerked for the Honorable Alan B. Johnson, a U.S. District Court Judge in, you guessed it, Wyoming.

After finishing school and his clerkship, Mr. Phillips entered private practice. He practiced law with his brother and father in his native Evanston, Wyoming from 1989 to 1998. During six of those years, he served as the State Senator from Uinta County. In 1998, after his family retired from law practice, he joined a law school buddy in starting a new private firm in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Propensity evidence or proof of knowledge? It's a tricky question.

Timothy "New York" McGlothin's apartment was searched after he was identified as a suspect in a bank robbery. Authorities found a Glock pistol in a closet with letters addressed to McGlothin, a Yankees cap, and a stack of $2 bills.

He was convicted of being a felon-in-possession using a constructive possession theory. At trial, the prosecutors introduced two prior incidents involving McGlothin and a firearm:

To recap the entirety of the procedural history of D.A. Osguthorpe Family Partner v. ASC Utah, Inc. would require a voluminous text comparable to Joyce’s Ulysses. We’ll spare your time, and ours, as many of us are billing by the hour.

A few parties decided to develop Utah land into a golf course, ski resort, and vacation destination. The project collapsed in development and litigation ensued. Counterclaims, third parties, and litigation consolidation added enough parties and confusion to lead the Tenth Circuit to refer to it as “metastasized.”

Bennie Walters sued his former employer, Walmart, for employment discrimination. Walmart apparently reached an agreement with Walters during a settlement conference -- which is suprising since Walmart is kind of famous for its aggressive litigation strategy -- but Walters later refused to sign the written agreement.

The district court granted Walmart's motion to enforce the agreement, and denied Walters' motion for reconsideration. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.