Fanny Kelly v. Sarah Larimer (1870)
Kelly filed suit against Larimer in Kansas in October 1870, accusing the Wyoming woman of stealing a manuscript and publishing it under her own name. The Capture and Escape or Life Among the Sioux by Larimer was released just weeks before Kelly’s book, Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians, was published in 1871. Both women had been kidnapped by Indians about 80 miles west of Fort Laramie in July 1864. Larimer managed to escape after two days, but the 19-year-old Kelly and her five-year-old adopted daughter were not rescued until December 12 at Fort Sully, miles from their capture. Following the ordeal, Mrs. Kelly returned to Kansas with her husband. He died of cholera in July 1867, and Mrs. Kelly accepted an invitation to stay with the Larimers in Cheyenne where Larimer was a photographer. While there, Mrs. Kelly finished her book. She alleged that in May 1869, Mrs. Larimer secretly took her manuscript to a Philadelphia publisher and had it printed under her own name. Kelly won a judgment of $5,000 from a trial court, but the judgment was reduced to $286.50 in damages and $2,000 in court costs on appeal. The judgment also required Larimer and her printer to destroy all copies of the book. Mrs. Kelly later became a federal government employee. She died in Washington, D. C., in 1904.
State v. Frank Canton et al (1892)
Canton and the rest of the Johnson County “invaders” were rescued by the army at the TA Ranch in April 1892. Later that month, they were escorted to Cheyenne to face trial. The venue change allowed the “prisoners” to enjoy hospitable quarters at Fort Russell and never spend a day in jail for their crimes. Because of the projected expenses of such a trial, Johnson County officials decided not to prosecute and all of the prisoners were released.
Race Horse Case (1895)
Race Horse, a Bannock chief during the so-called “Indian War of 1895” in Jackson Hole, was convicted of violating state game laws by unlawfully killing seven elk in the Jackson Hole area. His conviction was appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court. The court ruled that “a state has jurisdiction over the game within its borders.” The U.S. Circuit Court in Cheyenne holds that game laws do not apply to Indians. The case (No.163) is carried to the U.S. Supreme Court where the decision is reversed. An act (S.L.1897, ch. 25, pp. 48-49) is approved on February 19, 1897, to pay $1,421.50 for the Race Horse case expense out of the unused balance of an appropriation made by the U.S. Congress for the Constitutional Convention of Wyoming.
Teapot Dome “Annulment Trial” (1925)
The federal government attempted to annul the leases to lucrative federal oil reserve lands at Teapot Dome near Midwest. The leases had been granted to several oil companies on the authority of Interior Secretary Albert Fall who was later convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for the leases. The trial, held in federal district court in Cheyenne from March 7-27, 1925, gained national publicity.
City of Green River v. Fuller Brush Company (1935)
The city of Green River became the first in the United States to pass a law requiring “peddlers” to be licensed and banning them from soliciting during particular hours. The Fuller Brush Company violated the law and the Green River city attorney had the company representative prosecuted. The case went to the federal courts where, in April, 1935, the court said the so-called “Green River ordinance” was a legitimate exercise of municipal power.
U. S. v. 63 Draft Resisters (1944)
The largest mass trial in Wyoming history, 63 Nisei young men from Heart Mountain Relocation Center were charged with failure to report for pre-induction physicals. The men were protesting the condition of Americans of Japanese descent who were being held in detention without trial and without any charges being brought against them. In the trial before Judge T. Blake Kennedy, the 63 were found guilty on June 26, 1944, and sentenced to as long as three years in federal prison.
State v. Richard and Deborah Jahnke (1983)
The Jahnkes were accused of the murder of their father, an IRS agent who, the children claimed, had abused them for the many years. The man was shot down by his son while he was opening the garage door at his home north of Cheyenne in 1983. A Laramie County jury found them guilty of a lesser charge. The case gained national attention on CBS’s 60 Minutes and became the subject of a best-selling book and made-for-television movie.
Coastal Corp. v. Occidental Petroleum (1976)
The case, heard in federal court in Cheyenne, involved an oil contract dispute between two industry giants. When the verdict was handed down in November 1976, Coastal was awarded a judgment of $549 million, the third largest civil judgment ever awarded in an American court at the time. Michael L. Beatty (b. 1948), a former University of Wyoming law professor, was Coastal’s general counsel who won the case.
Davis v. Alioto
In the middle 1960s, 199 ranchers hired Joseph L. Alioto, former mayor of San Francisco, and his son to bring suit against Safeway, A&P and Kroeger grocery chains, alleging the firms were conspiring to drive down cattle prices. The Aliotos selected six ranchers, including C. C. Davis of Cheyenne, to bring the test case. Little was done for three years, then Safeway and Kroeger each settled for $85,000, the settlement monies to be used to continue the suit. Instead, the Alioto firm kept most of the money. Years later, the suit against A&P was settled for $10.6 million, the Alioto firm receiving $5.2 million in fees. Davis filed suit against the firm in July, 1976, alleging legal malpractice. After protracted litigation lasting for years, the Wyoming Supreme Court in July, 1984, upheld a judgment against the Alioto firm for $3.55 million, the largest legal malpractice award in Wyoming history.conviction and sentence in 1990.
State v. Dr. John Story (1985)
In April 1985, Lovell physician Dr. John Story of Lovell was convicted on six counts of sexually assaulting several of his patients over the years and sentenced to 15-20 years in prison. His case was the subject of a CBS’ 60 Minutes episode and two books. The Wyoming Supreme Court upheld his conviction.
U. S. v. Imelda Marcos (1990)
Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence represented Mrs. Marcos when she was charged for racketeering in connection with the looting of the Philippine treasury. The case went to trial in March 1990, and Mrs. Marcos was found not guilty. Mrs. Marcos was famous for her huge collection of shoes. A New York newspaper photographer had taken pictures of her shoes each day of the trial. When the verdict was announced, the paper ran small separate photos of each pair she had worn and headlined the photo spread, “Imelda Walks.”
State v. Woodbury (1990)
A 38-year-old Los Angeles area freelance commercial artist told authorities about incidents of sexual abuse she had suffered at the hands of her father some 30 years earlier. As a result of her testimony, authorities brought charges against her father in district court in Rawlins in 1990. The incidents had occurred in Carbon County in the 1950s and early 1960s. The father pleaded guilty in December 1990, to the charges and was sentenced to five years’ probation. It was one of the oldest cases ever prosecuted in Wyoming because there was no statute of limitations for the offense. It was unusual, too, because even though there was no physical evidence, several people agreed to testify, corroborating the victim’s story.
Mogensen v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Company (1992)
The jury returned a verdict for $15 million in compensatory damages and $18.5 million in punitive damages against the insurance company in a Bakersfield, Calif., court room. The $33.5 million judgment was the biggest jury verdict for insurance fraud in U. S. history. Jackson attorney Gerald Spence represented Mogensen who had been made a quadriplegic in a 1970 auto accident and had been convinced by an Aetna claims representative to sign an invalid release of liability while he was hospitalized. The verdict was appealed.
Virginia Military Institute case (1996)
The State of Wyoming intervened on the side of the institute when the college was challenged for its all-male policy. Attorney General Bill Hill defended his decision to allow Wyoming to file on the side of the college while Secretary of State Diana Ohman and former Secretary of State Kathy Karpan criticized the decision for seeming to contradict Wyoming’s Equality State image. In June, 1996, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled against VMI with only Justice Scalia dissenting.
Hill vs State of Wyoming and Governor Mead (2013)
In 2013, the Wyoming Legislature passed a law removing the Superintendent of Public Instruction as head of the Department of Education and stripping the office of most of its responsibilities. Superintendent Cindy Hill sued the State of Wyoming and Governor Matthew H. Mead to repeal the so-called "Hill Bill." The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in January 2014 and allowed the case to be retried in lower courts. Hill did not seek re-election in 2014, but ran unsuccessfully against Mead in the Republican primaries for governor. In January 2015, the Wyoming House Education Committee voted down (7-2) a proposed Constitutional Amendment to change the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to an appointed position rather than an elected office, citing heavy public opposition to the bill.
Gay Marriage Ban Struck Down (2014)
On October 17, 2014, US District Court Judge Scott Skavahl struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage (WS 20-1-101), stating that he felt the plaintiffs had demonstrated the law as a violation of their constitutional rights and that the defendants "failed to offer even a scintilla of evidence to support their assertion that a preliminary injunction would cause such administrative nightmares." He went on to say that, "There is undoubtedly a public interest in having the will of Wyoming's voters and legislators carried out, but that interest is overridden by the public's interest in protecting fundamental rights. This final preliminary injunction factor also strongly weighs in plaintiffs' favor... The preferred forum for addressing the issues presented by plaintiffs in this case is the arena of public debate and legislative action. However, that ship has sailed. It is not the desire or preference of this court to, with the stroke of a pen, erase a state's legislative enactments. Nonetheless, the binding precedents ... mandate this result, and this court will adhere to its constitutional duties and abide by the rule of law." The defendants, Governor Matthew H. Mead, released a statement later that day that he would not appeal the decision. “This result is contrary to my personal beliefs and those of many others,” Mead said in the statement. “As in all matters, I respect the role of the courts and the ruling of the court.” (Casper Star Tribune 10/17/2014)
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