What's New

Check here regularly to find out what’s new at our firm, and, perhaps, more importantly, what’s new in the legal world. You will find important developments posted here that may have a direct impact on you or your business.

Howard P. Olsen, Jr has been named Chair of the Federal Practice Committee for 2007. The Committee of Nebraska judges and lawyers advise the United States Federal Judges and Magistrates for the District of Nebraska on issues affecting the practice of law in their Courts.  Howard is also participating in a panel at the Nebraska Appellate Courts Spring Education Meeting on April 13, 2007. The panel is expected to discuss a myriad of issues affecting Appellate Practice in Nebraska.

Congratulations to Jeffrey L. Hansen.  He has successfully achieved Board Certification as a family trial advocate through the National Board of Trial Advocacy.  Jeff joins a growing number of trial attorneys that have illustrated their commitment to bettering the legal profession by successfully completing a challenging application process and providing the consumer of legal services with an objective measure by which to choose qualified and experienced legal counsel.  Achieving this certification confirms that Jeff has exhibited a higher standard of professional conduct.

Congratulations to Andrea Miller on her recent completion of the Leadership Scotts Bluff Program. The Program is a comprehensive plan designed for current and potential leaders to analyze characteristics associated with leadership, to develop individual skills and to gather an awareness of trends, challenges and issues that face Scotts Bluff County. Participants were required to attend eight full-day sessions as well as a trip to the state capitol and meeting with the governor and Legislature.

NEW ASSOCIATE

The firm is pleased to announce that ANDREA D. MILLER has become an associate of the firm. Andrea is a 2002 graduate of the University of Nebraska at Kearney where she received a BS degree in political science. In 2006, she graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Law with a JD degree. Andrea attended and graduated from Gordon High School. She is married to Travis who is from the Potter-Dix area and is a staff development specialist at the ESU #13. They have three children, Hunter, Kierra and Theron.

VERDICTS

Congratulations to Howard P. Olsen, Jr. for a successful defense of Western Sugar Cooperative Corporation in Heth vs. Western Sugar which was a wrongful death case arising in the District Court of Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska. The jury found the Decedent was more than 50% responsible for his own death.

The issues surrounded the changing of a flat tire on a semi truck and trailer in the confines of a Western Sugar shop. Once the repair was completed, the driver re-assumed control of the vehicle and pulled it out of the shop only to discover minutes later that he had driven over the decedent.

Evidence was adduced on the issues of lock-out/tag-out and reasonable care. The decedent used experts D. Way Johnston and Ronald Bredemeyer from Texas and defendant used expert Norris Hoover from Fay Engineering Corp. of Denver, Colorado.

Congratulations to John Simmons for a favorable decision in the court case of Renter v. Siedenburg. Plaintiff had sought to remove her son’s name from an annuity worth in excess of $300,000. The district court held that in the absence of any claim of fraud, the annuity documents were conclusive upon the rights of the parties and the son’s name could not be removed without his consent.

Congratulations to John Simmons for obtaining a defense verdict in the District Court case of Angelina Palomo v. US Bank. Ms. Palomo had sought damages in excess of $100,000 for injuries sustained in an after hours fall at the bank’s ATM machine. In a general defense verdict, the jury apparently rejected plaintiff’s contention that there was anything hazardous about the bank’s machine.

Congratulations to Howard P. Olsen, Jr. and John A. Selzer for their successful jury verdict in the District Court case of In Re: Estate of Robert P. Anderson wherein the jury set aside two Wills with the finding that the same were procured by undue influence and reinstated a previous Will which gave their clients (the grandchildren of Robert P. Anderson) one half of the estate. They had been virtually removed from the new Wills.

The jury found that the surviving daughter of Robert P. Anderson had the opportunity and the requisite disposition to exercise undue influence, that her father Robert P. Anderson was susceptible of undue influence and the later Wills were the result of the undue influence.  After a week’s trial, the jury was out less than two hours before bringing in their verdict.

Howard and John called seventeen witnesses.  There were no substantive issues with regard to testamentary capacity, so the only issue was undue influence. One of the interesting sub-issues was the admission by the Court of evidence of disposition remote to the time of the Will execution based upon the fact that there was sufficient evidence of disposition at or about the time of the Wills’ execution to justify under In re Heineman’s Estate, 144 Neb. 442, 13 N.W.2d 569 at 572 (1944) that the later evidence was relevant. See “Undue Influence” under Articles.

This case was affirmed by the Nebraska Court of Appeals in a Memorandum Opinion and Judgment on Appeal filed August 15, 2006. The Court of Appeals Opinion was 37 pages and contained some of the following more memorable quotes:

"Paul’s requests that Lawrence backdate documents that would benefit himself and Barbara is strong evidence of their predisposition to do virtually anything to benefit themselves."

"The resulting wills left virtually all of Robert’s very substantial estate to the individuals who, from all appearances, seized upon Sam’s untimely death to enrich themselves."

"In this appeal, we conclude that the evidence supporting the claim that the 1998 wills were the product of undue influence by Barbara and Paul was abundant, if not overwhelming."

Howard and John are grateful to John F. Simmons for the strong brief writing in this case.

After the jury verdict in the Anderson case, Howard and John filed a case in Wyoming to set aside a deed that had been given to the surviving daughter and her husband for the Decedent’s ranch. The Honorable John C. Brooks of the Eight Judicial District, County of Goshen, State of Wyoming, rendered a 12 page opinion rejecting the daughter’s attempts to quiet title in the ranch in her exclusively and rather quieting title in the Trustee for the benefit of the grandchildren in one half of the ranch. That case is now on appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Judge Brooks had to consider issues of undue influence under Wyoming law.

Howard, along with Rick Ediger, was involved in other family litigation in 2006 which included a dispute between a father and son with regard to a 5,000 acre ranch in northwestern Nebraska. That case was tried in front of the Honorable Paul D. Empson and on May 30, 2006. Judge Empson awarded a judgment in favor of Howard’s client, Virgil Kleensang (the father), in the amount of $318,356. The issue in that case surrounded the ownership of a cattle herd and whether a gift had been made of the entire herd. The Court essentially held that there was no clear and unmistakable intention to make a gift of the entire herd and that the parties had a 50/50 deal as had been agreed to many years ago. That case is presently under appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals.

OUR FAMILIES

The firm congratulates Kimberly J. Olsen, the daughter of Howard P. and Peggy Olsen, on her receipt of the Most Outstanding Intern award from St. Raphael’s Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut during her transitional year in anaesthesiology. Kimberly is now doing a 3-year anaesthesiology residency at the University of Nebraska Medical College in Omaha, Nebraska.