APRIL FOOLS DAY action in the Supreme Court

Smith v. Colorado Organ Recovery Sys., 269 Neb. 578 Filed April 1, 2005. No. S-02-767. Jury verdict against patient receiving a liver transplant upheld; Jury found negligence but no proximate cause; Plaintiff failed to properly object to defense experts, as not following up motions in limine with actual objections at trial waives objection; Defense experts would have easily passed Daubert standards, and Plaintiff's expert was not even a liver doctor.

Anderson v. Wells Fargo Fin. Accept., 269 Neb. 595 Filed April 1, 2005. No. S-03-882. Car buyer's actio against bank for failing to include his name on title failed to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) because Declaratory judgment action under Section 25-21,150 of the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act would not have disposed of the underlying action (21-21, 154.)

State v. McDonald, 269 Neb. 604 Filed April 1, 2005. No. S-04-516. Defendant convicted of murder in 1975 denied DNA test under § 29-4120; defendant argued "bloodstains" were actually paint, DNA would not help because tests to distinguish blood from other substances were available in the 1970's .

State v. Verling, 269 Neb. 610 Filed April 1, 2005. No. S-04-562. Traffic stop lead to search of vehicle and traffic citation. Supreme Court found reasonable suspicion for further detention and dog search yielding contraband, including the drivers' having an Illinois drivers license, a rented vehicle from Arizona, and the drivers attempts to distract the police officr. S tate v. Lee, 265 Neb. 663, 658 N.W.2d 669 (2003). Both the length of the continued detention and the investigative methods employed therein were reasonable See, U.S. v. Bloomfield, 40 F.3d 910 (8th Cir. 1994) , State v. Lee, supra. The canine sniff was initiated 10 to 15 minutes after the initial stop and approximately 1 minute after issuance of the warning citation. The duration of the extended detention was clearly reasonable, and the use of the drug detection dog during the lawful detention did not violate any constitutionally protected right. See Illinois v. Caballes, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S. Ct. 834, ___ L. Ed. 2d ___ (2005). The court did not call this a search incident to arrest, cf Knowles v. Iowa, 525 U.S. 113, 119 S. Ct. 484, 142 L. Ed. 2d 492 (1998),

State ex rel. Counsel for Dis. v. Terry, 269 Neb. 619 Filed April 1 , 2005. No. S-04-750. Attorney surrenders license after multiple acts of trust account commingling.