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By Andy DelaneyI’ve always  enjoyed the phrase “unlawful mischief.” To me, it sounds endearing—like an impish lawbreaker getting up to shenanigans. “Unlawful mischief” as used in Vermont jurisprudence is essentially vandalism. Fun fact: the Vandals are a punk rock band from Southern California, whose first album, Peace Thru Vandalism, includes this track (NSFW)

Definitely not the bridge in this caseBy Andy DelaneyOne opinion this past week, concerning what a de minimus—a lawyers’-job-security word for unimportant or insignificant—use is in the context of recreational trails, bridges, and triggering application of zoning regs. I want to say something silly like “Buckle in for a wild ride!” but that would be

AdminBy Andy DelaneyThis week’s post is going to be short because, as Polonious quipped in Hamlet, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” I’m lazy. SCOV issued two opinions on Friday, January 10. Opinion one boils down to whether redacted records related to the use of restraint and seclusion on students are subject to a Public

By Andy DelaneyVermont follows what we sometimes call the “public domain” citation format. What this means is that following the case name, you’ll have the year the case was decided, the two-letter state abbreviation, and the number of the decision for that year. Hence, the first decision SCOV issues this year is going

I am totally being framed.This is BS. By Andy DelaneyEarlier this week, I found a chewed-up wooden doggy figurine on our bed in the morning. I accused “my wife’s dog,” Lucy of being the culprit, though in fairness, it might have been “my dog” Luna. My reasoning was that the figurine was on “Lucy’s side”

Aesop I Ain’tBy Andy DelaneyI can’t remember if I already used a title like this, but I probably did and probably already led with some quip about fables being a little bit of artistic license. It feels familiar. I may look it up after writing these up. Maybe I’ll even edit it out and

By Andy DelaneyOne might think that with the presumptive four-day weekend, there would be no opinions this week. One would be wrong. Two opinions issued on Wednesday.The first opinion is about a property dispute. In a nutshell, a married couple noticed that a parcel of land—that neighbor was using—was seemingly omitted from neighbor’s deed.

It’s surprisingly difficult to find good law-related memes. So this is what you get.By Andy DelaneyTwo opinions from the 22nd. Do you know whether one would capitalize a spelled-out date? Me neither. That’s at least one of the reasons why y’all get “the 22nd.” Anywho . . . we start off with a foray into

By Andy DelaneyI’ve been traveling since Thursday, November 7th, which is one reason why we’re doing a little catch-up today. There are other reasons too, but “traveling” sounds legitimate to me. SCOV issued three opinions on the 8th and one opinion on the 15th.  The first opinion from the 8th is about law enforcement and