CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations

802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT –– The Vermont Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in seven cases at Vermont Law School on March 17 in the high court’s annual session at the state’s only law school.

The court will consider the following cases:

· Crawford Gregory v. Poulin Auto Sales, 2009-147, 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.: Whether the Vermont Consumer Fraud Act is violated when a car dealer relies on a mistakenly issued clean car title and does not independently inspect the vehicle to determine whether it is salvaged or rebuilt.

· In re Montpelier WWTF Discharge Permit, 2009-286, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Whether a Clean Water Act permit violates the statutory five-year limitation on permits when it relies exclusively on data that is more than five years old. The VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic filed an amicus brief in this case on behalf of former Vermont state officials responsible for water pollution control.

· Rino Crisafulli v. Kathleen Conley, 2009-368, 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: What constitutes an intent to abandon residency in another state and establish residency in Vermont .

· State v. Thomas Pellerin, 2010-082, 1:10 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Whether the habitual offender statute can be used to hold someone without bail under a statute that applies to charges punishable by a life sentence.

· State v. Carl Devoid, Jr., 2009-208, 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.: What constitutes attempted voyeurism and when such a jury instruction can be given.

· State v. Brian Rooney, 2008-470, 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Whether the prosecution must turn over internal validation studies from DNA labs and whether it violates due process and equal protection to charge aggravated murder rather than felony murder in those instances where the elements of each crime are the same.

· State v. Randall Gokey, 2009-131, 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Whether a judge can contact a pharmacy and ask about the side effects of a drug that a defendant claims is preventing him from attending his trial.

The arguments will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. in Oakes Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Vermont Court Rules apply for media coverage: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/MasterDocument/CourthouseEtiquette.pdf

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Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is the nation’s top- ranked environmental law school, according to U.S. News & World Report. VLS offers a Juris Doctor (JD) curriculum that emphasizes public service, a Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree for lawyers and nonlawyers, and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students). The school also features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center and the South Royalton Legal Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu.

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