North Dakota
Appeals court revives part of civil rights lawsuit surrounding Suburban snowbound during DAPL protest
BISMARCK — An Arizona couple who lost a federal lawsuit over a vehicle that was rented during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in south-central North Dakota have had part of their case revived.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently sent part of Michael and Jessica Wood’s case back to U.S. District Court in Bismarck, reopening the door for the couple to pursue monetary damages from a Bismarck rental franchisee and two of its employees. Trial has been scheduled for Nov. 18.
Michael Wood Jr., of Glendale, Arizona, a former U.S. Marine and Baltimore police officer, rented a Suburban from Hertz in 2016 when he came to Bismarck as part of an effort to bring hundreds of military veterans to a DAPL protest camp. The goal was to support opposition by tribes and environmentalists to the oil pipeline being routed near the Standing Rock Reservation and under its Missouri River drinking water supply.
The vehicle became snowbound in a blizzard and wasn’t returned to the rental company. The dispute that followed between Wood and Hertz resulted in Wood being charged in January 2017 with felony theft. Wood and his wife, Jessica, were detained at the U.S. border in California when returning from a Mexico vacation in August 2019, though they were not arrested.
Prosecutors in March 2020 dropped the theft charge, but Wood and his wife sued in March 2021, alleging Hertz Corp. officials falsely accused him of stealing the Suburban in retaliation for his social media criticism of the company’s service or his support of the pipeline protest. The defendants disputed the retaliation allegation.
U.S. District Judge Dan Traynor later in 2021 dismissed the City of Bismarck and two police officers as defendants in the civil rights lawsuit, along with two Hertz employees in Oklahoma. The Woods voluntarily dropped Hertz as a defendant after the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the coronavirus pandemic. That left Bismarck franchisee Overland West Inc. and two of its employees — Alexandria Huber and John Kaelberer — as the only remaining defendants in the suit that sought unspecified monetary damages.
Traynor about a year ago ruled against the Woods on all of their claims — malicious prosecution, negligence, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, and negligent training and supervision. The Woods appealed.
A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit recently upheld Traynor’s ruling that Overland did not breach its rental contract with the Woods. But the panel ruled that the Woods had presented enough evidence to possibly convince a jury of their claims of malicious prosecution, negligence, and negligent training and supervision.
The judges concluded “the Woods presented sufficient evidence that Kaelberer lacked probable cause to believe that Wood had stolen the vehicle when he contacted police,” and that “further, a jury could infer malice based on Kaelberer’s testimony that he filed the police report to collect a debt, and testimony that Overland employees were aware of Wood’s negative tweet and considered it harassing and threatening.”
The judges also said there was enough evidence that a jury might conclude Overland employees’ efforts to reach out to Wood before contacting police were insufficient, and that Overland failed to properly train its employees regarding the filing of stolen vehicle reports.
The Woods’ attorney, Roberto Alejandro, said, “We agree with the 8th Circuit’s decision and now turn our attention to preparing for trial.”
Defendants attorney Joel Flom did not respond to a Bismarck Tribune request for comment before being withdrawn from the case. The defendants’ new attorney, Bradley Beehler, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
High School Basketball logo. Courtesy Midwest Communications.
North Dakota High School Boys | Girls Basketball Scoreboard from Jan 10, 2026
BOYS PREP BASKETBALL=
Alexander-Trinity Christian 81, Divide County 58
Beulah 55, Des Lacs-Burlington 26
Harvey-Wells County 61, Nedrose 51
Killdeer 54, Dunseith 52
Linton 75, Sargent County 32
Milbank, S.D. 64, Hillsboro-Central Valley 61
New Salem-Almont 71, Mandaree 32
Our Redeemer’s 89, Kenmare 32
Parshall 71, Trenton 70
Richey-Lambert, Mont. 57, Beach 55
Rothsay, Minn. 71, Richland 38
Shiloh 70, Oak Grove 59
Watford City 77, South Prairie/Max 64
Westby-Grenora 49, Savage, Mont. 40
White Shield 72, Strasburg 55
Dickinson Trinity Shootout=
Central McLean 70, Bowman County 54
Dickinson Trinity 63, Stanley 22
Wilton-Wing 70, South Heart 51
Ramsey County Tournament=
Championship=
North Star 65, Lakota/Adams-Edmore/Dakota Prairie 57
7th Place=
Warwick 72, Benson County 61
5th Place=
Carrington 53, Griggs-Midkota 45
3rd Place=
Devils Lake 73, Larimore 63
Stutsman County Shootout=
Drake-Anamoose 54, South Border 49
Glen Ullin 47, EKM 44
MPB 63, Washburn 59
Midway-Minto 61, Ellendale 53
Napoleon/G-S 53, Kindred 44
Oakes 69, Kidder County 39
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL=
Ashby, Minn. 65, Tri-State 49
Benson County 47, Hatton-Northwood 38
Dunseith 46, Killdeer 39
Ellendale 54, South Border 36
Flasher 42, New England 16
Garrison 54, Grant County/Mott-Regent 51
Kenmare 55, Our Redeemer’s 43
Kindred 70, Bottineau 21
Lambert, Mont. 52, Beach 50
Maple River 53, LaMoure 52
Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood 57, TGU 54
New Salem-Almont 67, Mandaree 44
North Prairie 67, Westhope 49
Park River 42, Griggs-Midkota 37
Richey-Lambert, Mont. 52, Beach 50
Rothsay, Minn. 65, Richland 32
Sargent County 55, Linton 48
Savage, Mont. 40, Westby-Grenora 33
Shiloh 56, Oak Grove 47
Sisseton, S.D. 66, Oakes 17
Strasburg 39, White Shield 30
Surrey 67, Larimore 38
Trenton 58, Parshall 40
Dickinson Trinity Shootout=
Central McLean 55, Bowman County 41
South Heart 45, Stanley 41
Sanford Pentagon Classic=
West Fargo Horace 70, Tea, S.D. 41
Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
North Dakota
Kaitlyn Grace Lucier, Fargo, Chapter 7
Samuel Todd Hicks, formerly known as Thomas Samuel Hicks, Fargo, Chapter 7
Teresa and Dominik Renwick, Fargo, Chapter 13
Susan Renee Fuller, formerly known as Susan R. Schaffer, doing business as Susie’s Sparkling Cleaning Service, Fargo, Chapter 7
Shannon Lynn Taylor, Fargo, Chapter 7
Jesse Patrick and Jaime Elizabeth Brown, Williston, Chapter 7
Kerri Lee Weishaar, Minot, Chapter 7
Terry Marie Moritz, Valley City, Chapter 7
Joshua Allen Sewill, Hatton, Chapter 7
Bryan Eugene Flecker, Minot, Chapter 7
Anna Marie Rahm, formerly known as Anna Marie Tanner, and Joshua Edward Rahm, Bismarck, Chapter 13
Sherri Rae Fisher, Baldwin, Chapter 13
Heather Lynn McElroy, formerly known as Heather Anderson, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Kaitlyn Autrey, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Michelle Lynn Miller, Fargo, Chapter 13
Kimberly Georgeann Callahan, Fargo, Chapter 13
Erin Elaine and Jose Luiz Murphy, Bismarck, Chapter 7
Shelly and Kieth Quimby, St. Thomas, Chapter 7
Minnesota
Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.
David Howard Gilpin, Osakis, Chapter 7
Timothy Virgil Hoag, Moorhead, Chapter 7
Jason Darryl Dykhoff, Ottertail, Chapter 7
Zachary Nicholas Hodgson and Jolynn Beth Warnes, formerly known as Jolynn Beth Hodgson, Kensington, Chapter 7
Riley Matthew Hinman, Alexandria, Chapter 7
Layne Christopher Condiff, Park Rapids, Chapter 13
Thomas Beecher Hoyer, Menahga, Chapter 13
Christine Karen Jakubek, also known as Cristine Anderson, Chapter 7
Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.
Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.
Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.
Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.
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North Dakota
Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – On Friday, North Dakota U.S. Senator John Hoeven, Governor Kelly Armstrong and Health and Human Services Commissioner Pat Traynor explained how the state plans to use millions of dollars from the Big Beautiful Bill’s Rural Health Transformation Fund to transform healthcare across the state.
They spoke extensively about the special session to allocate the funds, and confirmed that it is still tentatively set for Jan. 21.
The Big Beautiful Bill allocated $25 billion for rural healthcare nationwide. North Dakota received $500 million for five years and $200 million for the first year. There is still another $25 billion left to be spent, and North Dakota is hoping to receive an extra $500 million.
“I truly believe that with the plan we’re putting in place and the things we built that line up with that, we’ll get a billion dollars over five years,” said Hoeven.
Federal rules require the state to lock in contracts for the money by October first— a deadline officials say is driving the need for a special session.
In the first year, North Dakota will focus on retention grants to keep existing staff, technical assistance and consultants for rural hospitals, as well as telehealth equipment and home patient monitoring.
Governor Armstrong says the special session will include policy bills tied to how much federal rural health funding the state can earn.
“We’re going to have a physical fitness test for physical education courses, nutrition education, continuing education requirement for physicians, physician assistant licensure compact—which North Dakota has been doing, dealing with that since the heart of the oil boom and moving forward—and then an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists,” said Armstrong.
Hundreds of millions of dollars could reshape healthcare in rural North Dakota, and state leaders say the next few weeks are key to receiving and spending that money wisely.
The governor says he only wants to focus on bills related to the Rural Health Transformation Program during the special session and doesn’t intend to deal with other state issues during that time.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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