Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1988

The court reinstated the trial court’s award of Laura’s custody to her father because the trial court’s supported findings were entitled to deference and the court of appeals had improperly reweighed the evidence.

The court reversed the court of appeals because it decided a new statute-of-limitations accrual theory that Thiele had not litigated in the trial court and that was unsupported by the record.

The court held that the deputies were entitled to qualified immunity on the federal claims because reasonable officers could have believed that exigent circumstances justified entering the home and briefly restraining the plaintiffs.