Diop v. Altepeter

2025 ND 160

• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court
• Decided: September 25, 2025
• Docket: No. 20240285
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

2025 ND 160

Papa Ibrahima Diop, Plaintiff v. Sarah Rae Altepeter, Defendant and Appellant and State of North Dakota, Statutory Real Party in Interest

No. 20240285

Appeal from the District Court of Cass County, East Central Judicial District, the Honorable Stephanie R. Hayden, Judge.

AFFIRMED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART.

Per Curiam.

Sarah Rae Altepeter, self-represented, Fargo, N.D., defendant and appellant. Diop v. Altepeter No. 20240285

[¶1] Sarah Altepeter appeals from the district court’s first amended judgment and two orders finding her in contempt of court. We dismiss the appeal from the August 23, 2024 order finding Altepeter in contempt because the only timely notice of appeal, filed in Case No. 20240228, was withdrawn by Altepeter. Altepeter’s October 14, 2024 and June 3, 2025 notices of appeal were timely only for the October 8, 2024 contempt order and the first amended judgment.

[¶2] Altepeter argues the district court’s findings of fact supporting the October contempt order and the first amended judgment are clearly erroneous, but she failed to file transcripts of the evidentiary hearings in the matter with this Court. “[An] appellant must file with this Court the transcript of any evidentiary hearing held in the matter.” Laducer v. Laducer, 2023 ND 117, ¶ 2, 992 N.W.2d 520; N.D.R.App.P. 10(b)(1). In the absence of a transcript, we find nothing in the record to contradict the court’s findings. We summarily affirm both the October 8, 2024 order and the first amended judgment under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(2) and (7).

[¶3] Jon J. Jensen, C.J. Daniel J. Crothers Lisa Fair McEvers Jerod E. Tufte Douglas A. Bahr