Justice Sotomayor, writing for the Court, joined in full by six Justices and in part by Justices Scalia and Thomas, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that attorneys who provide bankruptcy assistance are debt-relief agencies under the bankruptcy abuse law (opinion is here) and that the BAPCPA (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) does not […]
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle, Sr. (D. Minn.) has issued an amended Notice of Sentencing for Tom Petters (here). Any predictions as to Mr. Petters’ sentence? (Life in prison without parole? 150 years? Feeling guilty should be punishment enough?)
In an antitrust battle that has been pending since 2004 before U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim (D. Minn.), the market, at least, seems to think that plaintiff Minneapolis-based Insignia Systems, Inc. has the upper hand and Defendant News Corp. is against the ropes. The media has taken notice of the substantial risk to […]
[UPDATE: Thursday morning, 3/4/10, the House State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology, and Elections Committee passed HF224, the MSBA’s high priority judicial selection reform bill, by a 14-4 margin. The bill was presented by its chief author, lawyer-legislator Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park). Among those testifying in support of the bill were Minnesota […]
By the time this modern-day file-sharing martyrdom plays out, Lady Gaga will have gone the way of Cyndi Lauper (once a name recognized by everyone but now, not so many? (though that could change when Lauper joins Lady Gaga for the Spring 2010 Mac Viva Glam Campaign??)). U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis (C.J., D. […]
Apparently electricity travels about 66% the speed of light through a coaxial cable (about 125,000 miles/second?). It used to take a little bit longer to transmit settlement proposals and responses to settlement proposals but those days are over. E-speed is a bit too fast in some cases as lawyers pop off an email before rushing […]
As covered early last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear argument at 10:10 a.m., Tuesday, March 2, at the University of Minnesota law school, Room 25, on “pre-litigation third party discovery” in the context of asbestos litigation. Here is a synopsis of the issues to be decided.
Earlier this year, Minnesota Litigator covered a Minnesota Supreme Court appeal argued by a Halunen & Associates attorney in an employment case against Capella University (here). Yesterday, CourtHouse News Service reported about a new complaint, brought by a Halunen lawyer against the University of St. Thomas, in which plaintiff alleges she was terminated for having […]
The schedule for “dispositive” motion briefing under the local rules of the U.S. District Court (D. Minn.) is quite straight-forward and unambiguous. Can a party ignore the schedule without adverse consequences? Apparently, at least sometimes, yes. In Henke v. Allina Health System et al, Court File No. 0:09-cv-02999-RHK-SRN (D. Minn.), defendant, without leave and without […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals seeks public comment in connection with proposed rule changes, largely in connection with electronic case filing rules and procedures and we note the mention of Eighth Circuit Judges reading briefs on Kindle DX E-Book Readers in the Clerk of Court’s invitation for comments. Product placement is normally reserved for larger […]