In a published opinion released today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Smith, Bye, Colloton, opinion by Smith) reaffirmed its long-held and not controversial view that “being very busy” does not qualify as “excusable neglect” for missing a court deadline and, as a result, the plaintiff in an employment discrimination case lost […]
Judge Michael J. Davis (D. Minn.) has adopted the December 3, 2009 Report and Recommendation (R&R) of Mag. Judge Keyes dismissing claims by attorney Julie Delgado-O’Neil (through her lawyer, Jill Clark) that she was the victim of racial discrimination by the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office (a complaint first reported here). Mag. Judge Keyes’ “R&R” is […]
We recently covered Defendant TiZA’s extremely broad view of a proposed protective order in the case. We now have the ACLU’s response (here). Of particular interest is the news that threats and intimidation have apparently caused a third-party witness whom the ACLU wished to depose to cancel the deposition. “Stopping TIZA’s intimidation of potential witnesses […]
Back in July, we reported on an unfortunate gamble (in retrospect) of a plaintiff who had the choice between a jury verdict reduced by the judge or a new trial. He went for a new trial and he got “zeroed,” a jury verdict of $0.00. But the Court awarded plaintiff $1.00, giving him a chance […]
At today’s FBA luncheon, U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim (D. Minn.) walked the audience through a whirlwind of matters that have been or are catching the attention of the United States Courts’ Court Administration and Case Management Committee, on which Judge Tunheim has served for ten years, the past four as Chairman: Cameras in the courtroom; […]
The U.S. Government through the U.S. Attorney’s Office (D. Minn., B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney) moved for a preliminary order for forfeiture on Friday from businesses of convicted swindler Thomas J. Petters. The breadth of Petters’ wrong-doing is breath-taking and, to give a feeling of the scale, note that Petters had $35,353,320,826.13 of deposits in […]
Mag. Judge Arthur J. Boylan (D. Minn.) ruled on Friday (1/15/10) on a discovery dispute in ADT Security Services v. Selige Swenson, et al., Civil File No. 07-cv-2983 (JRT/AJB), that ADT could amend deposition testimony — not to change “Laurence” to “Lawrence,” or some other minor correction but, rather, to reverse testimony completely. The case […]
This blog has covered the lawsuit against plaintiff’s class action lawyers (Bill Lerach, lawyers Kevin Roddy and Spencer Burkholz, and the Milberg law firm) by Grand Casinos and Lyle Berman previously (here and here). Brief background: the Milberg law firm hired a damages expert in shareholder class action cases (Torkelson) who accepted money from the […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit heard oral argument on 1/12/10 on a case of first impression, to be decided under Missouri law as to whether an insured’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights violates the “cooperation clause” in his insurance policy and thereby voids coverage under the policy. The facts of […]
Not a surprising development, but nonetheless worthy of news. The Trustee’s 38-page complaint against Hecker is after the break, and sets out the “Northstate concealment scheme,” the “Girlfriend transfers,” the “Land Rover scheme,” the “Northridge scheme,” the “Rolex scheme,” concealed assets, the “Crosslake scheme” — eight counts attempting to deny Hecker discharge of his debts […]