A business called LawGeex is promoting its study that purports to show that their software performed better than real lawyers in the review of several non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). As we understand the test, “Twenty US-trained lawyers, with decades of legal experience ranging from law firms to corporations, were asked to issue-spot legal issues in five standard […]
Update (March 2, 2018): A man cannot seem to keep his distance from an ex-spouse (and the mother of his daughter), notwithstanding a court’s “no contact” orders. The district court, undoubtedly aware of the serious threat to the ex-wife by the man’s inability to stay away, noting his “alarming behavior,” extended the “no contact order,” […]
U.S. courts often seem reluctant to award attorneys’ fees and, when they do, they often cut the lawyers’ fees claimed — the proverbial haircut, discussed here repeatedly. But it is exceedingly rare for a trial to include lawyers literally trying to cut their own hair during the trial. Nevertheless, we learned recently that this too has […]
For years, we have pointed out how many times trial lawyers slip up on pleading diversity jurisdiction in federal courts for limited liability companies. The citizenship of an LLC is the citizenship of each of its members. It can be difficult to find out who the members are in an LLC, much less find out […]
Update (February 22, 2018): It did not take the Judge very long to vacate the order of dismissal in the case described below. It seems not so simple for an Ohio receiver to settle a Minnesota $1.7 million lawsuit for $70,000… Original post (February 19, 2018): A Minnesota company (we’ll call it MinnCo) sued an […]
From our recent interview with Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Anne McKeig, a few things stand out. First, family means a very great deal to Justice McKeig. We’re tempted to say that family might mean everything to her — not only her own family but all of our families (and, more broadly, our communities). Second, Minnesotans […]
Update (February 14, 2018): In the posts below, we consider the case of Anibal Sanchez vs. Dahlke Trailer Sales. The case embodies violent collision of current U.S. immigration policy. Federal law prohibits the hiring of illegal immigrants. Employers routinely knowingly ignore the law. But when a worker/illegal immigrant invokes employment rights under state law, employers […]
Pacific Union v. Dingman is a generic example of “brain raid” litigation that we have covered several times. What makes this case different is the alleged breadth of the exodus. This was not a small number of employees. It appears to have been an entire region of Pacific Union’s mortgage lending business de-camping and pitching their […]
Update (February 10, 2018): In the face of Edina High School’s motion to dismiss, it looks as if the Edina High School Young Conservatives Club, having made its publicity splash with their lawsuit, will now quietly slink away in a quick settlement. Original post (January 26, 2018): Following up on Monday’s post, we got Edina High […]
Update (February 9, 2018): We have covered Naca v. Macalester at some length and the conduct of Plaintiff’s attorney, Mr. Peter Nickitas. The way this case has been prosecuted might yield many useful practice pointers in how NOT to practice law in U.S. District Court. The Court [(U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, D. Minn.)]…finds […]