Update (October 11, 2017): Oops, I did it again…got lost in this game, oh baby. (Another successful prediction, below.) Congratulations to the winning lawyer team: Andrew L. Marshall, Mark R. Bradford, and Christine E. Hinrichs, Bassford Remele, P.A., Minneapolis. Justice Gildea’s dissent (joined by Justice G. Barry Anderson) emphasizes that Minnesota is an employment-at-will state, where employers […]
Update (October 6, 2017): We did not exactly predict that Associated Bank would lose its bid for its attorneys’ fees in the original post, below, but we came pretty close. The Bank’s attempted “end-around” the American Rule through a clever use of a request to admit failed this week. The maneuver works like this (1) Seek […]
What goes on in the mind of a four year-old? A five year-old? What dangers are “known and obvious” to four or five year-old children? A boy named Shawn went to the house of his great uncle, Peter Carlson, on the Mississippi River as part of a birthday party celebration. Everyone lost sight of Shawn […]
It was an honor getting to know Bill Tilton a little recently. We had not met before and knew little of him, but someone recommended him for a profile. He seems legendary and inspiring. Bill Tilton describes himself like this: “I grew up in the middle of a middle-sized clan in a middle of a […]
Update (September 27, 2017): Some class actions are obviously appropriate because the plaintiffs’ class is uniform and each class member’s claimed damages are insufficient to justify an individual lawsuit. Some class actions are obviously inappropriate; there are individualized and specific issues for individual class members claims and class members have a realistic opportunity to vindicate […]
Update (September 22, 2017): The signature style of U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz is the antithesis of the lawyer appearing before him as plaintiff’s counsel in Naca v. Macalester. Judge Schiltz is often short and to the point. And he was this week in chastising Plaintiff’s counsel, Mr. Peter Nickitas. Judge Schiltz rejected […]
It is a shame when a justice system behaves unjustly. In Minnesota, when a client is sued in state court and removes the case to federal court, the client is obligated to pay a “filing fee” to the state court for the simple filing of a one-page Notice of Filing of Removal in the state […]
Among civil litigators, the variety of legal practice is staggering. It is hard to believe that we think of ourselves as having the same job. In fact, we most certainly do not. Many lawyers at Messerli & Kramer do debt collection work (like Josh Hasko in the case discussed in this post), for example. These […]
Update (September 11, 2017): Mr. Hansmeier’s public defender’s efforts to dismiss the 18-count indictment against Mr. Hansmeier were unsuccessful (denial of motion, last week, linked here). Few, if any, will feel sympathy for Mr. Hansmeier who, essentially, uploaded pornography onto the internet, made it accessible for download at no cost, and then used the court […]
Minnesota Litigator has received reader feedback that Minnesota Litigator predictions are particularly fun reading. This is likely because lawyers are generally, typically, and frustratingly circumspect and equivocal. Socially and informally, their answers to legal questions often seem to be “good question!,” “maybe so…,” “it depends,” “hard to say,” “I’d need to know more to have […]