Update (September 26, 2016): We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of my original post, below, and, in mid-November, if Sorin and St. Jude do not meanwhile settle their dispute, there will be a jury trial with a Faegre Baker Daniels team on one side and a Dorsey & Whitney trial team on the other — that is, two of […]
Update (September 23, 2016): Mysteriously, plaintiff Minnesota Vikings Football Stadium (“MVFS”), having won its lawsuit against Wells Fargo, and the corresponding rights to an injunction and to its attorneys’ fees (claimed to be $655,020.00), has confidentially settled the matter with its erstwhile opponent. And, as part of that settlement, MVFS has withdrawn its claim to its attorneys’ fees. So we […]
Update (September 23, 2016): Minnesota lawyers who do not read Minnesota Litigator can miss out on valuable information (linked is a complaint this week by Crabtree Health Law vs. Wells Fargo because Crabtree got stung in a now-classic scam.). Update (February 20, 2013): The string below concerns the sorry history of lawyers scammed by counterfeit checks and […]
Referee Jason T. Hutchison, Judicial Referee, heard this matter on January 28, 2016, February 16, 2016, March 4, 2016, March 11, 2016, March 16, 2016, March 21, 2016, March 28, 2016, March 29, 2016, April 14, 2016, April 18, 2016, April 26, 2016, April 27, 2016, April 29, 2016, May 19, 2016, May 20, 2016, June 1, 2016, […]
The Minnesota Court of Appeals described this week’s decision in Range Development v. Star Tribune: This case stands at the intersection of common-law defamation, the First Amendment right to free speech, and the parameters of a journalist’s privilege, if any, under the First Amendment. (Opinion at p. 6.) In other words, this case is where the action is, where the laser […]
Imagine intentionally alarming the public with fabricated dangers of a company’s life-saving medical devices in the hope that the company’s share price will fall and you will make massive profits by placing bets on the company’s falling share price. This is, in fact, what St. Jude Medical has accused “short-seller,” Muddy Waters Consulting (“MW”) of having done in a […]
Update: It’s a time of transition. The Twins season is winding down. And the Minnesota Supreme Court is issuing the last of its decisions from the past term. Two important decisions were just released: Gams and Cole. These cases decide how two rules mesh – rule 5.04(a) and rule 60.02. Rule 5.04(a) was amended […]
Back-to-back examples this week of sorts of silliness that consume some percentage of the busy lives of U.S. civil litigators…. Harriet Ziefert has written several hundred children’s books. She and her publisher, Blue Apple, believe that a Minneapolis-based book distribution company, Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, L.L.C. (“Consortium”) and/or Consortium’s parent company, Perseus, is infringing on several […]
I once faced a situation in which a judge ruled that adversaries had to go to trial to determine when Party A’s building, which was built partially on Party B’s land by a predecessor owner, constituted a “permanent” trespass or a “continuing” trespass. The judge believed that the distinction was important for determining the application of […]
What is discoverable and relevant in U.S. civil litigation surprises many people who do not have experience in U.S. civil litigation. Most Americans do not appreciate how deeply our law allows adversaries to dig into the other side’s papers, emails, text messages, diaries, journals, post-it notes, doodle sketchbooks and hard drives. Foreigners are often even more shocked, if not incredulous. At […]