For some time now, Minnesota Litigator has lamented federal law’s imprecision and indeterminacy as to how federal courts decide if they have “in personam” or personal jurisdiction over people and companies that are out of the district or out of the country (note the “weird word doctrine” coined in the original post of this linked thread […]
Imagine Jane Doe sues you (hereinafter “You”) for violating a statute one time and the statute provides for an award of $250 per violation, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. You contact Jane, admit to the violation, and offer to pay her $250 for the violation plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, as determined by the […]
Minnesota has long followed the hip pocket rule: a civil action is started when it is served. A recent change to the requirements has tweaked that rule. Now an action must also be filed within a year or it is “deemed dismissed.” What if a plaintiff misses that deadline and the action is dismissed? Can […]
Update (September 3, 2015): This post started as a “land mine” warning for Minnesota trust and estate lawyers: a cautionary tale emphasizing the importance of giving sound legal advice to clients, not just forwarding them legal forms to sign without giving them any legal advice. The post ends by being a “land mine” warning for […]
Update (September 2, 2015): “Plaintiff’s carousel of attorneys does not excuse it from complying with the Court’s orders and with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure….” On the other hand, forcing lawyers to go around in circles for months apparently does not justify an award of $39,759.57 in legal fees and costs to the defendant… (One more example of the familiar […]
Minnesota’s Data Practices Act is more complex than you would expect. Think of all the different kinds of data collected by government bodies in the state, and all the kinds of data generated by those government bodies. The Act says who gets access to specific data: anyone in the public; just the subject of the […]
I am not a religious person, much less a religious scholar. But I absorb biblical quotes by cultural osmosis as we all do. Like the phrase above, “The meek shall inherit the earth,” from Mathew 5:5. Unfortunately for me, this phrase, like so many phrases in all many religious texts, has no actual meaning. I look […]
I recently had lunch with a successful large firm lawyer. He asked me how I am liking my practice. I told him, as I have told many, that I am having the time of my life. Each day of work is fun, an adventure, and I feel very fortunate. “That’s great to hear,” the large […]
Trial lawyers work with experts in many cases and the relationship can be difficult sometimes. The expert might not say what the lawyer wants the expert to say. The lawyer might ask convoluted and impossible-to-answer questions. Sometimes lawyers might find an expert to be controlling — the proverbial armchair quarterback (or vice-versa). Sometimes it is simply […]
It has bothered me that plaintiffs are held to a somewhat high standard, in my view, as to what they can plead and what they cannot plead in their complaints when defendants are given substantially more leeway in their answers to plaintiffs’ complaints. This rule makes sense but it still bothers me. It makes sense […]