Catharine Morton-Peters was the Chief Investigator for the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office at one time when she applied for and was given a warrant to search Affiliated Counseling Center (“ACC”), presumably to investigate ACC for medicare fraud. The Fridley police executed the warrant on ACC and took patient files, […]
After 31 years at the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (“OLPR”) and six years running the office, Martin Cole is retiring and the Minnesota Supreme Court will be establishing a search committee to recommend a replacement. First off, congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Cole! Next, what should we look for in a replacement? I think […]
By coincidence, Minnesota Litigator strings three consecutive posts together from three separate cases in which fraud claims have withstood defendants’ motions to dismiss. R.J. Zayed v. Associated Bank is the third in the line-up. Associated Bank is alleged by the bankruptcy trustee to have played a role in the Trevor Cook/Patrick Kiley $100+ million Ponzi scheme (chump change, […]
Another pyramid scheme collapses. Another accounting firm (Eide Bailly) is sued. And then sued again. First a bankruptcy trustee sued Eide Bailly. After Eide Bailly lost its motion for summary judgment on a claim for aiding and abetting a conspiracy in that action, Eide Bailly settled the bankruptcy trustee’s claim. Some fraud victims opted out […]
I am no M.D. but it seems pretty clear that an epileptic surgeon might pose a significant risk to patients. So for Dr. Cheryl Hansen, an unfortunate board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist whose epilepsy twice caused her to lose consciousness from “syncope episodes” while in surgery, the question was not whether or not she should continue to perform surgery. The question […]
On the continuum of condemnation there is, of course, some spread between intentional wrong-doing and negligence. And the law recognizes that simply being accused of serious wrong-doing — of intentional wrong-doing — can be more reputationally damaging than being accused of negligence. So the law gives allegations of intentional wrong-doing a bit more of a hard look at the […]
Update (August 3, 2015): In a 33-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz (D. Minn.) went along with all of the findings and conclusions of Plaintiff Gunderson’s previous administrative proceedings, all of which held that BNSF fired Gunderson for harassing a co-worker and threatening another. He would have been fired for these actions regardless of […]
Update (July 31, 2015): This week, the Minnesota Supreme Court has affirmed the Court of Appeals decision, discussed below, in which Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Margaret H. Chutich issued a dissent. (Judge Chutich found ambiguity in a regulatory scheme (calling for judicial deference to agency interpretation) where the Minnesota Supreme Court saw none.) Environmental […]
In a recent Minnesota Litigator profile, lawyer/poet Tim Nolan said of writing poetry: There is a real virtue in poetry to being stupid. What I mean by that is being unassuming, open. The effect of that, of practicing that in writing, is that you meet the reader at the exact same place they’re at because […]
New Minnesota court rules took effect on July 1, 2015. The changes are, in the main, prompted by increased digitization of document filing, service and access. Court staff presented training sessions on the new rules around the state. A few highlights from the sessions follow. When and how you must efile and eserve: You must […]