“Need a zinger for court?” If so, I suggest two things to you: (1) No, you don’t; and (2) If you must, why don’t you just think up a few yourself, pick the best one, put it in your brief (or your oral argument) and see how well that goes. Better than paying Thomson Reuters well over […]
Minnesota civil litigators spent very little time trying cases, as we all know. From that, it follows that Minnesota civil litigators, generally, spend very little time collecting on money judgments. Roughly 99% of civil lawsuits are either thrown out of court, or settled far in advance of any judgment, or, a very small percentage, settled […]
As I have aged, one saying that I have become fond of is, “You can never make new old friends….” Our lives are transient. Our friends and family are forever (as far as we are concerned). For many of us, there is a similar transcendent nature to our planet’s natural resources and, in particular, to […]
A child might say, “Daddy, you cannot prove that I ate the cookie, but, if you conclude that I did eat eat the cookie, I thought that Mommy said I could.” This child will possibly get a time-out from the parents. Maybe not. Either way, the parents might be forced to suppress smirks at the child’s precocity, audacity, and cleverness. […]
When I wrote about the Staab III case before, I ended by writing that the hope of injured persons to be fairly compensated for their injuries from those at fault was in the hands of the Supreme Court. In this recent decision, construing provisions of Minnesota’s joint and several liability statute, the majority has now […]
Judicial seats are on the ballot again this year. And that means voters will be looking for information about candidates. Information is usually hard to come by for judicial races. Especially meaningful information. Judicial plebiscites are an important way attorneys can help. Plebiscites are being held to identify preferences of bar members for the state-wide […]
Update (9/10/2014): [Editor’s note: The Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision came down today in favor of the Diocese of St. Cloud with a forceful dissent by Justice David Lillihaug (joined by Justice Page), who favored affirming the trial court’s decision and the Court of Appeals’ decision in favor of plaintiff Alice Ann Staub.] Original Post (11/12/13): Once […]
Update (September 9, 2014): The logic goes like this: Computer programmers clearly engage in complex and commonly define themselves as “professionals,” but unlike traditional professions (lawyers, doctors, architects, accountants), while practitioner associations exist for computer programmers, there is no substantial self-regulation or standardization of training within the programming or consulting professions. Therefore, many courts have held there is […]
Some months ago, I had occasion to participate in a post-play discussion with U.S. District Court Judge Donavan W. Frank (D. Minn.) following a performance of “Naked Darrow” at the Illusion Theatre in Minneapolis. The play was provocative and focused on Darrow’s human imperfections more than his courtroom triumphs. Nonetheless the courtroom drama was also […]
The Jesse Ventura defamation lawsuit against Chris Kyle (and then the estate of Chris Kyle after his tragic death) was the proverbial poster-child for a jury trial. Two sides had two stories. One of the two sides was lying. A jury was asked to figure out who was lying and, if it was the defendant, […]