Jim Behrenbrinker (previously profiled here) barely survived a motion for summary judgment in an icy slip’n’fall case on appeal in a split decision of a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals. (I am guessing Behrenbrinker’s of Dutch origin and the Dutch have a long history of ice appreciation.) After the jump you will find an earlier Minnesota […]
Recently the Minnesota Court of Appeals unanimously, and correctly it would seem, reversed a decision by a very able Hennepin County judge to dismiss a FELA case in Gallagher v. BNSF. ((FELA stands for Federal Employer’s Liability Act, which is a century old federal law creating fault based liability for railroads when their employees are […]
As the youngest contributor to this blog, who graduated from college not so long ago, I think it’s safe to assume that, among my fellow Minnesota Litigator colleagues, I’m the most recent attendee of a fraternity party (hopefully). For the unfamiliar, these parties follow a standard formula: a fraternity house, cheap and abundant liquor (see […]
“First, Do No Harm”. This is the first principle attributed to Hippocrates as part of the ancient oath of the medical profession. It expresses a fundamental ethic that should guide the practice of every physician. Today, medical science and technology have evolved to permit medical practitioners to stop or slow the progress of many life threatening diseases. The […]
Fatalities from auto accidents are part of modern life, but the law does not regard driving as “inherently dangerous.” This is because, under negligence law principles, that could mean drivers “assumed the risk” and could not recover in negligence claims from car accidents. But what about snowmobiles? Maybe injuries sustained while operating a snowmobile are […]