Update (August 31, 2011): A public reprimand for David Baer, hopefully a brief (albeit public) detour on the road to recovery. Original post, November, 2010: Imagine being Chief Legal Counsel for two companies that are the epicenter of the biggest fraud in state history. Let’s assume (taking our nation’s criminal law presumptions at face […]
Update #2 (August 29, 2011): Debts collectors are apparently “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” as far as leaving voice-mails on answer machines in which they identify themselves as debt collectors (or fail to identify themselves as debt collectors). Compare the rulings below with Chief Judge Michael J. Davis‘s certification of a class […]
Apparently, one of the employees of the Anoka County vital statistics department was a bit too entrepreneurial for her own good. According to an article in today’s Star Tribune, Connie J. Smith of Ramsey pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft over $5,000 in connection with forged or inaccurate marriage license applications. It seems […]
Should the CEO of Countrywide be held personally responsible for some of the many billions of dollars losses of pension funds and other investors who bought Countrywide mortgage-backed securities (MBS)? The MBS’ value, over time, turned out to be a small fraction of what the investors had expected because of Countrywide’s allegedly reckless and/or fraudulent lending […]
“This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper,” concludes T.S. Eliot’s 1925 poem, The Hollow Men. It is, of course, a “gimme” — to make world-ending predictions because no one will be around to say whether you got it right. For the record, for the end of the world, I […]
Update #3 (August 24, 2011): It turns out that “eliminate” actually does not mean “eliminate,” after all. Go figure. Text must yield to context. The trial court must not “make fortress out of the dictionary.” On this basis, Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James B. Loken reversed the permanent injunction issued by U.S. District […]
As reported in this morning’s Star Tribune, Kutak Rock has opened a Minneapolis office focused on public finance. Attorneys Jill Laorr and David Murphy come to KR/Mpls from Best & Flanagan. For years, many legal market experts have predicted that small-to-medium sized local firms would be squeezed at both ends by larger national firms on […]
Regular readers of Minnesota Litigator will be familiar with the slugfest of Michael Afremov v. Sulloway & Hollis, et al., and, in particular the pounding that defendants have been taking in skirmish after skirmish as this attorney malpractice lawsuit plods through discovery toward trial some time next year. This week, defendants lost again, on a motion […]
All lawyers (and other people too, of course) who volunteer their time to help kids, the elderly, the poor, the powerless, and the down-trodden, deserve our praise for their altruism. On the other hand, it takes a particular bravery when your client or his cause is also unpopular, even despised. Lawyers who take on unpopular clients and […]
Minnesota Litigator focuses on news and commentary of Minnesota civil litigation but occasionally strays to related topics, reflecting the blog’s broader interest and the recognition that Minnesota litigator’s work is not restricted to the state’s borders. All experienced litigators are painfully aware of the changes wrought in civil litigation by computer networks, e-mail, instant messaging, […]