It depends who you ask, apparently. Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, wants to help out Minnesota businesses and enact tort reform. Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, on the other hand, is reported by Tom Scheck of MPR, to have said, “Civil filings have been down 40 percent in the last 10 years in Minnesota, even […]
Hockey is to Minnesota like oil is to Texas, a valuable natural resource for the state. Mining for hockey players, as opposed to oil, is a somewhat different process although, as every aspiring competitor knows, drilling is very much part of both processes. Money is too. This may be at the root of the intense […]
“The narcissistic personality disorder of the Board on Judicial Standards” is the stinging characterization of prominent Twin Cities criminal defense counsel, Joe Friedberg, who, along with Paul Engh (who does not seem to have a website so cannot be “linked to”), represented retired Hennepin County Judge Jack Nordby and celebrated the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 3-judge […]
Update No. 2 (May 12, 2011): Defendants’ “reconsideration gambit” failed. Plaintiff then turns around and tries its luck at the same game. This case, brought in 2008, is set for trial Sept.6, 2011. With the potential upside of punitive damages knocked out (at least until a successful appeal of the denial of leave to amend […]
Minnesota Litigator is not a gossip blog and does not regularly track the comings-and-goings of Minnesota lawyers, but when a handful of Minnesota lawyers from medium-sized and large Twin Cities law firms strike out and form a brand new law firm in town and a new law firm model, this seems to reach a level of […]
While the focus of Minnesota Litigator is news and commentary about Minnesota litigation, the issue of discovery disputes is endemic to litigation throughout United States federal and state courts. On that basis, a recent decision by U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch warrants note, if only for the opinion’s interesting style and as a cautionary tale […]
A decision last week by Judge Ann Montgomery in RSM McGladrey v. Epp should be required reading for all attorneys who draft employment agreements, especially those with non-competition and arbitration provisions. The defendants were managing directors of RSM, working out of its New York office, specializing in RSM’s health care practice. As a condition of their […]
During their marriage, Lynette Marthe and then-husband, Derek Reiter, had a child, D.T.R. Both Marthe and Reiter believe that Reiter was D.T.R.’s biological father and was listed as the father on the birth certificate (whether this was a “long form” certificate is not known). Four years later, however, genetic testing established that D.T.R.’s biological father […]
What might have otherwise been a routine review of the actions of the National Labor Relations Board instead resulted in an opinion from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in which all three members of the panel wrote separately, reflecting a broader national debate over the effect of vacancies on the NLRB. The case, Osthus […]
The Professional Board’s action against Mary Jo Fairbairn, of the Kinney & Lange firm, goes before the Minnesota Supreme Court this morning. The issue to be decided “What discipline, if any, is appropriate based on the facts of the matter…” The alleged “facts of the matter” are here.