An unpublished decision issued yesterday by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Tomczik raises a couple of interesting and uncommon issues that are worth noting. Tomczik worked as an insurance agent for Farmers for 31 years. In 2006, Farmers noticed a drop in the number of automobile policies that he was […]
As any employment lawyer will tell you, wage-and-hour litigation has been a hot area for the last several years. A recent opinion by U.S. District Judge Michael Davis provides a useful overview of the elements of one type of such a claim – the claimed misclassification of a non-exempt employee. John Berscheid worked as a […]
In a unanimous decision today, the Supreme Court limited certain health care facilities’ ability to sue drug manufacturers for overcharging them in Astra USA v. Santa Clara County. Section 340B of the Public Health Services Act imposes ceilings on prices that drug manufacturers may charge for medications sold to specified health care facilities (called 340B […]
First, thanks to Seth for allowing me to guest post during his absence. For more on me, please check here. Now, on to the main topic. The medical device industry is well-known for the competition between companies for good sales talent. Judge Susan Richards Nelson has penned a textbook example of how to analyze a […]
Update (March 25, 2011): Larry Moloney, a Notre Dame grad argued the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit on St. Patrick’s Day for the appellant/plaintiff Vincent Ofor. Moloney faces an unhill battle in overturning Sr. U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson‘s grant of summary judgment against his client. (Stephen […]
From the March 15 Order of Sr. U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty (D. Minn.), it appears that Plaintiff Andrew Vilenchik (and a business, Community Finance Group) was the victim of a somewhat more elaborate scam than the widely known email “419 scam.” The Kenya Gold scam apparently perpetrated on Vilenchik appears to have […]
Update (March 24, 2011): Months of voluminous briefing and cross-briefing, cross-motions for summary judgment supported by declarations attaching thirty-six exhibits and thirteen exhibits, respectively. In other words, a lot of work presumably went into these motions. It must sting when the same day of the hearing on the motions, the Court’s order issues, and it […]
Update (March 22, 2011): Regular readers will recognize from the subject line that this is the case involving tragic murders and an alarm system that failed to prevent them. U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim (D. Minn.) issued an 87-page order yesterday on summary judgment motion and motions to exclude experts. At page […]
One of the puzzles of U.S. civil litigation faced by any business of sufficient size such that litigation is a “fact of life,” a “cost of doing business,” and what does this mean in terms of the business’ obligation to preserve evidence (i.e., email, voice-mails, instant-messaging, SMS, etc., etc.)? For example, if a company conducts […]
Minneapolis-based Lawyerist says no one owns “BigLaw.”