We are unlikely to see the likes of Tom Petters’ Minnesota-based massive multi-billion dollar fraud again any time soon but Minnesota’s still getting some coverage for alleged frauds, if on a smaller scale. CNN’s coverage today of Trevor Cook’s relatively paltry $190 million alleged scam is here. Alleged co-conspirator, Pat Kiley’s, pro se complaint, referenced […]
[UPDATE: Remanded. BNSF charged with fees for the improper removal. U.S. Dist. Judge Michael J. Davis, C.J., here.] David and Judy Brost tragically died when their car, driven by David Brost, was hit by a BNSF train two years ago. Trustee/Next-of-Kin for Judy Brost brought a wrongful death action in state court, naming the BNSF […]
Back in April, Minnesota Litigator reported a Court of Appeals decision that termination based on the fact that one terminated an employee’s spouse violated Minnesota law prohibiting employment discrimination based on marital status. This week, the Minnesota Supreme Court granted the plaintiff’s petition for review.
Civil litigation in the context of mergers, acquisitions, tender offers and the like is a breed unto itself, where stakes can be high, deadlines can be imminent and decisive, strategies can be complex, impenetrable, or protean. So it can be that a plaintiff files a lawsuit it never truly wished to file and a defendant […]
As discussed back on Minnesota Litigator in December, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court had to decide a case pitting an arguably negligent secured lender against a wholly undeserving entity whose loan should have been junior in priority, but for a delay in recording the earlier mortgage loan. Over dissents by Justices Page and Anderson (Paul), […]
When a 380,000 lb. diesel-powered blasthole production drill used in mining operations tips over and kills the operator, civil litigation and strong regulatory responses are near certainties. This is the factual background of Driscoll v. Standard Hardware and Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions v. United Taconite, decided this week by Judges Toussaint, Hudson, and Willis (retired […]
The State of Minnesota, joined by Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to try to stop the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes. They bring claims for (1) public nuisance, and (2) “judicial review of unlawful agency action.” The […]
As all U.S. civil litigators and regular readers of Minnesota Litigator know, the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has substantially ratcheted up the requirements for pleading a complaint in federal court (see here, for example). What about the responsive pleadings — that is, answers to complaints (and, in particular, affirmative defenses raised by defendants)? […]
[UPDATE: This story’s gotten some national attention along with coverage generally of in-house counsel’s access (or restrictions) to the protections of whistle-blower laws under various states’ laws.] After a very long gestation, the Minnesota Supreme Court has finally issued its decision in Kidwell v. Sybaritic. The delay can be explained by virtue of the fact […]
After Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, U.S. civil litigators know that pleading requirements in federal court have been ratcheted up substantially, and probably in no area of law more than in the antitrust context, that is, the context of Twombly itself. In the antitrust case brought against SuperValu pending before U.S. District Court Judge Ann D. […]