The “Second Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint” is here. As previously covered by Minnesota Litigator, plaintiffs have enjoyed some early wins in this case and now the arduous slog of discovery in high-dollar complex civil litigation will ensue (until/unless the parties are able to negotiate some resolution to avoid it).

“Stoli” is a nick-name for Stolichnaya, a famed Russian vodka.  In PHL Variable Ins. Co. v. US Bank and in Minn. Stat. § 60.078, et seq., STOLI means “stranger originated life insurance” (Was the acronym SOLI already taken?  Perhaps the originators of the STOLI acronym enjoyed the alcoholic connotations?) Earlier this month, PHL Variable Ins. […]

In late February, Minnesota Litigator noted a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz (D. Minn.) in the lengthy battle between auto insurers in and windshield replacement shops (and, before that, noted the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision in this area). It will surprise no one that insurers are taking Judge Schiltz’s adverse decision on […]

Minnesota Litigator is regularly read throughout Minnesota (elsewhere, too, but primarily in Minnesota) and, presumably, almost exclusively by lawyers.  As such, we like to think we serve some public service in dissemination of news and developments in Minnesota civil litigation. If readers take away nothing else, it hoped there is a wider appreciation of U.S. […]

Asian carp, an invasive species, introduced into the United States down south to clean catfish ponds and for weed control, threaten the ecosystem of the Great Lakes.  With the Supreme Court denying Michigan’s motion to reopen and for a supplemental decree or, alternatively, for leave to file a bill of complaint (which the state of […]

[4/29/10 UPDATE:  Defendants’ second motion to dismiss is granted.  Order is here.  The letter volley discussed in this post is touched on at the end of the opinion (ftn. 8).] A string of recent letters to United States District Court Judge Joan Ericksen (D. Minn.) in the Lakes Entertainment v. Milberg lawsuit (covered repeatedly on […]

Defendant/employer LSI Corporation is alleged to have terminated one employee because LSI had terminated her husband — the alleged rationale being that one assumes the “surviving spouse” might harbor some ill feeling at the fate of her terminated husband.  (Also LSI is alleged to have reasoned that the husband would probably have to relocate so […]

Last September, Minnesota Litigator noted that Donaldson Co., along with Team Gross, was again launching into battle with old foe Baldwin Filters in patent litigation (complaint : here).  (Today, incidentally, counsel for Baldwin has moved to amend the scheduling order in that case and also moved for sanctions against Donaldson.  The memorandum was filed under […]

When you have intense commercial competition and intellectual property rights, there are times when the question is not WHETHER there will be IP litigation but when and where (Apple vs. Android is as good an example as any.) In the business of “reactive targets,”  shooting targets with layered paper and inks to make “hits” more […]

Hypothetical:  if a City were hiring police officers, would it violate the First Amendment if it declined to hire a candidate because the candidate had been openly and publicly critical of the city? From the sound of the hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit last week in Dempsey v. City […]