Virginia Quist escaped her burning Richfield, Minnesota home alive (but with third-degree burns); her husband did not survive the fire. Virginia had been using a Sunbeam heating pad, put it aside, fell asleep, and woke up to flames and smoke. The Quist family has sued Sunbeam. Sunbeam raised several defenses to escape the case […]
Minnesota lawyers took on Big Tobacco, with spectacular success and now Minnesota attorney, Jeff Anderson, takes on another rather formidable opponent, the Holy See. Anderson’s complaint is here, and a list of media links is here. There is more to the parallel than the David v. Goliath angle. In both situations, the lawyers have had […]
Argument (Jill Clark for petitioners, Alan Gilbert for respondents) before the Minnesota Supreme Court: April 20. Brief description: here. Minnesota Constitution: here. (Check out Article VI, Sections 7-8.) Clark challenges the Governor’s right to appoint a person to fill a vacancy. Gilbert argues that the Governor not only can appoint someone but has a constitutional […]
As civil litigators who track federal dockets know, a substantial volume of lawsuits are filed every month based on violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The statute is strictly construed and applied, calls for fee-shifting, and woe to the debt collector who communicates by post-card or otherwise violates the statute’s many rules about […]
Arguing for the plaintiffs who lost on a motion to dismiss before the U.S. District Court (E.D. Mo.), was Joseph Alioto, Jr. (of famed San Francisco lineage) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (James B. Loken, Myron Bright, Roger Wollman). Alioto argued emphatically that the ruling on a motion to dismiss […]
Here is the Star Tribune coverage and here is the Pioneer Press. Just about every Minnesota civil litigator has a story about being before U.S. District Court Judge James M. Rosenbaum, often about his wit and his directness, either on the receiving end of same or, generally preferably, as an innocent bystander. A recent example […]
The proliferation of information through the internet has huge societal implications for privacy and reputation, which have been playing out for a decade and will continue. (Cyber-bullying is a related phenomenon.) The law, of course, has recognized citizens’ interests in both privacy and reputation for years but how will recent social and technological changes affect […]
It is not often that one sees a pro se antitrust class action — the notion seems implausible to the point of impossible — but at first glance one appears to be pending against Toys “R” Us in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In connection with its defense in this antitrust class action lawsuit in […]
Ameriprise brought a motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment against the putative employment discrimination class action (based on race) brought by Rosalind Brown. The grounds for Ameriprise’s motion were multiple. It prevailed on one ground as to one aspect of the case (failure to exhaust administrative remedy as to the disparate impact claim) […]
Late 2009 was a busy time for ski resort, Lutsen Mountain at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, since it won affirmance of an award of summary judgment on an injury waiver case (“Myers”) and around the same time had oral argument on in the Brunsting case, decided this week (in which, […]