Not news specific to Minnesota civil litigation but still of interest: The stock market is “roiling” today and the consensus appears to be that it is due to the SEC’s charges brought today against Goldman Sachs in United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. The allegations, in short, are as follows: Goldman Sachs […]
In honor of “Tax Day,” a day in which many Americans acutely feel the pain of sacrificing a share of the fruits of their labor for national security, interest payments on the national debt, social security, Congress’ free postage (“franking privilege”) and a few other miscellaneous items, it might help us feel better to keep […]
Famed Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner authored an opinion (covered in Minnesota Litigator here in which Posner quipped, “Litigation is not ping-pong.”) holding that, in the Seventh Circuit, federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act does not evaporate with the denial of a motion for class certification. Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz […]
[UPDATE: To paraphrase Britney Spears, “Oops, she did it again…” Today, U.S. District Court Judge Joan Ericksen reminded plaintiffs’ counsel in the Lyle Berman case against the Milberg law firm and others of plaintiffs’ burden, when suing a partnership and claiming federal jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship, that they have to plead the citizenship […]
No, the above header is no typo. The hardfought Akanthos, Whitebox v. Compucredit litigation (covered here (12/22), here (1/25), here (2/26), here (4/2)) provoked a backlash. Predator and prey have switched sides. (Star Tribune coverage is here. Complaint is here.) The original Akanthos case, alleges Compucredit, was a sham and plaintiffs knew it. Compucredit further […]
The National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”) and related entities are being sued in a large class action based on allegations — basically that the NAF is “egregiously biased” (to quote the characterization of the allegations in today’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson (D. Minn.)) in favor of creditors and against consumers and that […]
It is fair to say that the Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic is one of a few proverbial “crown jewels” of Minnesota (along with the boundary waters, Louise Erdrich, Prince and A Prairie Home Companion). The Mayo Clinic’s preeminence in medical care is generally unchallenged and widely acknowledged. Its unsurpassed reputation for patient care is presumably […]
Minnesota Litigator strives to provide news and developments in Minnesota civil litigation and aspires to avoid “non-newsworthy,” also known as “gossip,” but, as mentioned recently, some developments hover somewhere in between. This news item admittedly falls primarily on the gossip end of the spectrum. On the other hand, Mr. Lyons is widely known in the […]
Back in January, Minnesota Litigator covered the Loparex v. MPI discovery dispute in which MPI sought third-party discovery from Briggs & Morgan, seeking discovery responses served by MPI in a Minnesota lawsuit, in connection with Loparex’s litigation against MPI in federal court in Indiana. MPI’s response was that Loparex was seeking documents in Minnesota that […]
Defense counsel had asked for a four year sentence based on the relative size of Petters’ fraud vs. Bernie Madoff’s fraud ($64.8 billion) and Madoff’s 150-year sentence. Using similar logic, the penalty for murderers of two people should get 1/84th the penalty meted out to Timothy McVeigh? Again, using “the Madoff measure,” presumably the theft […]