Minnesota Litigator
News & Commentary
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Dorsey & Whitney, LLP v. U.S. Post Office: The Limits of FOIA
Update (May 15, 2019): Congratulations to Dorsey lawyers for the win against the U.S. Post Office (described below) (for now, at least). U.S. Mag. Judge Becky R. Thorson (D. Minn.) has agreed with Dorsey that the U.S. Post office cannot hide behind a Glomar response (a response to a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request not only […]
When Will Someone Explain Why the Minnesota State Court System Cannot Give Remote Access Yet to Civil Filings?
Update (May 14, 2019): Minnesota Litigator now has remote access to civil case files in Montgomery County, Texas, which uses the same technology vendor as the state of Minnesota uses: Tyler Technologies. It took about 30 seconds to fill out an application. We submitted the application for remote access and we had access within 5 […]
The “Meet & Confer” Requirement
As all Minnesota litigators know, we are obligated to “meet and confer” with their adversary before bringing a motion before the Court. The “meet and confer” rule has an obvious benefit for court administration as it avoids work for the Court if the parties (or their lawyers, typically) are able to negotiate a solution to […]
Trial (NOT)
We’re back. We spent about ten days straight preparing for a five-day trial scheduled to start on Monday, May 6. (This, by the way, supports our rule of thumb for budgeting trials: two full days of preparation for every one day of trial.) Our adversaries failed to show up with exhibit notebooks for opposing counsel […]
Magna Cum Fraude?
Update (May 8, 2019): The pessimism about the class action complaint against Capella University in the post below has not been entirely borne out but we were not far off. This week, the plaintiffs’ second amended complaint has withstood a motion to dismiss (in part). The plaintiffs barely survived the motion to dismiss, losing every […]
Did the Devil Make Them Not Do It?
Showing our age (yet again), we invoke our older readers’ memories of comedian Flip Wilson who had a successful record album, “The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress,” in the 1970’s, which, in turn, spawned the 1970’s meme, “The Devil made me do it.” At issue in a newly filed case in the U.S. District […]
A Post On Lake Law
The Minnesota-based law firm of LEVENTHAL pllc specializes, if you will, in general civil litigation. Put a different way, we don’t specialize very much. If we did, “lake law” might be a tempting body of water law because our state has 10,000 or more of them. And the connection between many Minnesotans and their lakes […]
Turtling is not an option.
Turtling is an overwhelming temptation for many of us in many situations when confronted. It can be a sound strategy in many contexts. It is an extremely unwise strategy when you have been sued in Minnesota district court. Plaintiff Mary Brown sued Defendant MSP Services LLC dba MSP Home Rental (“MSP”), alleging that MSP discriminated […]
Boom.
It might be fair. It might be unfair. But certain industries and certain businesses within those industries sometimes get reputations for litigation misconduct. For example, there seems to be almost a lore that railroads railroad their adversaries (and courts) in litigation. And the BNSF railroad, in particular, seems to run off the rails from time […]
Watch Out for Neighbors Bearing Legal Papers
Minnesota Litigator is DELIGHTED to introduce Minnesota civil litigator, Kelly Pierce, as Minnesota Litigator’s latest Guest Poster! (It has been a while since we’ve introduced a new Guest Poster.) If you don’t have the good fortune of knowing Ms. Pierce already, meet Kelly here. (Ed. Note: And we also give a hat-tip to long-time reader […]