Minnesota Litigator
News & Commentary
Do not consider the blog to be a substitute for obtaining legal advice from a qualified attorney licensed in your state.
What’s The Difference Between Used Car Sellers & Computer Software Sellers?
“Used car sellers know when they’re lying.” This is an old joke. (In fact, we called it an old joke over six years ago.) But there might be a nauseating ring of truth to the joke for many readers. It might have to do with the complexity of the products. It might have to do […]
Minnesota Supreme Court to Decide the Constitutionality of Winona’s Regulation of its Silica Sand
Update (April 15, 2019): The Minnesota heard oral argument in this case, described below, this past week. We predict Minnesota Sands will lose. Attorney Chris H. Dolan argued for Minnesota Sands and was peppered by questions from Justices Lillehaug, Thissen, Chutich, McKeig, and Hudson. Assuming all of these justices are unpersuaded by Minnesota Sands, Minnesota […]
Another Paul Hansmeier Coda: The Long Tail of His Sordid Tale…
Update (April 12, 2019): Disgraced Minnesota litigator and U of M Law graduate, Mr. Paul Hansmeier, is headed off to prison but for how long? Stay tuned. The government is asking for over ten years, arguing that “Hansmeier was greedy, arrogant, devious, mendacious, and consistently positioned other people to be damaged by his conduct, even […]
On The Complexity of a Country’s “Do-Over” With Respect to Private Property
Minnesota Litigator’s mandate is “news and commentary about Minnesota civil litigation.” It is therefore unsurprising that Minnesota Litigator rarely discusses governmental seizure of private citizens’ real property in communist countries followed, decades later, by the government’s surrender of property back to private citizens. This has not yet come up in Minnesota civil litigation. It is […]
Minnesota Litigator Profile: Kevin Dunlevy, Minnesota’s Preeminent Authority on Issues Dealing with Real Property
Update (March 27, 2019): Minnesota Litigator has profiled many great Minnesota litigators (see the compilation at the bottom of the post) for several years. No one compares with Kevin Dunlevy of Beisel & Dunlevy PA. For sure, there are literally thousands of excellent Minnesota litigators (many of whom we have profiled, many more that we have […]
Clio Takes a Page from Tom Sawyer’s Marketing Lesson
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, one of the most famous scenes in American literature, Tom Sawyer persuades the various neighborhood children to trade him small trinkets and treasures for the “privilege” of doing his tedious work, using reverse psychology to convince them it is an enjoyable activity. Clio, by Themis Solutions, Inc. […]
Dorsey & Whitney Drops Westlaw?!
We recently heard a rumor that the preeminent law firm of Dorsey & Whitney dropped its long-held contract with Westlaw, the computerized legal research giant. If true, we think this is a positive development for the market for computerized legal research generally. (Being a blogger and being a Dorsey alum (rather than a journalist), I […]
Is a High School Basketball Coach a “Public Figure”?
We were previously counsel of record in a case in which we promoted our expertise. We touted a summary judgment win at the trial court for a defendant against a claim for defamation. (We are no longer involved in the case in any capacity.) But we had enough humility and experience in civil litigation to […]
A Story of Our Justice System Working?
Many of us spend a lot of time decrying the high cost of our civil justice system, its errors, its biases, and its unfairness. Many of us acknowledge that our legal system is badly flawed, most notably due to the time and expense involved in most civil litigation. One of the greatest values of knowledgeable, […]
TAAFOMFT, v2.0 (rev. 4): E-Discovery = E-Disgustery
Update (April 4, 2019): We intended our story, below, to be an illustration of how e-discovery can overshadow and/or complicate litigation, which, in theory, e-discovery is supposed to help resolve or simplify. The Stratasys v. Krampitz case involved alleged misappropriation of Stratasys property. Stratasys’ computer forensics expert took the position that Stratasys had evidence of […]