Minnesota Litigator
News & Commentary
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ACLU v. Javed Mohammed: 8th Circuit Hears Argument on Parents’ Motion to Intervene
The ACLU v. TiZA First Amendment litigation has been a repeat-customer of Minnesota Litigator. Putative add-on “intervenors” (parents of school kids and kids) were denied the right to intervene in the action before the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota (Frank, J.) and they have now taken that denial to the U.S. Court […]
Some Clients Love Espionage But Have No Spy Training
Civil litigators enjoy one of the most complex and interesting relationships between people — the attorney-client relationship — in so many ways such a close relationship in some cases and in so many ways a risky relationship. See Exhibit A (linked here); Exh. B (linked here); Exh. C (linked here). One recipe for disaster: the […]
“Uff da” can also be spelled huffda, uff-da, uffda, uff-dah, oofda, ufda, ufdah, oofta, or ufta
Minnesota Litigator suggests that “ufta,” the last alternative spelling proposed above, might be particularly apt for the latest episode of the Afremov Affair. The question is whether the Minnesota UFTA! applies or the New Hampshire UFTA (that is, the Minnesota or New Hampshire Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, a “uniform” law passed state-by-state sometimes with small […]
Upside Down & Underwater
“Memes” are expressions, catch-phrases, events, ideas, fads, fashions, or concepts that resonate and reverberate through our culture constantly. Some are so large that they shape entire generations (e.g., 9/11, Vietnam). Some are small and limited to niches of our culture (e.g., “n00b“). Others catch fire, persist for a while, then fade and ultimately end sentences […]
Snip! Snip! Another Minnesota haircut…
When ABC, Fox, CBS, CNN and the Associated Press have to scrape up money to vindicate our First Amendment rights by bringing a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota (related to election day exit polling), who will reimburse them? Us. The tax-payers of Minnesota. The law provides that they’re entitled to their attorneys’ fees for […]
ACLU v. TiZA: An “Extremely Weak” Motion, Delay in Timing, “Suspect,” But No Sanction
In keeping with the yesterday’s theme of sanctions, in a case whose contentiousness has been noted repeatedly by Minnesota Litigator, U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank (D. Minn.) most recently has invoked the “for the sake of the children” rationale most familiarly used in domestic disputes to lower the level of combativeness and conflict in […]
A Bad Day for Becwood… More Than Two Years of Litigation Ending Badly…
Update: Becwood Technology Group’s unfortunate outcome (see below) gets “unfortunater”? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court (D. Minn.) on Dingxi Longhai Dairy’s counts for which Becwood Technology Group had won dismissal (before Becwood lost on summary judgment both defending claims brought by Dingxi Longhai and on its […]
“Self-Help Stations” in Hospitals? Preposterous. But in our Courts?
This week’s Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association lunch in Minneapolis today included a panel presentation presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank (D. Minn.) with Jerry Lane, the recently semi-retired head of Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, Hennepin County Judge Jay M. Quam, and FBA civil litigation Pro Se Project Coordinator Tiffany […]
Are Minnesota Courts’ Punishing Caseloads & Overwhelmed Resources Resulting in More Frequent Sanctions of Attorneys and Litigants?
Update (2/17/2011): Another sanction affirmed, this time against a disbarred lawyer proceeding pro se. (And it’s another caning by Carver County Judge Philip T. Kanning…) Original post (1/13/2011): Noting a second affirmance of a Minnesota trial court’s sanctioning a lawyer by the Minnesota Court of Appeals this week, caused Minnesota Litigator to pose the question, […]
21st Century Cattle-Rustling?
In the old days (at least as portrayed by Hollywood), some made their living snitching other people’s cattle. The modern-day analog, would maybe be sophisticated auto-theft rings, cargo thefts, or secured transaction-related financial fraud. (Cattle are maybe harder to transport and harder to “flip” or “fence” these days than a crate of oxycontin or Chrysler PT Cruisers […]