Minnesota Litigator
News & Commentary
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Insignia Systems, Inc. v. News America Marketing: Judgment Day Approaches?
In January, if all goes according to schedule, U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim (D. Minn.) will have finished the MDL Levaquin trial over which he has presided in recent weeks and he will be presiding over another lengthy trial: Insignia Systems v. News America Marketing, a false advertising/antitrust trial, pending before the Court […]
Carpe Carp Diem (“Seize the Carp Day”) (A Slap in the Face, With a Fish)
UPDATE: U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. (N.D. Illinois) rejected the five-state challenge (or at least the claim for preliminary injunctive relief) to Illinois’ refusal to close its locks and prevent Asian Carp from invading the Great Lakes (NPR coverage is here). Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox chided the President: “Obama’s persistent failure […]
Minnesota Supreme Court Takes on Question of Joint & Several Liability
Plaintiff Alice Staab was injured when she fell from her wheelchair as it went over an unmarked four to five inch drop-off at the Holy Cross Parish School. At the time, Staab’s wheelchair was being pushed by her husband, Richard. Alice Staab sued the Diocese of St. Cloud for negligence. A jury trial was held. The jury found the […]
BAM! Didn’t see that one coming…
UPDATE: Former landowner, BNSF, fails in its second attempt to escape a personal injury claim on summary judgment based on the fact that it no longer owned the land when Plaintiff Darcy Green sustained his ATV injury having run into BNSF’s concrete remnants of an old railroad bridge. Original Post, April 17, 2010: In mid-June, […]
Regarding the Public Resolution of Private Disputes…
UPDATE #2 (11/30): Mag. Judge Franklin L. Noel’s recent order on the matter described below: “Before the Court is the parties’ Stipulation To Strike Certain Docket Entries, including two orders of the Court. Documents filed in the case, and in particular orders of the Court, are official records of what happened in the case. As […]
Personal Email, Privacy, & Work in Minnesota: What is the law?
As Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Roger M. Klaphake ruled this past week, “Minnesota courts have not addressed whether an employee can have an expectation of privacy in a company email account, although other jurisdictions have examined this issue. Conclusions are mixed.” Most employers and certainly all large employers have email policies. These tend to […]
If no remedy, then no right. De Minimis Non Curat Plaintiffs’ Lawyers?
UPDATE: In a big win for Defendant, TCF, U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty (Sr. Judge, D. Minn.) has granted TCF’s motion to stay proceedings and compel arbitration. Original post (10/21/10): [An ancient legal “tenet” is “de minimis, non curat lex,” literally translated, “of minimal things, the law does not concern itself.”] TCF Bank […]
Is Minneapolis Inflicting Disproportionately High Property Taxes on The City’s Most Needy?
Attorney David L. Wilson, in conjunction with the University of Minnesota Law School clinic, has launched a putative class action in Hennepin County District Court alleging that the City of Minneapolis has unfairly imposed its property tax burden on poorer North Minneapolis neighborhoods, as compared with the more privileged Southern half of the city. Minneapolis […]
The Quagmire of Discovery Disputes Re-Revisited?
The Loparex litigation has been noted in Minnesota Litigator a few times already for the heatedness of discovery disputes in the case. Here we go again… The case involves counter-claim allegations that Plaintiff Jon Hanson made comments to a European bank that, in turn, based on those comments, launched an audit at significant expense to […]
Introducing Associate Justice David R. Stras…
The newest appointment to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Associate Justice David R. Stras, has authored his first Supreme Court opinion, issued this week. No dramatic entrance here, a unanimous decision, affirming the Court of Appeals, which had affirmed the district court as to whether a particular Minnesota statute permits a court to discharge a portion […]