News & Commentary

Constitutional Challenge to Savig, Minn. S. Ct. Ruling Favoring Debt Collectors

[UPDATE: The Minnesota AG will sit the fight out, reserving her right to weigh in if/when there’s an appeal.] Original Post: 9/13/2010: Over the past year, Minnesota Litigator has covered the Savig v. First National Bank case in which the Minnesota Supreme Court held in April that a judgment debtor is initially, but rebuttably, presumed […]

Will The Iqbal/Twombly Pleading Standard Contagion Spread to Minnesota State Court?

All regular readers of Minnesota Litigator and any civil litigator (at least those whose practices take them from time to time to federal court) are aware of the Iqbal and Twombly U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the repercussions of those decisions in subsequent federal practice. David Hashmall, well known Twin Cities litigator at the Minneapolis […]

Akanthos v. Compucredit v. Akanthos – Ship the File to Georgia??? Say it ain’t so!

Twas not exactly the night before Christmas but pretty close, when a swarm of hedge funds set upon Georgia-based Compucredit in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota with claims, essentially, that the funds’ interests as bondholders were being subordinated to the interests of others whose interests should have been junior to their own. […]

ACLU v. Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy: Allegations of Excessive Generosity & Motion to Disqualify

Dorsey & Whitney LLP represents the ACLU in this bitterly fought litigation against Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy (“TiZA”), the establishment of which, the ACLU argues, violates the anti-establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. As part of its defense, TiZA and related entity-defendants argue that the Dorsey law firm is conflicted and must be disqualified because […]

Minnesota Lawyers Seeing “The Big Picture” and Broader Context of Global Justice

While somewhat off of Minnesota Litigator’s subject matter of developments in Minnesota civil litigation, a number of Minnesota lawyers, including Minnesota judges (state and federal), have provided assistance to various international tribunals and foreign courts, addressing human rights problems in Kosovo and other countries. From time to time, it is worthwhile to acknowledge what lies […]

Minnesota Campaign Finance Disclosure Law Withstands Constitutional Scrutiny (at least for now)

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank (D. Minn.) denied plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction attempting to strike down the Minnesota legislature’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United case.

Gallus v. Ameriprise: Six Years & Counting (Condensed Version) (Hearing @ 2pm, 9/22)

We approach the 6th birthday of Gallus v. Ameriprise, U.S. District. Court. (D. Minn.) Civ. File No. 04-cv-4498 (DWF/SRN), filed on October 14, 2004 (pending before U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank). The case has been up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (where summary judgment for the defendants […]

Emailing the Court With Unfounded Allegations of Improper Conduct: Delgado-O’Neil v. City of Minneapolis

[UPDATE: Following up on the post below originally posted last week, Judge Davis resoundingly rejected Plaintiff’s “Motion to Vacate Judgment and other relief. Plaintiff suggested that Judge Davis should have recused himself because, at one time, he was a state court judge and, through that experience, sat on the same court with potential witnesses in […]

Donning & Doffing Cases in the Computer Age: Booting Up & Logging Off…

[UPDATE: Judge Kyle’s granted the motion for class certification this week. The Court’s Memorandum Opinion and Order is here.] July 30, 2010 Post: Donning and doffing cases are a species of employment class action based on employers’ imposing requirements that employees wear particular gear to perform their work without compensation to the employees for the […]

Medtronic Securities Fraud Class Action Based on Fidelis Goes Down…

This week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle, Sr.’s dismissal of Plaintiff Detroit General Retirement System (et al.)’s putative securities fraud class action under the PLRA (Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Plaintiffs’ case was crushed between the Scylla and Charibdis of the […]

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