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.

ACLU v. Tarek Ibn Zayad Academy: More Wins for the ACLU

U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank has rejected a handful of motions brought by the defendants in this First Amendment Establishment Clause case brought by by the American Civil Liberties Union (represented pro bono by Dorsey & Whitney, led by Peter Lancaster).  (The case has been repeatedly covered by Minnesota Litigator (here)). Defendants brought a […]

Busy News Day at the Minnesota Supreme Court: C.J. Gildea, Justice Stras, et al.

Governor Pawlenty appoints Lori Skjerven Gildea as Chief Judge, appoints University of Minnesota law professor David Stras to fill the seat vacated by Eric Magnuson.  (Who is David Stras?) Also, the Court issued several opinions, including Dykes Farms v. Sukup Manufacturing, a case about the scope of settlement agreements, covered previously in Minnesota Litigator here […]

Federal Bar Association, MN Chapter, May Luncheon: Chief Judge William J. Riley (8th Cir.)

Today’s luncheon presentation began with a presentation to the out-going Chief Judge of U.S. Court of Appeals, James B. Loken, honoring his tenure. Judge Riley began his presentation with signature modesty suggesting that his early effort as Chief Judge was “just trying to get through each day and not mess up.”  He moved quickly on […]

MinnLawyer Blog Reporting: Nelson Confirmation Hearings Tomorrow

Apparently the hearing on the confirmation of U.S. Mag. Judge Susan Richard Nelson to the United States District Court to the District of Minnesota is to be webcast tomorrow. It seems hard to imagine that there will be any meaningful opposition to Judge Nelson’s confirmation.  There does not appear to have been any opposition to […]

MN AG Complaint vs. EMT: Alleged “Scare Tactics” on Minnesota’s Elderly

If the State’s allegations are correct – that EMT Medical, Inc. of Arizona is selling a “virtually useless” product (purportedly an on-line medical information storage product) (and that is, of course, a very critical “IF”), the case is perhaps a “poster-child” for the appropriate role of “big government” to step into and regulate a market […]

Deja Vu: 8th Circuit Argument on Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Leads

Not that long ago, counsel for Medtronic stood before an Eighth Circuit appellate panel (Judges Loken, Melloy, Shepherd) to defend the judgment in its favor by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle, Sr. (D. Minn.), which Minnesota Litigator covered here.  That was an appeal in the multi-district products liability cases against Medtronic. On May 12 […]

Fair Isaac Post-Judgment Ruling: Could’ve Been Worse But That’s Not Saying Much

Fair Isaac’s trial against Experian, Transunion, and Equifax (the credit-reporting agencies that went in on a venture to have another consumer credit-worthiness scoring system other than Fair Isaac’s “FICO score), and against others (e.g., Vantage Score, the referenced “venture”), did not go well for Fair Isaac.   U.S. District Court Judge Ann Montgomery (D. Minn.) […]

Notarial No-No Nixes $275,000 Deal?

There is no doubt that notarizing a document in the absence of the person who signed it violates Minnesota law as to the duties of a notary.  Indeed, it is a criminal act (though a mere misdemeanor).   On the other hand, so is speeding. If someone admits to having signed a document but further […]

Lesson Learned Hard Way: Motions to Exclude Experts are “Dispositive” in the District of Minnesota

[UPDATE:  Sr. U.S. District Court Judge David Doty (D. Minn.) granted Becwood’s request for an extension of time. 5/11/2010] Minnesota Litigator tries to cover developments in Minnesota civil litigation for the general public but obviously tends toward posts only a lawyer, and more particularly a Minnesota lawyer, would want to read.  Maybe only a Minnesota […]