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.

Congratulations to Nilan Johnson Lewis Litigators on a Complete Defense Verdict

Congratulations to NJL lawyers, Karna Berg, Jeremy Robb, Katie Connolly, and Peter Gray, along with their client, Loftness Specialized Farm Equipment, for their complete defense verdict in a breach of contract claim (alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement) by Twiestmeyer et al., in suit since 2011. Before the recent jury trial, the multi-million dollar claim had […]

How Can we Battle Anonymous On-Line Haters or Other On-Line Wrongdoers? (Or Should we Bother?)

The StarTribune reported a recently filed action in Hennepin County district court this week.The action describes itself as “Petitioner Air T, Inc.’s Rule 27.01 Petition to Perpetuate The Testimony of Yahoo! Inc.” Apparently, an anonymous person going by the name of “Blueskiesforme1” has been blasting Air T, Inc., on a Yahoo! “message board” with criticism. […]

Minnesota Litigator Profile: Brent Primus – Insights and Inspiration From a 45-year Minnesota civil litigator

We recently had the honor of interviewing Brent Wm. Primus of Primus Law Office, P.A. who has been practicing law in Minnesota for about 45 years. His experience is a vivid and inspiring illustration of the essential blend of blind luck and individual initiative that life requires for professional (and personal) success. ML: Forty-five years of legal […]

Who Pays for Injuries Sustained When a Rented Picnic Table Collapses?

Update (April 23, 2018): The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ indemnification decision in the collapsed table accident, described in earlier posts: Although we may uphold the enforceability of a contractual indemnity clause, we disfavor agreements seeking to indemnify the indemnitee for losses occasioned by its own negligence… Accordingly, we strictly construe such indemnity […]

More on Lawyer Marketing

Update (April 20, 2018): Large U.S. law firms are multi-million dollar businesses, as we all know. Not one, to our knowledge, is a monarchy, a tyranny, or an institution with a single almighty decision-maker. This fact has its advantages and its drawbacks. A single decision-maker can make decisions a lot more quickly. Sometimes, this can […]

On the Scope of the Duty to Mitigate in the Context of a Personal Injury

If a personal injury plaintiffs reject medical care, can they sue tortfeasors for their injuries, including their pain and suffering? If personal injury plaintiffs sue tortfeasors for their injuries, do they have to run their medical treatment plans past the tortfeasors to get their ok as a prerequisite to recovering their medical costs from the tortfeasors? […]

Another Sacrifice on the “Reply All” Pyre

Leonetti’s Frozen Foods, Inc. hired Rew Marketing to help promote Leonetti’s frozen stromboli. Through Rew, Leonetti’s was working on a deal to get its stromboli into Sam’s Club, the huge retail warehouse club/grocer owned by Walmart. Rew helped Leonetti’s meet the stringent requirements that Sam’s Club imposed (“two crucial tests”) to get its stromboli sold […]

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The Uber Low Value of Another Data Breach Cases?

Update (April 13, 2018): Following up on the putative Uber data breach class action, discussed below in an earlier post, here is the plaintiffs’ argument for why the Court should disregard the arbitration clause in Uber’s Terms & Conditions: Defendants do not seek to compel arbitration on a bad ride, an over-charge, or the like, […]

Civ Pro Geek-Out Post: Motions to Dismiss, Asking for Leave to Amend

Update (April 9, 2018): We recently stumbled across the linked order from U.S. District Court Chief Judge John R. Tunheim (D. Minn.) in which he denied plaintiffs’ request to amend their securities fraud class action complaint (Lusk v. Lifetime) because the plaintiffs made no formal motion to amend until the hearing on the motion for […]

Can an MD commit Malpractice on a Patient He’s Never Seen, Spoken To, or Treated?

Those of you who live by Betteridge’s Law of Headlines will pounce on the “NO” answer but think again. Susan Warren went to Essentia Hibbing Clinic in August, 2014 complaining of abdominal pain, fever, chills, and other symptoms. She saw a nurse practitioner who thought Ms. Warren should be admitted to the hospital but the […]