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.
Our Age of Consent (or Not)
As regular Minnesota Litigator readers (or people who are generally conscious of current events nationwide and worldwide) know, human society is convulsing with change in the realm of sexual mores. As bizarre as it seems, some men and women have radically divergent feelings and ideas about what is “consensual sex” versus what is “sexual assault” […]
Tip-toeing Through Minefields
Every day, heated controversies force businesses and other large institutions to utter public statements. Here, below is a statement that Macalester College released last November in response to litigation brought by Kristin Naca, a fired Macalester professor: Kristin Naca’s employment at Macalester was terminated as the result of a serious violation of the college’s policies […]
ESI and Solo/Small Litigators: What Are Your Options?
ESI is “electronically stored information” or digital data. The relatively new reality of U.S. litigation is that some degree of knowledge of ESI is critical for every legal matter for every lawyer. “E-discovery” is a particularly nasty sub-part of the ESI beast; it is the management of ESI in litigation — that is, in the […]
Tales from the Trenches, Vol. 1, Issue No. 8
Previous Minnesota Litigator “Tales from the Trenches” posts have been first-person narratives — mundane trials and tribulations of LEVENTHAL pllc. This trench-tale is second-hand. Last week, the trial of C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. v. XPO Logistics, Inc., et al., started before Hennepin County District Court Judge Ronald Abrams. C.H.Robinson claims misappropriation of trade secrets and […]
A New Resource for Savvy Firms?
Having just posted on litigation funding, we got an email the very next day: Hi there, I discovered your practice through the mentioned matter and believe we are well-aligned to help one another moving forward. For context, I represent XXXXXXXXX, a litigation funder. We invest in commercial cases that are historically too small (values of […]
Practice Pointer: A Deal’s a Deal (Again)
We have repeatedly warned Minneota litigators and litigants that courts really hate to undo settlements (most recently, here). This lesson was taught again this week in Rocco v. Khan in which a neighbor’s property dispute was resolved in a settlement conference, put on the record at the Ramsey County District Court, and, after that, the […]
Will Three John Does v. Shattuck-St. Mary’s School Go to Trial? Should it?
Update (February 16, 2017): As predicted (and as urged) below, this case settled before trial. Although many lament the paucity of civil trials in current U.S. law, this lawsuit was one of many, if not most, where settlement seems a better result than the expense, uncertainty, and stress of trial. Original post (November 18, 2016): Regular […]
U.S. Supreme Court Takes on Personal Jurisdiction Case
Minnesota Litigator focuses primarily on news and comments about Minnesota civil litigation but we recently focused on the bigger picture of “dual federalism” and “subject matter jurisdiction.” Now we look at another important issue: “personal jurisdiction.” Since 2013, at least, we have argued that “U.S. jurisprudence on personal jurisdiction leaves something to be desired and the law […]
A Follow-Up Message from Minnesota Immigration Lawyer, Mikael Merissa
(Mr. Merissa’s previous Minnesota Litigator post can be found here.) Just two weeks into his presidency, U.S. Pres. Donald Trump has threatened to send troops to Mexico to take care of their “bad hombres” and hung up on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia after a heated discussion about refugee policy. Given this frightening treatment of […]
Oh what a relief it is…
[Those of you older than 50 will understand the headline and the image to the left. For the nostalgic among you (or the young’uns who have no clue), click to see the linked advertisement from 1976.] Regular Minnesota Litigator readers (and all experienced Minnesota litigators) are familiar with Rule 5.04 of the Minnesota Rules of […]