[Regular Minnesota Litigator readers (and all experienced Minnesota litigators) are familiar with Rule 5.04 of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure and, most particularly, the 2013 amendment that provides that a lawsuit must be filed with the court within one year of being served on “any party.” Otherwise, the lawsuit is “deemed dismissed with prejudice against all parties.”
Call this the “you snooze, you lose, rule.”
But what if a judge finds that plaintiffs failure to comply with Rule 5.04 was “purely” the fault of their lawyers?
This past week, St. Louis County Chief Judge Sally L. Tarnowski found that Plaintiffs Joel Johnson, Joy Johnson, Lakehead Boat Basin, Inc., and Marine Services, Inc. (collectively “LBB”) lost their multi-million dollar claim against the City of Duluth “purely” due to neglect of their lawyers. Fortunately for Plaintiffs, Judge Tarnowski took the further step of granting Plaintiffs’ Rule 60 motion for relief from judgment.
This, in turn, raises another question: does “relief from judgment” make the malpractice action against LBB’s lawyers “go away” (that is, the lawyers who missed the filing deadline in Plaintiffs’ case against the City of Duluth)? Time will tell…