Update (10/27/2021): The Minnesota Supreme Court has now weighed in on this complicated dispute over the disposition of assets (farmland) in a trust. In our original post, we declined to make a prediction and we feel vindicated. The Court’s analysis is complicated and any attempt to predict it in advance would have ended badly. Original […]

Update (November 6, 2020): It took the Board of Professional Responsibility more than three years to get to this point but, by clear and convincing evidence, earlier this week they finally issued “Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Recommendations for Discipline,” finding several ethics violations by Minneapolis lawyer, Dan Biersdorf. Mr. Biersdorf is the subject […]

Update (October 28, 2020): After most of a year of procedural threshold battle, the plaintiffs’ case has been thrown out for failure to add the company (Envoy) as a party in a lawsuit that is all about the company. This is an obvious set-back to the plaintiffs, possibly a fatal one, although the Court dismissed […]

Long time readers of Minnesota Litigator will remember our earlier posts about Wing v. Tricam, a dispute between competing ladder manufacturers about the defendant’s claim that its ladder is “OSHA/ANSI Compliant.” (Earlier posts are here, here, and here.) Plaintiff Wing argues that Defendant Tricam’s claim is false advertising. As is clear from our earlier posts, […]

They say that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure…but one failed trash business might have caused another’s disastrous business decision (or, to put it another way, one person’s trash might be (and often is) another person’s trash). We turn to Vermillion State Bank vs. Tennis Sanitation, a case that was accepted recently for review […]

“A” sued “B” for breach of contract and negligence arising from construction work that B agreed to perform for A. B had insurance and asked its insurer for coverage and also to undertake its defense (and the costs of defense (including attorneys’ fees)) under the insurance policy. B’s insurer agreed that some of A’s claims […]

When a private party hires a uniformed police officer for security, when the police officer is working “off duty,” is the officer “acting in the performance of the duties of the position“? This matters. If the officer is “acting in the performance of the duties of the position,” he may be entitled to indemnification by […]

The dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer, that is, days like today. What perfect timing for a post about a dog case. When Ms. Danielle Zephier moved from Minnesota to California, she left Oliver, a rather old mutt (mixed poodle/beagle, 10 yrs. old) (along with fellow hound, Alex) with Ms. Zephier’s father. After […]

Happy Anniversary to Minnesota Rule 5.04! For about six years, we’ve raised the alarm about Rule 5.4 of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure and, specifically, an amendment made effective on July 1, 2015, that requires that lawsuits be filed in court within one year of service. We have even sued a law firm for […]

It is possible that one of the dimmest prospects for appeal in civil litigation is the appeal of an arbitration award. As painful as this is for many arbitration losers, the reason should be obvious: the whole point of arbitration is to stay out of court and, all the more, to limit any possibility of […]