In a brief and stern order, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz (D. Minn.) lowered the boom on counsel for insurer Hartford Insurance when, after a hearing, counsel submitted supplemental briefing. Judge Schiltz quoted himself in a “closely related context:” ”This is akin to lighting a cigar and then asking, ‘Is it okay if I […]
Plaintiff George Boley claimed that he was defamed by Jennifer Prestholdt, Deputy Director of the MAHR, in a 11/16/06 interview with Kerri Miller, Minnesota Public Radio, regarding alleged crimes in Liberia and a related Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Defendants Prestholdt and the MAHR, represented by Faegre & Benson, sought summary judgment on their anti-SLAPP defense […]
A Minnesota company got into a commercial dispute with a Florida company about an employee, working in Florida, who jumped ship from the Florida to the Minnesota company (again, still working in Florida). The two companies had the proverbial “race to the courthouse” filing competing actions on the same day, one in Minnesota federal court […]
President Clinton was subjected to widespread scorn and derision when an August, 1998 deposition transcript was made public in which he answered (answered?) a question by saying that the answer depended on what the definition of “is” is. Lawyers, as a group, presumably laughed a little less hard than lay people at Clinton’s careful parsing (if […]
Plaintiff Margaret J. Coleman is a 68-year-old woman who lives with her 15-year-old granddaughter, a 19-year-old woman with special needs, and 22-year-old who was formerly her foster child in a single family home she has owned for nearly 40 years. That is, she has lived there for an awfully long time but a lender allegedly […]
An earlier post highlighted U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz’s pragmatic approach to judging. In another example of what might be called “active judging,” Judge Schiltz issued an order today in a garden-variety Truth-in-Lending rescission case giving the parties clear direction on several varied but specific legal issues that the Court deemed important to […]
While holding that plaintiffs (represented by Nichols Kaster & Anderson) cannot pursue their tip-sharing claim against Starbuck as a class action, the United States District Court, D. Minn. (Judge Patrick Schiltz), recently held that Starbucks policy violates Minnesota law. (Nichols Kaster & Anderson have brought similar claims against Caribou coffee and a Minneapolis strip club.) […]
There have been two recent rulings on local patent infringement trials, past and, by all indications, imminent, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Move over, United States District Court, E.D. Texas (Marshall Division), once thought of as “ground zero” for U.S. patent infringement litigation? (Don’t bet on it.) Even if the […]