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.

One Man’s Contribution To the Minnesota Mortgage Morass

Anyone reading the newspapers is aware of the recent confusion and on-again-off-again paralysis in residential mortgage foreclosures nationwide.  Often, in Minnesota Litigator’s experience, the problem in particular cases (if any problem at all aside from the difficult challenge of foreclosure itself) is simply the logistics of the document-intensive foreclosure process, in which corners have been […]

Facebook Privacy Breach: The Inevitable Class Action Complaint & a Minnesota Tie

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) broke that back-dating story back in 2006, which, over the ensuing several years cost corporate America hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.   The WSJ broke another story over the weekend that plainly would trigger lawsuits, which it has now done.  Time will tell whether the story and […]

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: SJ for Battery Manufacturer

In July, 2005, plaintiff Paul Schanhaar adjusted the plug on a piece of machinery that also included lead-acid batteries and an explosion occurred,apparently causing him permanent hearing damage. Lead-acid batteries produce hydrogen gas while charging, which is combustible at concentrations in excess of 4%.  Products with lead-acid batteries, therefore, should be designed with vent-holes to […]

Kelly v. City of St. Paul: RNC Protester Case Against Police Survives Summary Judgment (Barely)

Michael Hugh Kelly protested against the war in Iraq during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September, 2008.  He carried a banner, which was taken from him by police officers.  He was shot, soon thereafter, with a “less-than-lethal marking round” in the lower torso.  A “marked man,” he was arrested shortly thereafter.  (The […]

Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Settlement & Eighth Circuit Response

[UPDATE:  The day after the Eighth Circuit rejected the parties’ joint request to stay issuance of its opinion in light of the parties’ settlement, the Court released its decision affirming U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle, Sr.’s dismissal in favor of Medtronic. U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Michael Joseph Melloy’s concurrence-in-part and dissent-in-part seems […]

‘Tis the Season to Claw Back… Put the Vacation Home Purchase on Hold For Now (Or Fast Track It?)?

Minnesota Litigator has covered the case of Michael Afremov vs. Sulloway & Hollis and Michael LaFond vs. Maslon Borman Edelman & Brand, LLP previously.   The claim is for attorney malpractice in connection with alleged advice regarding how to address certain payments alleged to have been kickbacks and then related to Afremov’s subsequent guilty plea for […]

The Challenge of Tying Up Loose Ends…

The case of Jewelean Jackson, et al. v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), et al., was an ambitious but completely unsuccessful legal challenge to the way that mortgages are foreclosed statewide.  Plaintiffs, represented by Legal Aid and others, pleaded that assignments of the promissory notes, which memorialize the financial obligation for which mortgages serve […]

TCF v. Ben Bernanke

This week Wayzata-based TCF National Bank has made national news by suing the Federal Reserve challenging the Durbin Amendment to the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, also known as the Dodd-Frank Act.  The 54-page complaint, a short treatise on the credit card industry concluding with three counts,  is here.  (TCF […]

Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset: Pretrial Skirmishes, Love Gone Awry?

Trial in this much-publicized lawsuit is set for November 2.  Will Justin Gervais, the ex-boyfriend of defendant Jammie Thomas-Rasset, take the stand for the record companies in this trial (which is limited to the issue of damages)? The record companies have raised the possibility.  Thomas-Rasset’s lawyers have tried to head that off.  The Court (U.S. […]

Can it box the pasta or not? Mystery solved, but jury trial nonetheless?

[Update:  Below, a July 22 post in which Minnesota Litigator queried how a case that seemed so simple and seemed to involve a relatively small sum of money (by federal civil litigation standards (at least when litigated by large firms)), could persist and, indeed, head for trial.  The litigants’ trial briefs (here and here) in advance of the […]