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.

It isn’t over ’til it’s over….

There is a tendency at settlement conferences, mediations, and other informal conclusions to legal disputes to rush out the door and move on to more pressing aspects of business and life, often leaving the “loose ends” or “details” to a later date,  a date that slips, slips again, and sometimes even disappears for good. Applied […]

When is the report of potential or suspected child sexual abuse itself abusive?

A pre-teen girl allegedly confided in a friend by saying that her brother had touched her in inappropriate ways.  After a delay of 90 days or so, the friend’s mother made a report of possible sexual abuse to the county’s child-protection authorities.  There was subsequent investigation and, ultimately, no finding of any abuse was made. […]

Civil Litigation and Native American Court Jurisdiction

There are eleven federally recognized Indian tribes in Minnesota.  This is not the forum for a comprehensive discussion of the interplay between Tribal Court law vs. Minnesota state law vs. United States law but, suffice it to say, as is evident from two recent decisions, almost every Minnesota civil litigator, at one time or another, […]

U.S. Supreme Court Decides Milavetz BAPCPA Case

Justice Sotomayor, writing for the Court, joined in full by six Justices and in part by Justices Scalia and Thomas, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that attorneys who provide bankruptcy assistance are debt-relief agencies under the bankruptcy abuse law (opinion is here) and that the BAPCPA (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) does not […]

Petters Sentencing: April 8, 9 a.m., St. Paul

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle, Sr. (D. Minn.) has issued an amended Notice of Sentencing for Tom Petters (here).   Any predictions as to Mr. Petters’ sentence?  (Life in prison without parole? 150 years?  Feeling guilty should be punishment enough?)

Insignia Systems v. News Corp.: Defendant Against the Ropes?

In an antitrust battle that has been pending since 2004 before U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim (D. Minn.), the market, at least, seems to think that plaintiff Minneapolis-based Insignia Systems, Inc. has the upper hand and Defendant News Corp. is against the ropes.  The media has taken notice of the substantial risk to […]

Saving the Integrity & Independence of Our Judiciary: MSBA and Coalition for Impartial Justice Lead the Way

[UPDATE:  Thursday morning, 3/4/10, the House State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology, and Elections Committee passed HF224, the MSBA’s high priority judicial selection reform bill, by a 14-4 margin.  The bill was presented by its chief author, lawyer-legislator Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park).  Among those testifying in support of the bill were Minnesota […]

Thomas-Rasset File Sharing: Jury Trial #2 on Damages: October 4, 2010

By the time this modern-day file-sharing martyrdom plays out, Lady Gaga will have gone the way of Cyndi Lauper (once a name recognized by everyone but now, not so many? (though that could change when Lauper joins Lady Gaga for the Spring 2010 Mac Viva Glam Campaign??)). U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis (C.J., D. […]

Lawyering in the Internet Age @ 66% the Speed of Light…

Apparently electricity travels about 66% the speed of light through a coaxial cable (about 125,000 miles/second?). It used to take a little bit longer to transmit settlement proposals and responses to settlement proposals but those days are over. E-speed is a bit too fast in some cases as lawyers pop off an email before rushing […]

Minnesota Supreme Court Goes Back to School

As covered early last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear argument at 10:10 a.m., Tuesday, March 2, at the University of Minnesota law school, Room 25, on “pre-litigation third party discovery” in the context of asbestos litigation.  Here is a synopsis of the issues to be decided.