In custody disputes, the focus is on the “best interests” of the child.  Because there are few possible outcomes to the dispute (short of terminating the parental rights of one or both parents), the standard sometimes seems more like the “least bad interests.”

Does Alamo® (propiconazole) to “prevent” fatal oak wilt fungal infection?  No.  It cannot prevent root graft transmission of oak wilt, which is by far the most common source of oak wilt.  Can it cure oak wilt?  No. It cannot.  At best, it might delay the fatal course for some indefinite period of time (a year […]

In January, 2008, the Walter J. McCarthy, a barge, sunk at a dock in Duluth.  Now, coming up on the fourth anniversary of the accident, lawyers are still hotly litigating financial responsibility for the disaster (covered previously here). In many if not most large industrial accidents in our society in this day and age, among […]

Update (October 28, 2011):  Rob Shainess’ Turfwars, commentary on legal battles concerning real state in Minnesota and beyond, notes that the Minnesota Supreme Court has granted a petition to review the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ reversal, noted below. Original Post (July 26, 2011):  Oluf and Debra Johnson’s organic farm produce was apparently rendered ineligible for […]

As covered previously on Minnesota Litigator, plaintiff Elliott Kaplan had the misfortune of undergoing pancreatic cancer surgery at the Mayo Clinic (a “Whipple procedure”) but it turned out he never had pancreatic cancer.   The applicable standard imposed on doctors and other professionals, thankfully, is not perfection.  So, although with 20/20 hindsight we can suggest […]

From the distance of an outsider, a loan promoted as a “pick a payment” loan seems problematic from the inception.  Borrowers get to pick their payments?  Wouldn’t more than a few borrowers pick zero? Borrowing money and not paying it back was not one of the options, of course, for an “option ARM,” (that is, […]

The recent New York Times piece written by Judge Zimmerman (Hennepin County District Court Judge) will surprise no one with even a passing knowledge of Judge Zimmerman.   His dedication to his work, to the Twin Cities community, and his capacity for empathy are extraordinary by any measure.

It is a story of missing ESI (electronically stored information) apparently sold untraceably in Mexico, an inconveniently timed operating system replacement, and other potential misconduct — too many details that, independently, might not raise suspicion but collectively suggest intentional destruction of evidence.  (The case was previously covered by Minnesota Litigator here.)

A critical aspect of a great deal of U.S. civil litigation is the role of insurance.  In a huge number of cases, there’s at least one “case-within-a-case,” two or more nested layers of litigation, with the plaintiff’s liability case against the defendant at the core and, orbiting, a defendant’s claim for insurance coverage.  (Some times […]

A borrows $415,000 from B.  B goes bankrupt.  A defaults on the debt.  The obligation of A to pay does not vanish when the lender goes under.  It simply gets transferred. But to where?