Update (July 31, 2015): This week, the Minnesota Supreme Court has affirmed the Court of Appeals decision, discussed below, in which Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Margaret H. Chutich issued a dissent. (Judge Chutich found ambiguity in a regulatory scheme (calling for judicial deference to agency interpretation) where the Minnesota Supreme Court saw none.) Environmental […]
In a recent Minnesota Litigator profile, lawyer/poet Tim Nolan said of writing poetry: There is a real virtue in poetry to being stupid. What I mean by that is being unassuming, open. The effect of that, of practicing that in writing, is that you meet the reader at the exact same place they’re at because […]
New Minnesota court rules took effect on July 1, 2015. The changes are, in the main, prompted by increased digitization of document filing, service and access. Court staff presented training sessions on the new rules around the state. A few highlights from the sessions follow. When and how you must efile and eserve: You must […]
We have a “justice system” charged with interpreting and enforcing laws. Many of us are proud of it. Others of us are critical of it. Unfortunately, many people are even disgusted and dispirited by it. They have no faith in it. Why? There are plenty of reasons. Some are convinced, “the fix is in.” They […]
I recently had the pleasure of talking with a Hennepin County judge who told me something I have heard many time before. Of the criminal bar, the personal injury bar, the family law bar, and the business litigation bar, there is no comparison when it comes to unreasonableness. Business litigators, the consensus is, are comparatively […]
Updated post (July 22, 2015): It is more than two years after the original post about a previous appeal in this dispute, below. The case has dragged on. The parties entered into a settlement agreement at one point but it seems the agreement unraveled because it was premised on the purchase of a business and […]
I have had the honor and pleasure of crossing paths with our new Minnesota State Bar Association President Mike Unger in recent years. In fact, he has been an invaluable contributor to Minnesota Litigator (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). As covered on the “President’s Page” of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s (“MSBA”) Bench & […]
As discussed in the previous post, the Thomson Reuters “Super Lawyer” designation is, in my view, something of a tarnished honor (at best), because it is so plainly a money-making venture by the prize-giver, given literally at the expense of the prize recipients. Not so with the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) Civil Trial Specialist […]
Thomson Reuters (“TR”) has informed me that I have been selected as a “Super Lawyer” this year. In fact, TR told me months ago but then it “embargoed” the information for several months. Believe me: it’s been HELL sitting on this huge news. (What is the embargo about? It is about notifying the thousands (literally) of “Super Lawyers” and […]
After college but before law school, Hennepin County Judge Susan M. Robiner ran a ski school near Louisville, Kentucky. She also waited on a lot of tables in her youth. Navigating black diamond ski trails and dealing with impatient and hungry patrons might have been good training for a Hennepin County trial judge. Then came over a […]