Normally, we have a holiday season hiatus at the end of every calendar year, a bit of R&R, stepping back from the relentless demand of a full time legal practice and legal blogging. This year is different. We are spending our holiday season preparing for a trial scheduled to start on January 2, 2018. Talk […]
Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the Year to Come from Minnesota Litigator!
Updated post (December 18, 2017): We knew that the case discussed below, St. Jude v. Muddy Waters, would be a hard-fought lawsuit given the personalities of the litigants and their lawyers. We have not covered the lawsuit’s first year because, really, it’s just getting started. The lawsuit is brought by a medical device maker against […]
Communication is the foundation of all agreements. Miscommunication lurks at the foundation of most contract disputes. When a person or a business (say, a business owner) hires intermediaries to help negotiate a complex agreement (say, a commercial lease) and, in the end, a material term failed to make its way into the final agreement, who’s […]
It is infrequent that we use the Minnesota Litigator blog for downright self-promotion because (1) attorney-client confidentiality concerns often prohibit it; (2) we assume our readers are not interested; or (3) “other reasons” (for example, the “win” is too complicated to explain, publication is inconsistent with our business/marketing strategy, etc.). On the other hand, from […]
We celebrate the attached contempt order, issuing a sanction of over $89,000 in attorneys’ fees for misconduct in discovery, and here’s why: Some years ago, we were preparing for a trial when, in the intense few weeks before the start of the trial, the other side brought a motion to amend to add a claim […]
In Minnesota Litigator’s experience of former U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes, he seems to embody kindness, humility, and professionalism. He has had a long and distinguished career in Minnesota civil litigation and, unsurprisingly, has some important insights as to how our system is succeeding and how it is failing. (In critical ways, it seems to […]
While we have enjoyed significant success over the years in predicting the outcomes of particular motions, lawsuits, or appeals, Minnesota Litigator has tried to predict big waves in civil litigation but our track record there has been poor. Our “big wave” predictions have not run aground with spectacular thundering crashes. Just barely audible tinkles. And […]
Congratulations to the Minnetonka law firm of Johnson & Johnson for their win against the county of Anoka in connection with their clients’ road-kill bill. The city of Anoka entered into a contract with Rick Johnson’s Deer & Beaver, Inc. (“D&B”). D&B agreed to collect “all” of the county’s deer and beaver road kill on […]
Update (November 29, 2017): One thing about trials: they seem so momentous, so dramatic, so climactic, but sometimes they’re just a blip, just one chapter of an excruciating saga. Linked here is an order from the U.S. District Court (D. Minn.) (Frank, J.) vacating the judgment that we linked to below (and again link to […]