Breaking Update (September 30, 2011): The Court just issued an order moments ago that trial, set to start Monday is canceled. The case has settled on the threshold of the courthouse.
Following up on the “after-thought” of the recent post below, ADT did not have to answer 92 Requests to Admit on the threshold of trial.
Original Post (Sept. 29, 2011): (Swenson v. ADT has been covered at length in Minnesota Litigator here.)
ADT: When you buy a home security device, does this guaranty your safety from murderers, arsonists, etc.? When you buy a home security device, is the seller automatically to be held liable if terrible misfortune befalls you?
There was no applicable special relationship between ADT and Ms. Lee. Therefore, ADT did not have a duty under Minnesota law to protect Ms. Lee from the intentional acts of third parties, including the intentional acts of Van Keuren.
Swenson: When a consumer contacts a home security company and explicitly tells the company that she is in immediate need of a security system to thwart a known threat to her physical safety, and the alarm company allegedly admits that there was system error the night of her murder (and the murder of another person), can it be that Minnesota law limits recovery to “the greater of $500 or 10% of the annual service charge you pay” under the security company form contract?
It is undisputed that ADT knew about the peril that Teri Lee faced in the form of Steven Van Keuren. With this knowledge of her position of peril, ADT proceeded to act negligently with respect to the compilation and installation of its security system in the Lee home.
Trial is set to begin on October 3 before U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim (D. Minn.) in Minneapolis, if the case does not settle at a settlement conference set for this Thursday.
Here’s a concept: how about serve “Requests for Admission” two years after discovery is over right on the eve of trial? After all, you can give the other side a convenient road map to your cross-examination, right? Why not?