Recently the Minnesota Court of Appeals unanimously, and correctly it would seem, reversed a decision by a very able Hennepin County judge to dismiss a FELA case in Gallagher v. BNSF.  ((FELA stands for Federal Employer’s Liability Act, which is a century old federal law creating fault based liability for railroads when their employees are […]

Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, in a published decision (authored by Judge Stauber), held that, “[I]n order to provide a meaningful opportunity to correct defects, prepare for negotiation or litigation, and safeguard against stale claims…we conclude that a party must provide actual notice of the nature and timing of any action that could lead […]

If, hypothetically, your business were devising a business strategy that could, if successful, severely impact if not destroy another business, should you “reasonably foresee” litigation at the outset of implementing that business strategy? A person must preserve documents that the person knows or should know will be discoverable in “reasonably foreseeable” litigation.  In the hypothetical, […]

Experienced Minnesota personal injury attorney, Tom Conlin, argued this week to revive a lawsuit against Lutsen Mountains ski area lost on summary judgment. An eye witness made statements around the time of a devastating accident, statements which she later disavowed. (The accident apparently left the injured plaintiff unable to testify as to the circumstances of […]

Today the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision (but not the standard break-down between “conservatives” and “liberals”), held that the accused in criminal cases is entitled to confront witnesses under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution such that a certificate of state laboratory analysts as to drug weight or composition was not sufficient […]