Minnesota Litigator
News & Commentary
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A Trial Win/Practice Pointers
We had the good fortune and misfortune of going to trial last week in a two-day jury trial. We won. The “good fortune” is purely selfish. As many U.S. civil litigators know, it is difficult to get trial experience since 95-99% of civil lawsuits settle or are resolved before trial. True, trial is stressful and […]
Dock Dispute
Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lake disputes… In the attached, diagram, we see the relative location of Lot 1, Lot 3, Lot B, and Gleason’s Lake in Plymouth, Minnesota. What we do not get to see is the Sterling dock that, Sterling, the owner of Lot 1 built across Lot B to access Gleason Lake. […]
On the Profitability of Inefficiency
We had pleasure of meeting up with a lawyer in a medium sized Minnesota law firm recently and learned that firm uses no dedicated document review system for the vast majority of its client matters. As a result, a document review at the law firm that might take 8 hours with a dedicated document review […]
Practice Pointer on Preparing Corporate Designees For Depositions
Have a look at an older post we did about designating individuals to sit for depositions as the representative(s) of a business entity (whether a corporation, partnership, or other kind of business entity). It’s kind of important. As tempting as it might be to designate witnesses like these three chimps, pictured above, who heard nothing, […]
On Business-to-Business Unconscionability
A contract is unconscionable if it is “such as no man in his senses and not under delusion would make on the one hand, and as no honest and fair man would accept on the other.” In re Estate of Hoffbeck, 415 N.W.2d 447, 449 (Minn. App. 1987), review denied (Minn. Jan. 28, 1988) (quoting Hume v. United States, […]
Is Riley Mining for Gold Down an Empty Shaft?
Update (July 12, 2019): We’re not optimistic for Plaintiff B. Riley FBR Inc. (“Riley”), the subject in the post below, in its latest effort to get paid on a mining deal that failed. Riley now brings a fraud claim against Defendant Thomas Clarke, personally, the C.E.O. of a mining operation, when Riley’s real target would […]
The Devil is Seriously in the Details
Today is apparently the day in which Minnesota Litigator covers unseen lapses which, over time, result in big bad consequences. Regular Minnesota Litigator readers will remember the ladder lawsuit between Wing Industries and Tricam (see earlier posts here and here). For those of you unfamiliar with the earlier posts, they concerned the ladder label, below, […]
The Devil’s in the Details
Civil litigation generally spans about a year in Minnesota courts, with larger cases often stretching an additional year (or two) (or, in rare cases stretching many more years). Work on a particular case is almost always in fits and starts, with flurries of activity followed by fallow periods (awaiting a court ruling on a motion, […]
The Cost of Unauthorized Driver’s License Look-Ups by Law Enforcement Officers
Update (July 9, 2019): Stay tuned for Plaintiff’s counsel’s fee petition “in the approximate amount of $1,080,000.00” (and counting). Update (June 21, 2019) (under the headline: A June 10, 2019 DPPA Jury Trial?): The verdict is in and it is $585,000 for 74 Drivers Privacy Protect Act (DPPA) violations. Original post (May 29, 2019): LEVENTHAL […]
Minnesota Supreme Court to Decide an Important Case for Criminal Defense Lawyers (And Others)
What limits do the constitutional guarantees of due process, effective assistance of counsel, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, impose on a search and seizure of an attorney’s files when the government accuses the attorney of criminality? This is how the question was posed by lawyers representing “John Doe” clients of Minnesota criminal defense […]