Update (Monday, June 20, 2011): Nearer the end of the road, at least…
Original Post (February 26, 2010): The case between Minnesota windshield auto glass replacement/repair outfits, on the one hand, and auto insurers, on the other hand, has been a very long road trip. Minnesota Litigator noted the Minnesota Supreme Court’s stint in the driver’s seat last summer.
U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz (D. Minn.) has been a fellow-traveler on the journey for years now and may finally have brought the case to its final destination awarding judgment to Alpine Glass today after an arbitration decided in Alpine’s favor against Illinois Farmers Insurance Company, et al.
For readers looking for weekend reading parsing insurance policy endorsements regarding windshield auto glass repair/replacment policies, pondering whether a particular issue hinges on a “question of fact” or a “question of law,” ruminating as to whether a decision should be decided by a court ordering arbitration or by the arbitrator in the first instance (and whether, if the former, and the court fails to decide the question, what degree of deference is owed to the arbitrator’s decision, if any (or is the entire arbitration award to be vacated on that basis?)), Minnesota Litigator heartily recommends the linked order for your weekend’s reading (and, incidentally, God help you!).