MinnLawyer Blog

Justice Helen Meyer

We have blogged before how the Minnesota Supreme Court increasingly issued 4-3 decisions with the same cast of characters making up the majority and minority.

In the majority has been (now former) Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and Justices Lorie Gildea, G. Barry Anderson and Christopher Dietzen. For want of a better word, we’ve called this the “conservative” bloc – although I have never liked that word applied to the judiciary. (I’m suppose “strict constructionist quartet” just doesn’t sound sexy enough.) 

In the minority have been Justices Alan Page, Helen Meyer and Paul Anderson. We might call this the more “liberal” justice bloc (although again, not a great word applied to the judiciary.)  Page is getting a reputation as the court’s “Great Dissenter,” and can be reliably counted upon to be on the “liberal side.” Meyer is usually with Page. Paul Anderson has probably been the loosest member of this confederation, but more and more has stood with Meyer and Page. You can’t really say Anderson has changed so much as stayed in the same place as the court has increasingly moved right under Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

With the appointment of David Stras, not much is expected to change as far as how 4-3 decisions break down. Stras, a conservative legal scholar, is expected to sub for Magnuson in the four-justice majority. In fact, Magnuson departed from the majority occasionally in a high profile case or two — such as the unallotment case — so, with Stras, the division may be even more ingrained.

However, Stras, as a new member of the court, isn’t taking part in decisions that court is releasing right now. It will take a bit of time for him to be up to speed and participate. Thus, the court is now releasing six-justice rulings, making a 4-3 split impossible.  Nobody really wants a 3-3 split, which wouldn’t have precedential value and would keep the lower court ruling in place, effectively making the high court a nonplayer.

So who’s the swing vote in this odd interim period until Stras starts flexing a little muscle?

Ladies and gentleman, I present today’s candidate, Justice Meyer!  The court today issued a 4-2 ruling in an equitable relief case between two lenders in Citizens State Bank v. Raven Trading Partners. The “conservative” bloc stayed intact – Gildea, Dietzen and Barry Anderson – but had Meyer joining them.

 I don’t know if you could call this one a conservative or liberal case — the dispute was over mortgage priorities.  The first mortgage holder delayed 38 days in filing its mortgage. The second mortgage holder knew of the first mortgage, but filed first because of the delay. Applying equitable subrogation, the trial court judge gave priority to the first mortgage, even though it was filed second in time.

The majority concluded equitable relief was not available to help a party that delays in filing without a good reason. In his dissent, Page argued that the majority was Monday morning quarterbacking, reweighing the equities of the case and thereby divesting the trial court of its authority.

The case makes it a little tougher to get equitable relief if your hands are not completely clean. The conservative bloc likes to base decisions on statutory language, so, in that respect, I can see how it might not like to see a trial court resorting to equity withoutvery strong reasons. I’m not sure what motivated Meyer to join them in this case. Maybe, as a former personal injury lawyer, she doesn’t like to see companies delaying without good cause and then begging for a break. (Just think how many insurance companies must have dragged their feet in making payouts to her clients.)

It will be interesting to see if this “interim alliance” repeats itself as we wait for Stras to get up and running.  In the meantime, not e to Justice Meyer: Sometimes, it’s good to be king.