MinnLawyer Blog

Last Monday, in a chart accompanying a story on the appellate court races, Minnesota Lawyer reported the amounts of the contributions to the appellate court candidates in the upcoming election. There was an error in the information listed for Court of Appeals Judge Terri Stoneburner, who faces a challenge from International Falls attorney Dan Griffith. [...]

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The Court of Appeals today ruled that a jointly-owned vehicle should not be forfeited based on the illegal conduct of one of its owners when the other owner proves by clear and convincing evidence that he or she did not know the vehicle would be used illegally. In Laase v. 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe, a case [...]

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The Minnesota Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s denial of an application by Northshore Mining Co. to relax an air quality standard at its taconite plant in Silver Bay. That standard, known as a control-city standard, states that asbestos levels in the air in Silver Bay can’t be any higher than [...]

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Minnesota’s seldom-tested shield law has taken a couple of interesting shots in recent weeks. Earlier this month it was revealed that KMSP reporter Tom Lyden had two months of cell phone records seized by St. Paul police as part of an ongoing investigation into whether a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy leaked private data to Lyden. [...]

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Court of Appeals Judge R.A. “Jim” Randall has submitted his retirement letter to Gov. Tim Pawlenty effective Friday, April 4, 2008. Randall has served on the court for 24 years. I hope he spends some time at the court as a retired judge because I will miss his opinions. Not only do I generally agree [...]

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It used to be like clockwork. Go grab a bite to eat for lunch, come back to the office and find out how your case did on appeal. Both state appellate courts would release their week’s opinions at exactly 1:00 p.m. (Tuesdays for the Court of Appeals, Thursdays for the Supreme Court.) But, as Minnesota [...]

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A quick glance at the eight finalists for the three newly created seats on the Minnesota Court of Appeals tells me Gov. Tim Pawlenty has some good folks to pick from. The list includes: – Three District Court judges;– Three shareholders from private law firms;– One Chief Administrative Law judge (and former Tax Court judge); [...]

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Judge Thomas Forsberg, who died Sunday at the age of 80. Forsberg was one of the earliest Court of Appeals judges, joining the court in 1984. He retired in 1995 but continued to serve the court under the rule allowing retired judges to handle cases by appointment. [...]

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As if it was not enough to have three “Justice Andersons” serving on the Minnesota Supreme Court (Russell, Paul and G. Barry, in case you’ve lost count), I recently uncovered more evidence that a severe shortage of surnames continues to plague the state. Flipping through the handful of published Court of Appeals opinions last week, [...]

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Can an insurance company be held liable for negligently hiring an agent who allegedly used her position to bilk a vulnerable adult out of $104,000? No, the Court of Appeals answered today in Johnson v. Peterson, et al. (The appellate court upheld dismissals of claims for negligent hiring, training, retention and supervision.) The agent allegedly [...]

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