James Lavoie and James Lindell, Lindell and Lavoie LLP

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James Lavoie and James Lindell met in law school at the University of Minnesota in 1977. After graduation they went their separate ways but renewed their friendship and became law partners in 1997. They’ve been winning cases and earning accolades ever since.

They believe their small (five-lawyer) law firm is a good place to practice with a culture that stems from them. They have a family atmosphere and a similar, straightforward outlook, Lavoie said. “We’ve each had our share of million-dollar cases,” he said.

One recent case was a bilateral below the knee amputation caused by Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) where the blood-thinning medicine has the opposite effect, resulting in clots and gangrene. That case, venued in North Dakota, was resolved with a confidential settlement of more than $1 million, Lindell said. (The state has a $500,000 damage cap on pain and suffering and the client had heavy economic damage.)

With more than 70 years of combined experience, Lindell and Lavoie have some thoughts on how personal injury practice could be improved. They welcome the recently passed survivorship statute, which provides that injury damages can survive the death of the injured person.

Bad faith claims against insurers are another area where the law could be more favorable to plaintiffs, Lavoie and Lindell say. They think that insurers do not always act in their insured’s best interest (first-party bad faith) and make spurious claims in other cases (third-party bad faith).

They would also like a return to joint and several liability, instead of the joint liability now provided in Minn. Stat. 604.02, which may limit the plaintiff’s recovery. It’s particularly important in dram shop cases, Lindell said.