Minnesota Lawyer articles from April 2006

Minnesota Lawyer archives from April 2006

Nurse practitioner testimony was proper, says MN Supreme Court.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confrontation was not violated by admission of testimony about statements made by a 3 1/2-year-old child to a nurse practitioner during a medical exam, the Supreme Court has...

Campaign conduct committee proposed by Minnesota State Bar Association.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Judicial campaign conduct is a hot topic these days - and not only in Minnesota. In more and more states, judicial elections are becoming costlier and nastier, with special interests and "big money" getting involved...

Law school symposium examines the state of judicial elections in Minnesota.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Two keynote speakers and an eight-person panel of distinguished lawyers and judges recently shared their thoughts on where Minnesota is - or may be - headed in the area of judicial elections. The March 22...

Employers and employees should understand blog rights and responsibilities.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Heather Armstrong is a famous name in the blog world. She was fired in 2002 for posting information about her former employer on her blog, "dooce.com." Her experience has given rise to a new word, "dooced," which...

8th Circuit rules defendant can't sue police for 'Miranda' violation.(Brief article)
April 3, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that a litigant cannot maintain an action under section 1983 based on a violation of the Miranda safeguards. The defendant was convicted of...

MN Bar Buzz: April 3, 2006.(Justice Antonin Scalia)
April 3, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter That's Sicilian The Associated Press reports that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says a Boston Herald reporter has watched too many episodes of The Sopranos. (As if that was possible,...

Commentary: Public disciplinary records now available online.(Office of the Director of Lawyers Professional Responsibility)
April 3, 2006... Byline: Craig D. Klausing It is not by happenstance that the office in Minnesota charged with overseeing the professional responsibility of lawyers is called the Office of the Director of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. In many states...

Commentary: 'Prima' prong punctures pregnancy, performance pair.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Claimants under federal, state and local discrimination laws generally must satisfy a three-pronged standard to overcome summary judgment. The triumvirate standard requires the claimant first to establish a prima...

Farmers prevail in nine-year class action suit before Minnesota Supreme Court.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A nine-year case that has resulted to date in a verdict of more than $62 million was affirmed last week by the Minnesota Supreme Court. The case, Peterson et. al. v. BASF Corp., started life as a class action...

Letter to the Editor.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2006... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the editor: I was recently forwarded a copy of an article [in] Minnesota Lawyer dated December 12, 2005, entitled "Appellate judges, women inmates share a reading group in Shakopee." The article was...

Minnesota attorney advises employers to consider blog policies.
April 3, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A recent survey by the Employment Law Alliance, a network of national law firms, reportedly shows that 5 percent of American workers maintain personal blogs and 15 percent of employers have a policy directed at...

Making a good judgment offer under Rule 68 of MN Rules of Civil Procedure.(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Offers of judgments continue to pose some perplexing problems for legal practitioners. Under Rule 68 of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, a party can offer to pay a judgment of a specified amount. If the...

MN Supreme Court rules 'but for' element for transactional malpractice is retained.(Column)
April 10, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen A company that the Bloomington-based law firm of Larkin, Hoffman, Daly & Lindgren represented in a real estate transaction can pursue a malpractice claim against the firm and two of its shareholders, the Minnesota...

Accidents involving newspaper carriers present thorny issues.(Column)
April 10, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The Minneapolis Star Tribune puts more than 378,000 newspapers in reader's hands every day and more than 655,000 on Sunday, according to its Web site. Some papers are sold through retail stores and machines, but a...

U.S. District Court hears constitutional challenge to Bankruptcy Act.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff U.S. District Court Chief Judge James R. Rosenbaum heard oral arguments last week in a challenge to some provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005, which went...

MN Court of Appeals rules purchaser with unregistered mortgage has priority.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter A decision by the Court of Appeals last week reaffirms the importance of following proper procedures in registering encumbrances on Torrens property. The case involved a bank that had recorded...

MN Bar Buzz: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Headhunters with heart? Patricia A. Comeford and Gina Sauer have expanded their methods of helping people find jobs. Comeford is president and founder of The Esquire Group, a legal search and consulting...

MN Court of Appeals rules hostile environment claim by disabled worker can proceed.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A farm worker with a low I.Q. and extremely limited reading and writing abilities can maintain a cause of action for a hostile work environment based on his disability, the Court of Appeals ruled last week in a...

MN Supreme Court amends judicial election rules; attorneys weigh in.(Canon 5, judicial conduct rules)
April 10, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore The Minnesota Supreme Court's recent amendments to Canon 5 of the Code of Judicial Conduct came as little surprise to legal practitioners. In an order dated March 29, the high court struck from the canon language...

MN State Bar Assn. honors senior counselors for 50 years of practice.(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff The Minnesota State Bar Association last week honored the class of 1956 at a dinner at the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota. Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Sandy Keith, an...

MN Lawyers in the News: April 10, 2006.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff James Schwebel, president of the Minneapolis law firm of Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben, was recently inducted as a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers at its annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz. An...

Minneapolis law firm promotes core values.(Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson)
April 10, 2006... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh A decade ago, when the three founding partners of Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson sat down to form the firm, they didn't start with the typical corporate documents or shareholder agreements. They started with the...

Minnesota attorneys can now report CLEs online.(continuing legal education)(Online Attorney and Sponsor Integrated System)
April 17, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Managing continuing legal education (CLE) credits has just become a lot easier - for both the attorneys who must report them and for the office that keeps track of them. The Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal...

Attorneys can now report CLEs online.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore

St. Louis County District Court jury awards over $3 million in faulty LASIK surgery case.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Barry D. Bayer A St. Louis County District Court jury has awarded more than $3 million to a 34-year-old man who alleged his night vision was severely impaired by faulty LASIK surgery. The Duluth News Tribune reported last week...

Legal education seminar in Minneapois compares criminal law to sales, acting.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore There are numerous similarities between sales, acting and practicing criminal law - at least according to presenters at a recent continuing legal education (CLE) seminar in Minneapolis. On April 6, the Criminal...

Minneapolis attorney celebrates half century of service to legal profession and to community.(Allen I. Saeks)(Biography)
April 17, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore For 50 years, Minneapolis attorney Allen I. Saeks has been practicing law, doing pro bono work and raising money for Legal Aid organizations. The long-time business and commercial litigator says that a lot has...

Minnesota Client Security Board pays out $170,664 in claims against former lawyers.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Client Security Board recently approved payment of five claims against former lawyers in the total amount of $170,664. The board approved a claim for $150,000 against John A. Nelson....

MN Bar Buzz: April 17, 2006.(Captain James T. Kirk advertising for Woods & Thompson )(first 'Animal Law' conference convened)(Legal research just got easier)
April 17, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Beam me up, Scotty! Woods & Thompson - the Fridley-based personal injury firm perhaps best known for its late-night television ads - recently has had none other than Captain James T. Kirk...

Out-of-state DWI conviction can enhance MN charge, rules MN Supreme Court.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court has limited the circumstances under which a DWI defendant can attack a prosecutor's use of a conviction from another state to enhance a Minnesota conviction. The...

Out-of-state DWI conviction can enhance MN charge<P>.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter

Bankruptcy filings in Minnesota are inching back up.
April 17, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Bankruptcy filings in Minnesota are on the rise again. Filings had skyrocketed prior to the Oct. 17, 2005, effective date of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), which imposed new...

Commentary: Concurrent contraband cases consider 'castle' claims.(defendants challenged search warrants of their home)
April 17, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick The phrase that a person's home is a "castle" has been traced to the mid-17th century. It was first used by English courts in the 1600s while America was being colonized and was later embedded in the...

Judge orders Somali refugee slated for deportation released.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A Somali refugee earlier this month was ordered released after being held for more than a year in the custody of immigration officials because it did not appear to U.S. District Court Judge James Rosenbaum that the...

Judge orders Somali refugee slated for deportation released.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones

Court security is on the docket for Minnesota District Judges Assn. group.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Court security has been much in the news this year. At the start of the year, a convicted stalker of Ramsey County court officials was mistakenly released from jail. Earlier this month, authorities foiled an...

Judge Smith calls for increased use of 'problem-solving courts'.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Ramsey County District Court Judge Joanne Smith is a strong believer in the idea that people can change if given the opportunity - especially people with chemical dependency issues. The 23-year veteran of the bench is...

U.S. COA, 8th Circuit rules case against federally-funded doctor is dismissed.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff A medical-malpractice case on behalf of a child allegedly injured during birth, brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, was time-barred by the FTCA's two-year statute of limitations even where the injured...

Minnesota Bar Buzz: April 24, 2006.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Books for the Big Easy The State Law Library collected 616 books in April in a drive during National Library Week to rebuild the New Orleans Public Library. Library staff has now shipped 18 boxes...

Commentary: Did a more experienced adversary ever help you?
April 24, 2006... Byline: Neil W. Hamilton Think back to your first few years of practice. Did a more experienced adversary ever help you with a word of advice? I have two friends who have been practicing law for more than 30 years who tell similar...

Lawyer responds to item on DWI sentencing<P>.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the editor: Noticeably absent from [the Associated Press item, "Prosecutors say too few DWI offenders get prison time," which appeared as a legal brief in the April 17, edition of Minnesota Lawyer] was...

Seniors beware: Securities regulator details investment frauds <P>.
April 24, 2006... Byline: James J. Eccleston The head of the state securities regulators' association, Patty Struck, recently testified before the U.S. Senate. Her testimony, entitled "Protecting Senior Citizens Against Investment Fraud," noted how...

Minnesota Legal Briefs: April 24, 2006.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Jeffrey W. Jones has joined Fabyanske, Westra, Hart & Thomson. Jones will be practicing as an associate in the areas of real estate and commercial finance. *** Amos Cohen has joined the...

Security anything but high at Minnesota's highest courts.(Minnesota Judicial Center in St. Paul)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones While improvements have been made in security at District Courts throughout the state, security measures continue to lag for the state's two highest courts - the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The...

Commentary: Recent rulings rear representational rivalries.(U.S. Supreme Court in Baker versus Carr)
April 24, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Ever since the ruling 44 years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962), the principle of "one person-one vote" has been enshrined in American jurisprudence. Rivalries surrounding...