Minnesota Lawyer articles from August 2003

Minnesota Lawyer archives from August 2003

Minn. Legal Briefs: August 4, 2003.(Association of Trial Lawyers of America elects officers; Janice M. Symchych joins Halleland Lewis Nilan)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter At its 2003 annual meeting in San Francisco, the Association of Trial Lawyers of American elected Kathleen Flynn Peterson as treasurer and Mark Kosieradzki as the chair of the nursing home litigation...

Minn. Supreme Court alters long-standing bases for disqualifying attorneys for conflicts of interest.
August 4, 2003... Byline: William Wernz The Minnesota Supreme Court recently altered, in important and surprising ways, the long-standing bases for disqualifying attorneys for conflicts of interest. The surprising part of Lennartson v. Anoka-Hennepin School...

Minn. Supreme Court rules that failure to tender claim doesn't preclude arbitration.(State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Cincinnati Insurance Company)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter An insured's request that his insurer not defend or indemnify him for a car accident could not be used to avoid intercompany arbitration under an agreement that expressly excludes noncooperation as a...

William Mitchell College of Law seeks new dean.(Harry J. Haynsworth to retire)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter In anticipation of the June 2004 retirement of President and Dean Harry J. Haynsworth, who has led the college for the past eight years, William Mitchell College of Law (WMCL) is announcing its search...

Minn. law still prohibits sale of alcohol and autos on Sunday.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Marshall Tanick The Minnesota Legislature during the past session enacted a law, signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, permitting municipalities to allow bars to stay open and dispense liquor until 2 a.m. on weekends. The measure promptly...

Minn. Court of Appeals approves coverage for gender reassignment surgery.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones Where a new law ended medical assistance benefits for those who started receiving "gender reassignment services" after its effective date, an individual who began treatment for gender dysphoria and chemical dependency...

Decade after federal courts changed the scientific evidence admission standard, Minn.'s unchanged.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore It has been exactly a decade since the federal courts changed their standard for the admission of scientific evidence and three years since the Minnesota Supreme Court declined an invitation to adopt the revised...

Minn. Assn. of Law Libraries invites VIPS to attend annual meeting in Seattle.(Valuable Invited Participants)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Helen Meyer and Faegre & Benson technology partner James M. Pfau recently attended the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) annual meeting in Seattle as...

American Bar Assn. to present U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim with national award.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The American Bar Association's (ABA) Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division will present the 2003 Nelson Award, which recognizes meritorious contributions to the ABA by government or public...

Bloomington-based law firm provides legal services for senior citizen housing developments.(Larkin, Hoffman Daly & Lindgren)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones Addressing a growing need, a new practice group has been formed at the Bloomington law firm of Larkin, Hoffman Daly & Lindgren that combines all the legal services necessary for the development of senior citizen...

Minn. Supreme Courts rules special series license plate statute unconstitutional.(State v. Henning)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter In a 4-3 decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional Minn. Stat. sec. 168.0422, which authorizes stops of motorists based solely on the presence of special series registration...

Minn. Rules of Professional Conduct regulate the naming rights of law firms.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility We choose names for our children that reflect the kind of people we hope they will be. We sell the rights to name buildings and events to help pay for them. We give nicknames to our...

Minn. Supreme Court upholds exclusion for underinsured motorist in an insurance policy.(Kelly v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones An exclusion in an insurance policy that prevents an injured person from collecting underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits from one insurance policy on which she is a named insured and liability benefits from another...

Minn. Court of Appeals upholds ban on child porn possession.(State v. Fingal, et al.)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore The statutory prohibition against possessing child pornography is not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad because it only prohibits visual depictions of actual persons under age 18 and not those of virtual or...

MN Legal Briefs: August 11, 3002.(appointments, various companies)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Gary Huusko has joined the law firm of Severson, Sheldon, Dougherty & Molenda, P.A. and will focus his practice in the intellectual property and corporate law areas: patent and trademark prosecution,...

John R. Tunheim, U.S. District Court Judge, teaching and learning overseas.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim does a lot more than don a robe and mete out justice from the bench in Minnesota. He's taken his legal expertise on the road all the way to Eurasia. Last week Tunheim was...

Minn. Bar Assn.'s pilot program helps workers get unemployment benefits.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones When the Court of Appeals broke new legal ground last month by ruling that an employee who is promised a raise but does not receive it has good cause to quit her job and is eligible for unemployment compensation...

Minneapolis-based St. Thomas School of Law has a new $34M building.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones Next week, new and returning students at the University of St. Thomas School of Law will be filing into a brand new $34 million building of their own. Until this year, students at the 2-year-old law school have...

Minn. Supreme Court allows amendment to name proper party.(Haugland v. Mapleview Lounge & Bottleshop, et al.)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones A complaint improperly captioned in the name of the trustee for the next of kin of a decedent and brought under the dram shop act could be amended to name the real party in interest after the statute of limitations...

Minn. District Court Judge Alan Pendleton honored by MADD for DUI video.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Sherburne County District Court Judge Alan Pendleton received the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) 2003 State Recognition Award last week from the organization's Minnesota Chapter. Pendleton...

Three Minn. Court of Appeals rulings fatal to wrongful death claimants.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Marshall Tanick Wrongful death claimants face a number of hurdles in pursuing tort lawsuits on behalf of kin of decedents. The obstacles range from complying with the procedural requirements of litigation to arranging for the...

MN's Chief Administrative Law judge rules on DMV driver's license rules.(Department of Motor Vehicles)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The state's Chief Administrative Law judge has found that a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) rule requiring proof that an applicant is lawfully present in the United States to receive a driver's...

MN District Court judge won't overturn $3M wrongful-death award.(Olsen v. Christian Builders)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter A Hennepin County jury's award of $3 million to the family of a 22-year-old single man who died in a motorcycle accident has survived post-trial motions for JNOV, remittitur and a new trial. The...

MN Court of Appeals upholds downward dispositional sentencing departure for Northwest Airline pilot.(State v. Hickman)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore The downward dispositional sentencing departure of a Northwest Airline (NWA) pilot found guilty of five courts of tax evasion was not an abuse of discretion where the pilot demonstrated a particular amenability to...

MN Legal Briefs August 18, 2003.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Attorney's Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. has hired Timothy Paul Brausen as staff attorney in its Minneapolis office. Brausen is a Certified Real Property Law Specialist with experience working in both...

Commentary: Not everyone lost money in the bear market.
August 18, 2003... Byline: James Eccleston Time after time, we hear that "everyone" lost money in the recent bear market, with some observers claiming that we had experienced nothing like it since the Great Depression. However, those claims are wrong. A...

Minneapolis atty. discusses trading big firm for boutique firm.(Janice M. Symchych leaves Dorsey & Whitney for Halleland Lewis Nilan Sipkins & Johnson)(Interview)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones Well-known Minneapolis attorney Janice M. Symchych recently surprised the Twin Cities legal community with the announcement that after 14 years as a partner with Dorsey & Whitney, she was leaving to join Minneapolis...

Infamous gangster trial to be recreated at Landmark Center.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Famous gangster moll Evelyn Frechette goes to trial in Landmark Center as local judges, lawyers and actors team up to recreate her infamous 1934 trial. Freshette was charged and convicted of harboring...

Minneapolis attorneys succeed in patent case against Microsoft.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minneapolis attorney Martin R. Lueck and his trial team have secured a $520.6 million verdict in damages against Microsoft Corp. on behalf of the University of California and Eolas Technologies for...

Forums to be held on racial fairness in the courts.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Judicial Branch invites the public to forums in Duluth and Cloquet in August to discuss the courts' efforts to eliminate racial disparities in the justice system. Judges and other...

Court amends Minnesota No-Fault Arbitration Rules.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court earlier this month amended the Minnesota No-Fault Arbitration Rules to allow organizations other than the American Arbitration Association to compete to provide services....

Sales tax for vending machines is constitutional.(Minnesota Automatic Merchandising Council v. Smith)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones A tax applied to sales of food from vending machines but not from other retailers has a rational basis and does not violate the state or federal constitutions, the Court of Appeals has ruled. The distinction...

Defamation claim against Minneapolis attorney reinstated by high court.(Chafoulias v. Peterson, et al.)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones In a 5-2 decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court last week ruled that a hotel owner's defamation claim against Minneapolis attorney Lori C. Peterson arising out of media comments that she made while representing...

Owner of business gets underinsured motorist benefits.(General Casualty Company of Wisconsin v. Outdoor Concepts, et al.)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore A commercial automobile insurance policy that listed the named insured as a trade name provided coverage for injuries suffered by the sole proprietor of the business, as an individual, after he was struck by an...

Commentary: 'Paid' speech is not 'free' in 8th Circuit.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Marshall Tanick In most cases, freedom of speech involves efforts to suppress communicative expression or punish those engaged in it. But the right of free expression also includes other elements. It embraces the right to...

Minneapolis abused its condemnation authority.(Johnson, et al. v. city of Minneapolis, et al.)
August 18, 2003... Byline: Mark Cohen The city of Minneapolis abused its condemnation authority in its handling of a proposed Nicollet Mall redevelopment project in the 1980s, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled. A Hennepin County District Court judge...

Moss & Barnett announce new addition to real estate practice group.(Elizabeth H. Kiernat)(Brief Article)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Moss & Barnett has announced the addition of attorney Elizabeth H. Kiernat. Kiernat joins the real estate practice group and will council clients on a variety of matters including commercial and...

Univ. of St. Thomas's law school gets provisional accreditation from ABA.(Brief Article)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The University of St. Thomas (UST) School of Law recently received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates. The provisional accreditation means the school...

Commentary: Amicus briefing influences Supreme Court rulings.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Marshall Tanick Amicus briefs, filed by so-called friends of the court, have been a staple of appellate litigation for many years. They are especially prevalent at the highest echelons of the judicial process the U.S. Supreme Court...

MN Court of Appeals rules commercial insurance policy covered defect in St. Louis Park pool project.(Wanzek Construction, Inc. v. Employers Insurance of Wausau)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore A construction company hired by the city of St. Louis Park to expand a recreational center could recover under its commercial general liability policy for damages sustained after coping stones near the pool area began...

Changes to federal judicial complaint rules proposed.(Brief Article)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Amendments have been proposed to the Judicial Council of the Eighth Circuit's Rules Governing Complaints of Judicial Misconduct and Disability. The proposed changes are an attempt to conform the rules...

Cleric sex-misconduct statute is found valid by Mn. Court of Appeals.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones The Court of Appeals last week upheld the constitutionality of Minn. Stat. secs. 609.344 and 609.345, which prohibit sexual contact between a member of the clergy and a person seeking spiritual advice. The case...

Hennepin County District Court holds restorative justice initiative.(Brief Article)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Hennepin County District Court, in collaboration with the faith community, nonprofits, business and Minneapolis neighborhood organizations, provided individuals an opportunity to give back to the...

Innocence Project announces eyewitness ID project.(Brief Article)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter A new initiative by the Innocence Project of Minnesota focuses on reducing the potential for error in Minnesota's current eyewitness identification procedures. On Aug. 26, 2003, Dr. Gary L. Wells, a...

Murder verdict overturned due to use of judicial officer.(State v. Harris)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore In a 4-3 decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court has granted a new trial to a man convicted of first-degree murder because a judicial officer rather than a district court judge presided over the case. Pursuant to...

Minnesota attorneys report discovery process has become civil.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Michelle Lore Is abuse of the discovery process a problem in Minnesota? According to civil litigators throughout the state, the answer is generally "no." Practitioners who recently talked with Minnesota Lawyer generally said...

Silicone-gel coverage allocation overturned by Minnesota Supreme Court.(In re: Silicone Implant Insurance Coverage Litigation)
August 25, 2003... Byline: Barbara Jones Allocating losses pro rata among insurers based upon their time on the risk is inappropriate for cases involving damages alleged to have resulted from silicone-gel implants, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled. ...