Minnesota Lawyer articles from February 2004

Minnesota Lawyer archives from February 2004

Lawyer shot in courthouse thanks bar for its support.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore When Osseo attorney Richard L. Hendrickson was injured in a courthouse shooting last fall, the legal community rallied behind him, providing him with monetary, professional and moral support throughout his...

MN Court of Appeals rules twice-injured plaintiff not entitled to CIVJIG 91.40.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A plaintiff injured twice in automobile accidents five months apart is not entitled to an instruction at the trial on the second accident that if the jury cannot separate damages caused by a preexisting injury from...

Chuck Lundberg ends six-year term as chair of lawyers' board.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Rule 5 of the Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility provides that the chair of the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board serves at the pleasure of the Supreme Court, not to exceed six years. Judging from...

MN Court of Appeals rules escape law applies to supervised release.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore Where the defendant intentionally absconded from electronic monitoring while on intensive supervised release from a correctional facility, his conviction for escape was warranted, the Court of Appeals has ruled. ...

Commentary: Remaining an upright person while earning a satisfactory living.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility A fact of life for lawyers is the potential conflict between being a zealous advocate for one's client and doing the "right thing." The preamble to the Minnesota Rules of Professional...

Judge Murphy resigns from U.S. Sentencing Commission.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diana E. Murphy has resigned her post as chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, effective Jan. 31, 2004. In her Dec. 19 resignation letter to...

Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Jeffry Rantala dies.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter St. Louis County District Court Judge Jeffry Rantala has died of colon cancer. Rantala, 52, was appointed to the bench in 1992 by Gov. Arne Carlson. Prior to his appointment, he was a lawyer in...

MN Legal Briefs: February 2, 2004.(Brown, Andrew, & Signorelli )(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Winthrop and Weinstine has announced that Michael J. Rothman, shareholder and co-chair of the insurance and financial services industries practice group, has been elected into the Federation of...

Commentary: Appellate courts address political funding issues.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick "No matter whether th' constitution follows th' flag or not, th' Supreme Court follows the iliction returns." ~Humorist Peter Finley Dunne (1901) The next election is less than a year away. But litigation...

MN Court of Appeals rules doctor may testify based on patient's information.(Minnesota)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones In a personal injury trial, the testimony of a doctor who relied on a patient's explanation of her symptoms in formulating an opinion about her condition was sufficient to prevent summary judgment for the defense,...

MN State Bar Assn.'s CLE program provides a 'short course' for litigators.(Minnesota State Bar Association)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore A room full of Minnesota attorneys recently received the lowdown on a year's worth of developments in the civil litigation area in less than four hours. The continuing legal education seminar - "The Litigator's...

MN Court of Appeals rules that beneficiaries need not take paternity test.(Minnesota)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore Trustees could not challenge the parentage of three trust beneficiaries in the context of a trust-clarification action where a previous determination of paternity had already been made under applicable parentage laws,...

MN State Bar leaders discuss the need to invest more in 'social capital'.(Minnesota State Bar Association)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Facing an enrollment that is not keeping pace with the overall population of lawyers in the state, the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) has launched a challenge to members to increase the MSBA's "social...

Hennepin County District Court judge to speak at law school on Kosovo experience.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Hennepin County District Court Judge Marilyn Justman Kaman will speak at the annual Dorsey & Whitney Foundation Lecture at William Mitchell College of Law on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:00 p.m. Kaman will...

Hamlin University School of Law graduates honored as distinguished alumni.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Four graduates were honored with the Hamline University School of Law Distinguished Alumni Award during the school's recent Midwinter Reception on Jan. 15: John Allen, Merrick (Ric) Domnitz, Amy...

Minnesota County Attorneys Association seeks tougher sex offender sentences.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota County Attorneys Association (MCAA) has announced that it will ask the Legislature to pass tougher sentencing laws aimed at predatory sexual offenders, including a new system of...

Sex offender measures top MN Legislature's public safety agenda.(Minnesota)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Ember Reichgott Junge Legislation dealing with high-risk sex offenders will top the agendas of the crime prevention and judiciary committees this session. The legislation has been proposed in the wake of the high-visibility...

An overview of Minnesota's trial and appellate court filings for 2003.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore During a recent continuing legal education seminar, Deputy State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba provided the audience with some statistics identifying what the trial and appellate courts did over the past year. ...

New judge announced in 6th Judicial District.(appointments)(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced the appointment of Mark M. Starr to a 6th Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of Hibbing in St. Louis County. The opening occurred with the...

Lawyer sought for MN State Board of Public Defense.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court is accepting applications to fill a lawyer vacancy on the State Board of Public Defense. The board is charged with overseeing the public defender system. The appointment is...

MN Supreme Court Advisory Committee seeks comments on public access to records rules.(Minnesota)(Public Notice)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch will hold a hearing for public comment on its proposed changes to the rules on Feb. 12 at...

MN Supreme Court announces Client Security Board vacancy.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court is accepting applications to fill a public (nonlawyer) vacancy on the Client Security Board. The board was established by the high court to pay out on genuine claims...

Ramsey County Bar Assn. seeks Law Day awards nominations.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Ramsey County Bar Association is seeking nominations for this year's Law Day awards, which will be presented at the 2004 annual meeting. The Liberty Bell Award will go to a nonlawyer who has...

Supreme Court rules Minnesota's public defender co-payment statute unconstitutional.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones It is unconstitutional to charge defendants a co-payment for public defender services in the manner prescribed by Minnesota statutes, the Supreme Court has ruled. The statute does not pass Sixth Amendment...

MN Court of Appeals rules state immune for charging disabled a fee for parking permit.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A decision to charge a fee for parking permits for the physically disabled was legally reasonable and immune from a lawsuit for damages, the Court of Appeals has ruled. The court upheld the dismissal of a case...

Minnesota attorneys believe online access to public court records will benefit lawyers.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore To what extent should court records be published on the Internet? It's a question the Minnesota Supreme Court will soon be facing. The answer will have implications for lawyers across the state, as well as their...

Commentary: A response to Justice Anderson's concurrence in Streiff.(Letter to the Editor)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Letter to the Editor On Jan. 23, 2004, the Minnesota Supreme Court filed its decision in State v. Streiff (C8-02-1857). In its decision, the court concluded that to establish a "manifest injustice" under Minn. R. Crim. Proc. 15.07,...

MN Court of Appeals rules fleeing from car gave police reason to pursue suspect.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore Where two police officers stopped a driver based on suspected equipment violations and the driver subsequently fled on foot, the officers had enough reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to justify pursuing and...

Commentary: Bidding for clients: Beauty contests for law firms.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek Some call them "beauty contests." Others call them "bake-offs" or "dog and pony shows." Still others call them a "pain in the butt." If you're in the last group - where you shun competitive bidding for clients -...

Minnesota trial attorneys group discusses ethics and the wisdom of "fighting fair".
February 16, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Battling the stereotype that successful litigators are willing to bend the rules of ethics, if not snap them in half, four prominent Minnesota trial attorneys shared their thoughts on "fighting fair" at a recent...

Commentary: Be aware of investing in 'high-yield' bonds.
February 16, 2004... Byline: James J. Eccleston These days investors need to worry about more than buying volatile technology and telecommunications stocks. The latest worry is (or should be) investing in "high-yield" bonds. High yield is a euphemism for high...

MN Legal Briefs: February 16, 2004.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Rider Bennett has announced that Vic Moore has joined the legislative and regulatory affairs practice group effective Jan. 30, 2004. Moore served in the Senate Majority Leader's office for 22 years...

Minnesota appellate court considers defamation privilege cases.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Overcoming privilege defenses is one of the many obstacles that claimants face in defamation cases. (See Perspectives, "The 'privilege' of being sued for defamation" in the Aug. 7, 2000, edition of Minnesota...

MN Court of Appeals rules dissolution modification without court order is fair.(Minnesota)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A husband and wife could modify the terms of a judgment and decree extrajudicially where the stipulation is contractually sound and otherwise fair and reasonable, the Court of Appeals has held. In determining...

Federal judge takes U.S. Immigration Service to task.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle recently had some strong words for the procedures utilized by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service within the Department of Homeland Security - formerly the...

MN Court of Appeals finds plaintiff not entitled to CIVJIG 91.40.(Minnesota)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore A District Court judge erred in using CIVJIG 91.40 to instruct the jury that if it could not separate damages caused by a plaintiff's pre-existing disability from those caused by a car accident, the defendant driver...

Proposed rule change by MN State Board of Law Examiners allows for conditional admission to bar.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The Minnesota State Board of Law Examiners has proposed significant changes to the way attorneys are admitted to practice law. One proposed rule change would allow some attorneys to be admitted conditionally...

Commentary: Authentic leadership and servant leadership in the practice of law.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Neil W. Hamilton In "Transforming Practices" (2000), assistant American Bar Association Journal managing editor Steven Keeva focuses on the search for meaning in life as the primary human motivation. Keeva writes that the sources...

MN Supreme Court upholds $52M verdict for herbicide company.(Minnesota)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld a $52 million verdict awarded by a Norman County jury against a herbicide manufacturer. The case was brought as a class action against BASF Corp., a New...

Minnesota Legislature to consider several constitutional amendments this year.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Ember Reichgott Junge The last time the Minnesota Constitution was amended was by vote of the people in 1998. Voters abolished the office of state treasurer and approved a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to hunt and fish...

MN Legal Briefs: February 23, 2004.(Minnesota)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Lommen, Nelson, Cole & Stageberg has moved its Twin Cities and St. Croix River Valley Offices. The firm has relocated to the 20th floor of the IDS Center in Minneapolis and to Grandview Professional...

3M legal department receives pro bono award.(Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.)(Brief Article)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The American Bar Association Section of Litigation has announced that the 2004 Pro Bono Award has been awarded to 3M. The section's Corporate Counsel Committee presented the award during a luncheon...

Twin Cities' students learn legal rights and the law from experts at Legal Expo 2004.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Co-sponsored by the Hennepin County Bar Association and Ramsey County Bar Association, Legal Expo 2004 was held last week at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center. Legal Expo 2004, a...

Decisions by MN Court of Appeals dissect doctrines underlying legal duties.(Minnesota)
February 23, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick A tort is a civil wrong. But before tortious conduct can give rise to a legal right, there must be a violation of a duty by the wrongdoer against the injured party. A half dozen recent rulings by the...