Minnesota Lawyer articles from May 2004

Minnesota Lawyer archives from May 2004

Lawyers Public Affairs Commission undergoing changes.
May 3, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The Lawyers Public Affairs Commission (LawPAC), a political fund established and maintained by the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), is undergoing some major changes in its structure and strategy. The changes...

Award of child support below guidelines is upheld.(Patrick M. O'Donnell v. Mary Lou O'Donnell)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore A District Court judge erred in modifying child support payments where the amount was established pursuant to a stipulated judgment and supported by statutorily required findings, even though the amount stipulated to...

Commercial general liability coverage not excluded for pool work by contractor.(Wanzek Construction Inc)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen A construction company hired by the city of St. Louis Park to expand a recreational center may pursue a claim under its commercial general liability (CGL) policy for damages sustained when coping stones installed near...

Developer didn't breach its duty to cooperate.(NewMech Companies, Inc.)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen An insurer that sent a developer a letter stating that claims arising out of water damage to condominium units were excluded from coverage under its policy could not later deny coverage on the ground that the...

Commentary: Attorneys can be professionally disciplined for failure to pay personal debts.
May 3, 2004... Byline: Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility Attorneys should be aware that exposure to discipline is not restricted to the nonpayment of professionally incurred indebtedness or traditional creditors. Rather, lawyers can be subject...

Tech experts examine alternatives to Microsoft.
May 3, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek When you hear the phrase "Evil Empire," do you think of Bill Gates and Microsoft? If the answer is yes, you're part of the minority of the legal community that prefers the alternatives to the Microsoft operating system....

MN Legal Briefs May 3, 2004.(Thomas & Opp)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Thomas & Opp, a technology law firm, has moved its offices to 10801 Wayzata Boulevard, Minneapolis. *** The Internal Revenue Service has named Minneapolis attorney Lenor Scheffler as one of...

Ramsey County Bar Assn. holds its annual memorials in St. Paul.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Ramsey County Bar Association (RCBA) held its annual memorials last week at the Jerome Hill Theater in the U.S. Bank Trust Building in downtown St. Paul. Memorials for recently deceased...

Commentary: Court cases consider collateral consequences.(redundant litigation)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Res judicata and its kin, the doctrine of collateral estoppel, are legal principles that aim to prevent redundant litigation. Under both tenets, legal issues that have been resolved may not be subject to...

Michael Savre appointed to 1st Judicial District bench.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Governor Tim Pawlenty last week announced the appointment of Michael R. Savre to a 1st Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of Glencoe in McLeod County. The vacancy occurred as a...

Finalists announced for 1st District bench vacancy.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Commission on Judicial Selection has announced five finalists for two 1st Judicial District trial court bench vacancies in Dakota County. The first vacancy occurred with the retirement of Judge...

No-fault insurer gets six years to file claim.(State Farm v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The Court of Appeals has ruled that, in a case involving an accident victim who died, a six-year statute of limitations - not the three-year statute of limitations for wrongful death claims - is applicable to the...

Minneapolis lawyers discuss the 'Power Trial Method' at CLE.(continuing legal education)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore A room full of Minnesota attorneys recently spent a day learning the secrets to being successful in a jury trial. The continuing legal education (CLE) seminar - "How to Win Your First (Or Next) Jury Trial" - was...

Immunity applies to woodshop class injury.
May 10, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A high school woodshop teacher and a school district are entitled to immunity from a suit brought by the parent of a child whose finger was amputated in a mishap that occurred during class, the Minnesota Supreme...

John Gould: A pillar of the Twin Cities IP bar for 50 years.
May 10, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen In 1954, John Gould, then a young patent lawyer only a year out of law school, asked his boss for a $50 a month raise. When his boss said that the firm could not swing it, Gould interviewed for a position with a small...

MN State Law Library to unveil its oldest territorial document.(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter In honor of Law Day 2004, the Minnesota State Law Library will unveil a newly acquired manuscript of the 1849 Minnesota Rules of Court. The handwritten document, dated Aug. 13, 1849, is the oldest...

Child abuse evaluation and training center honored.(CornerHouse Interagency Child Abuse Evaluation and Training Center)(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter WATCH, a nationally recognized court monitoring and research agency, honored CornerHouse Interagency Child Abuse Evaluation and Training Center at a reception last week. CornerHouse was the...

Commentary: Summarizing the legislative session so far: Bills trickle out.
May 10, 2004... Byline: Ember Reichgott Junge As this article is written about 10 days before the mandated May 17 legislative adjournment date, a total of 38 bills have passed the Legislature. The bills deal with such weighty matters as clarifying...

Hennepin County judges elect new chief.(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Judge Lucy Wieland has been elected the new chief judge of Hennepin County District Court. The new assistant chief judge will be Judge Gary Larson. Both were elected last week by the judges of...

Hennepin County seeks volunteer child advocates.(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Hennepin County District Court is recruiting volunteer advocates to assist abused and neglected children who have entered the court system. The child advocate - a guardian ad litem - attends court...

MN Legal Briefs May 10, 2004.(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Hellmuth & Johnson recently launched mndefenselaw.com and mndivorcelaw.com, Web sites offering free and practical advice as well as links to resources and lawyer referals. *** Maslon Edelman...

Ramsey County Bar Association to honor local leaders.(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter In celebration of Law Day, the Ramsey County Bar Association (RCBA) will award St. Paul attorney Michael Galvin, Paul Verret and The Saint Paul Foundation with the 2004 Law Day Awards. The Law...

Ambulance crew found entitled to immunity.(Bailey v. City of St. Paul)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Both a government-employed ambulance crew providing emergency care in the course of its official duties and its employer are immune from suit for damages for wrongful death, the Court of Appeals has ruled. A...

Commentary: Court cases consider collateral consequences.(Appeal cases)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Res judicata and its kin, the doctrine of collateral estoppel, are legal principles that aim to prevent redundant litigation. Under both tenets, legal issues that have been resolved may not be subject to...

Early intervention in family cases expands its reach.(Early case management )
May 17, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A pilot project designed to make marriage dissolutions easier, faster and cheaper is now under way in counties including the four metropolitan-area judicial districts. Known as "early case management," the...

Unsatisfactory performance not employee misconduct.(Appeal cases)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore An employee was not disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits where she was discharged merely for unsatisfactory work performance, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled. The court also determined that...

University of St. Thomas set to graduate its first law school class.
May 17, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore A little less than three years ago, the University of St. Thomas (UST) opened the doors of its newly established law school, admitting 120 students into its inaugural class. This Saturday, 108 members of that class...

Students, families discuss justice issues.(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minneapolis Patrick Henry High School students and their families met with Minnesota judges and others in the criminal justice system last week to discuss the impact of criminal justice issues on...

Commentary: Evidentiary errors fatal to murder convictions.(first-degree murder conviction jurisprudence)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick First-degree murder convictions are one of the few cases for which the Minnesota Supreme Court exercises mandatory jurisdiction. But appellate reversals of convictions for first-degree murder are not as rare in...

Minnesota judges honored for work in Kosovo.(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Four Minnesota District Court judges were honored by the state chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates last week for their outstanding work as international judges for the United Nations in...

MN Legal Briefs May 17, 2004.(Leonard O'Brien Spencer Gale & Sayre)(Blackwell Igbanugo P.A)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Leonard O'Brien Spencer Gale & Sayre has announced that Todd A. Taylor has joined the firm as a senior associate. Taylor will continue his practice in the areas of corporate and securities law as...

Commentary: Handling employee misconduct and employee health conditions.(cases)
May 17, 2004... Byline: David Cossi As general counsel, you are confronted with an employee who is engaging in misconduct. As management grows more impatient with the employee's conduct and begins moving towards discipline, the employee announces that he...

MN Supreme Court rules wrongful conception claim can proceed.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen A mother may proceed with a wrongful conception claim against physicians for failing to diagnose and inform her that her first-born child had a serious genetic condition and that the mother was a carrier of the gene...

Already strained Minnesota public defenders face a budget gap of $7.6M.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Ember Reichgott Junge If Governor Tim Pawlenty calls a special session of the Minnesota Legislature to finish budget work left undone, there will be several provisions of the crime and judiciary budget bills high on the list of...

MN Court of Appeals rules lawsuit does not include arbitration.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore An insurance contract that prohibited a party from commencing "suit" to recover for a property claim after two years did not prevent a party from demanding arbitration three years after a loss occurred, the Court of...

MN Supreme Court holds hearing on proposed specialization rule.(Rule 7.4)
May 24, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A debate about under what circumstances attorneys may describe themselves as "specialists" was aired before the Minnesota Supreme Court on May 18. The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) proposed a rule...

Minnesota Supreme Court commemorates 'Brown' decision.(Brown v. Board of Education)(Brief Article)
May 24, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Members of the Minnesota bench and bar participated in a reenactment of portions of the oral arguments in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17 - the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's...

MN Court of Appeals rules affidavits don't support motion for new trial.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A new trial was not warranted where, after a trial on a medical malpractice claim that resulted in a defense verdict, new affidavits were obtained that purportedly contradicted unrecanted expert testimony given at...

9th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision illustrates perils of relying on nonlawyers.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility Rule 5.3 of the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct spells out a lawyer's obligations in supervising nonlawyer assistants. A recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision...

Hennepin County Bar Assn. holds its annual meeting in Minneapolis.(Halleland Lewis Nilan Sipkins & Johnson)(Brief Article)
May 24, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minneapolis attorney John Dornik passed the Hennepin County Bar Association's (HCBA) gavel of leadership to incoming president Brent Routman of Minneapolis at the association's 85th annual meeting...

MN Court of Appeals rules out-of-state conviction can't be used to enhance charges.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter A license revocation or criminal conviction resulting from an uncounseled blood-alcohol test in another state cannot be used to enhance impaired driving charges in Minnesota because the test violates...

MN Legal Briefs: May 24, 2004.
May 24, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The 11th District Bar Association and the Volunteer Attorney Program have awarded their 2004 Firm of the Year award to Fryberger, Buchanan, Smith & Frederick and the 2004 Volunteer Attorney of the...

MN courts rulings about legal rights of those who attend, work at, or are in school vicinity.(Minnesota)
May 24, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick The regular school year is ending for most students. But the conclusion of classes does not signify the dissipation of the presence of pupils in the courtrooms. Four recent rulings of the Minnesota Supreme Court...

MN Supreme Court dismisses insurer's subrogation claim.(appeal cases)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A property insurer that denied coverage is not entitled to summary judgment against the owners of damaged property who settled a liability claim with tortfeasors without the insurer's assertion of subrogation...

MN Supreme Court considers recommendations on how to restrict judicial campaigns.(Minnesota )
May 31, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen With another judicial election around the corner and doubts about the validity of the state's rules restricting judicial campaigns abounding, the Minnesota Supreme Court last week held a public hearing on how it...

MN Court of Appeals rules city cannot be sued for attack by police dog.(Appeal cases)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen A bystander who was injured by a police dog deployed by an Anoka police officer to catch a fleeing suspect could not bring an action against the city under the state's dog-bite statute, the Court of Appeals ruled in a...

Hibbing jury awards $1.1M to medical-malpractice plaintiff dying of cancer.
May 31, 2004... Byline: Mark A. Cohen A Hibbing jury recently awarded more than $1 million in a medical-malpractice case brought by a 61-year-old retired Cargill executive whose prostate cancer metastasized and became terminal. A routine...

Funds raised for Bruce Hanley scholarship.(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter More than $90,000 has been raised for a William Mitchell College of Law scholarship in the name of Minneapolis attorney Bruce Hanley, who is currently undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. ...

Two Midwest law firms, two successful diversity models.
May 31, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek They are two diverse models of law firm diversity. One's large and over 100 years old; one's medium-sized and was founded in the late 1980s. One has taken a formal approach; the other's approach is much more informal....

Minnesota attorneys to receive awards for pro bono service.(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The 2nd Judicial District Pro Bono Committee, co-chaired by Ramsey County District Court judges Edward Cleary and David Higgs, will award Michael Black and William Mullin with pro bono awards at the...

Ramsey County Bar Association elects new officers and leaders.(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Members of the Ramsey County Bar Association (RCBA) have elected officers and leaders for 2004-05. Results were announced at the May 12 annual meeting. Elizabeth Keyes, vice president and trust...

MN Legal Briefs: May 31, 2004.(Minnesota; Neils, Franz & Chirhart; Eckberg, Lammers, Briggs, Wolff & Vierling)(appointments)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Robert J. Shainess has joined Fredrikson & Byron as an associate in the firm's litigation group. Shainess received his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and his undergraduate degree...

MN Court of Appeals addresses "suitability" doctrine in unemployment cases.(Solien)
May 31, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Although the number of unemployment compensation appeals decisions has slackened a bit during the first part of 2004, they continue to compromise a big share of the Court of Appeals' docket. Most...

MN Court of Appeals rules railroad tort claims were preempted by federal statutes.
May 31, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones State tort claims against a city and the state based on negligent installation and maintenance of railroad warnings were preempted by federal statutes and regulations, the Court of Appeals has ruled. A train...