Rockwood Retaining Walls, Inc. spent ten years and obviously a lot of money defending claims of patent infringement represented by the boutique Twin Cities IP firm Patterson Thuente Skaar & Christensen (PTSC). The litigation did not go very well for Rockwood. After the ten-year fight, the jury handed down a $24 million verdict against it. Rockwood turned around and sued PTSC. PTSC moved to dismiss. Rockwood… Continue reading →
Essentially thoughtless statements like, “It is too long settled and acknowledged as true to be open to serious dispute…” define “orthodoxy.” (See, e.g., Galileo re heliocentrism. (Beliefs do not become truths merely by growing old or by consensus.)) What are some orthodoxies in current U.S. litigation? One is that plaintiffs want to avoid arbitration whenever possible. Why? Because, the orthodoxy tells us, arbit… Continue reading →
The Minnesota General Rules of Practice, promulgated by the Minnesota Supreme Court, set out rules for “withdrawal of counsel.” Rule 105. A trend has been noted of late, however, where Minnesota trial court judges impose more restrictive rules for withdrawal in the court scheduling orders, which has the result of causing some lawyers to be stuck in cases where they want to withdraw for one reason or another (most commonly, non-paym… Continue reading →
There have been two recent rulings on local patent infringement trials, past and, by all indications, imminent, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Move over, United States District Court, E.D. Texas (Marshall Division), once thought of as “ground zero” for U.S. patent infringement litigation? (Don’t bet on it.) Even if the District of Minnesota is not going to become Mecca for infringement cases (notably… Continue reading →
Imagine you are a trial lawyer and your opposition proposes to offer the testimony of a supposed expert into evidence who is, in your view, incompetent and unable to offer any valuable insight or any valid testimony. You object, of course, to the admission of this evidence at trial. You explain to the judge that the supposed expert is, in your view, incompetent and unable to offer any valuable insight or valid testimony. The judge overrules … Continue reading →
…nment has tools at its disposal, particularly if the problem is from outside the U.S., which citizens and private companies do not have. Rank cautioned however that the feds will not want to step into what is really primarily civil litigation. The government may suggest to a business with a cybercrime issue that it pursue the civil case first, with the U.S. coming in later if warranted. Conversely, the government may suggest the civil litigant … Continue reading →
A jury verdict in favor of 3M in a long-fought battle regarding claimed diminished property value due to groundwater contamination (perfluorooactonate, PFOA, a perfluorocarbon chemical used for many years in 3M products). (Pioneer Press coverage here.) The Denny Hecker bankruptcy makes the Strib front page with state investigator raids on offices and home amidst allegations of dealer sales fraud. (Pioneer Press coverage here.) The long anticipat… Continue reading →
…ant motions in the cases on the threshold of trial (here is one decision, for example). Trial in these bellwether cases is the culmination of multi-year multi-million dollar litigation, some of the highest stakes litigation a civil litigator is likely to see. For those with the time, it might be interesting to drop by for some of the 66 hours of trial time that the Court has allotted for these cases. … Continue reading →
Last week, the Minnesota Court of Appeals made clear that a rigid adherence to the rules of civil procedure will not insulate a lawyer/litigant from being sanctioned in the form of “conduct-based” attorneys fees in Chapter 518 of Minnesota statutes (“Marriage Dissolution”). “The fact that husband did not violate a rule of civil procedure does not make the award of attorneys fees improper.” Every civil litiga… Continue reading →
…is undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 2011. Jake is also a Qualified Neutral under Rule 114 of the Minnesota Rules of General Practice available for civil and family mediation. Fred Ramos Fred Ramos is a Manager in the analytic and forensic technology consulting practice of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. He assists law firms and corporations in the areas of … Continue reading →
In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of state civil contempt proceedings for a parent’s repeated failure to pay child support. The U.S. Constitution has been interpreted to entitle criminal defendants to legal counsel, but what about individuals facing jail time for non-criminal acts, such as failure to pay child support? In 2003, a South Carolina family court ordered Michael Turner to pay Rebecca R… Continue reading →
…njection regimen for a treasured oak or multiple oaks on your property to prevent oak wilt disease, only to have your tree die from oak wilt notwithstanding the hundreds of dollars (or more) spent on flare root injection? One label on branded propiconazole says, “Preventive application is more effective than therapeutic treatment.” Some companies that “administer” the flare root injections do so with a guaranty or warran… Continue reading →
