Update (2/6/2012):  No luck for the Crummy employer.  The trial court’s decision against Enterprise Minnesota was affirmed in all respects. Congratulations to plaintiff’s counsel (and Minnesota Litigator guest poster), T.J. Conley! Original Post (2/22/2011):  The case of plaintiff/former employee Richard Crummy against his former employer, Enterprise Minnesota, is a sad story, all told, but apparently one with a happy ending for Mr. … Continue reading →

Were you sold a flare root injection 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 d… 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 →

…rm or illness? As a first line of defense, pharmaceuticals and device manufacturers seek protection under federal regulation but there are ways for such manufacturers to game that system (by promoting, for example, “off label” uses or, theoretically, by duping federal regulators by other means (i.e., concealing or distorting data as to efficacy or side effects)). So the FDA may afford medical companies some protection, but that protec… Continue reading →

…n that would have negatively affected levofloxacin sales in both Europe and the United States.  Over the past decade, there appears to have been increased concern about these medications and the communication of risk on their labels.  The label warnings have been increasingly emphatic.  Plaintiffs’ theories seem to be, in a nutshell, that the drug companies knew of the medicine’s risks and have steadfastly tried to understate or de-em… Continue reading →

…er (“TRO”) to stop Origo from making any free-fatty ruminant energy supplements.  (MSC argued that “dark-colored” was an immaterial aspect of the parties’ contract.) Sr. U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle (D. Minn.) denied MSC’s motion for a TRO.  The agreement specifically said “dark-colored supplement.”  If the words are to be given meaning, Origo retained the right to make and sell the lig… Continue reading →

The football stars, represented locally by Barb Berens of Berens & Miller, go up against the NFL, represented locally by Aaron Van Oort at Faegre & Benson (former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia). The case was originally assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle, Sr. (D. Minn.).  He recused himself and the case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz (D. Minn.) (former clerk for U.S. Su… Continue reading →

I have written about religious accommodation issues before here and here.   Usually, these are tough cases for employees/plaintiffs to make.  In a decision earlier this week, however, Sr. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle (D. Minn.) denied a motion for summary judgment on a religious accommodation case in a decision that suggests that obtaining summary judgment in these types of cases could become more difficult. Maroko is a Seventh Day A… Continue reading →

…nesota’s “expert affidavit” statute (for professionals other than “health care providers” who get their very own Minnesota statute).   Defendants take their run at plaintiff’s expert, Prof. Richard Painter, of the University of Minnesota Law School.  After all, he’s “merely” a Harvard, Yale Law School-educated tenured Law Professor, author, and chief ethics lawyer for the President of the Unit… Continue reading →

…xpertise at all in litigation) and their counsel (who often often seem to have no experience or expertise at all in litigation, either (or problem-solving, more generally)). In a recent decision, Sr. U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle, Sr. (D. Minn.) rolled up his sleeves, waded into the fray, and got creative in order, it is hoped, to resolve a long and costly dispute.   In Cannon Technologies v. Sensus Metering, Judge Kyle has issued a … Continue reading →