130 results for 'court:"Minnesota Supreme Court"'.
Per curiam, the Minnesota Supreme Court suspends attorney David Ludescher for a minimum of 60 days with a two-year term of supervised probation. An attorney discipline referee did not err in concluding that orders of a juvenile court purporting to grant the attorney's client temporary custody of the client's child were unenforceable, nor in finding that a transaction set-aside provision in Minnesota's conservatorship statute did not apply to an attorney-client relationship with a client who had become subject to a conservatorship. The referee also did not err in determining that the attorney violated rules of professional conduct by failing to disclose that client's file to the conservator.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: A22-0299, Categories: Family Law, Attorney Discipline
J. Anderson partially affirms the defendant's first-degree murder conviction. The district court did not abuse its discretion in prohibiting the defendant from asserting the affirmative defense of entrapment, since his assertion of the defense was untimely and he provided only minimal facts in support of it. His first-degree and second-degree murder convictions are both supported by sufficient evidence, and the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying his request for jury instruction on lesser-included offenses, but his second-degree murder conviction was erroneous since it was a lesser-included offense. Affirmed in part.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Anderson, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: A22-1273, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Murder, Jury Instructions
J. Anderson reinstates the great aunt and uncle's appeal of the dismissal of their petition for permanent third-party custody of their great niece. A guardian ad litem, once discharged by a district court, is no longer a party to a custody action and therefore need not be served with an appeal which does not concern its dismissal or discharge. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Anderson, Filed On: November 1, 2023, Case #: A22-0098, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law, Guardianship
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J. Hudson affirms the Court of Appeals' finding that an exception to HIPAA's privacy rule allowing nonprofit hospitals to fundraise for themselves using certain patient data without authorization is a "specific authorization in law" under the Minnesota Health Records Act, and so is not reverse-preempted by the state law.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: A22-0275, Categories: Preemption, Privacy
J. Hudson transfers attorney Jeffry Olson to disability inactive status in light of evidence of his disability provided to the Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. A disciplinary investigation is stayed until such time as Olson petitions for reinstatement.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: October 7, 2023, Case #: A23-1305, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Moore affirms the defendant's first-degree murder conviction, finding that the state has provided sufficient evidence to prove that the defendant intended to kill his victim when, while using methamphetamine, he entered his neighbor's home and stabbed her with a kitchen knife. Evidence that the defendant was exhibiting paranoid delusions at the time does not preclude him from having intended to kill his neighbor.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Moore, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: A22-0718, Categories: Drug Offender, Intent, Murder
Per curiam, the Minnesota Supreme Court finds that the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board's conclusion that attorney Adam Klotz has not undergone the requisite moral change for reinstatement was not clearly erroneous. The attorney's repeated characterization of his misconduct, which involved misappropriating client funds and attempting to conceal his conduct by drawing up false records, as a "mistake" demonstrates a failure to accept responsibility for the misconduct.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: A22-0523, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Hudson transfers attorney Richard Saliterman to disability inactive status in light of a finding that a medical condition makes him unable to competently represent clients. Disciplinary proceedings are stayed until such time as he is reinstated.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: October 3, 2023, Case #: A21-0764, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Hudson suspends attorney John Person from the practice of law for a minimum of four months for failing to exhibit requisite preparedness, thoroughness and legal knowledge required for representation, assisting a client in fraudulent conduct and making false statements in furtherance of that conduct. The recommended 60-day suspension does not reflect the seriousness of Person's misconduct and is insufficient to deter further misconduct, but his overall fitness to practice law is not in question, so the requirement that he petition for reinstatement is waived.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: A23-0669, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Chutich finds that the appeals court improperly overturned the trial court's ruling in favor of the individual in a defamation action brought by the dance teacher after the individual made a Facebook post accusing him and two other instructors of sexual assault. The appeals court incorrectly found that the individual's post involved a matter of private concern. The post involved a matter of public concern in the context of the #MeToo movement and a desire to discuss sexual assault in the local dance community, therefore the individual's statement is entitled to heightened protection under the First Amendment. The case is remanded for the trial court to determine the veracity of the post and, if the post is found to be false, whether it was made with actual malice. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Chutich, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: A21-1531, Categories: Defamation, First Amendment
J. Gildea affirms the defendant's conviction for filing a false report, which stems from her claim to Waseca police that her son's father had abused him. Venue was proper for the defendant's trial in Waseca County, since the officer who received the false report was in that county even though the defendant made the claim on a phone call from Blue Earth County. The venue for the crime of filing a false report is proper in the county wherein law enforcement receives the report. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Gildea, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: A21-1360, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Jurisdiction
J. Gildea reverses the Court of Appeals' finding that the developer's First-Amendment retaliation claim against the city is based on acts which constitute a continuing violation. The developer alleges a series of discrete retaliatory acts, each of which would have been actionable at the time they were committed. They therefore do not toll the statute of limitations as a continuing violation. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Gildea, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: A22-0374, Categories: Civil Rights, First Amendment
J. Gildea reverses the district court's grant of a motion to suppress evidence, including a firearm, discovered in a vehicle during a search resulting from a tip-off that the defendant had a firearm in his vehicle. An informant's statement that he had "personally observed a male in possession of a firearm inside a vehicle" sufficiently connects the vehicle to potentially unlawful activity to justify a search, and the informant was reliable and his statements sufficiently corroborated to establish probable cause.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Gildea, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: A22-1073, Categories: Firearms, Search, Civil Rights
J. Moore affirms the defendant's indecent-exposure conviction, finding that the defendant's exposure in a partially-enclosed backyard in clear view of a neighbor's back porch constituted exposing himself "in a place where others are present." While that phrase is ambiguous, the defendant's nudity falls within the Legislature's intent to prohibit lewd behavior "that is reasonably capable of being viewed by others, in light of the totality of the circumstances." Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Moore, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: A21-1619, Categories: Sex Offender
J. Moore affirms the district court's determination that the petitioner was entitled to a substantive sentencing hearing to determine whether his modified sentences of life in prison with possibility of release should be served consecutively or concurrently. Whether or not the district court had the authority to order such a hearing, the unique circumstances in this case, where the petitioner's co-defendant has already had his sentences clarified as running concurrently rather than consecutively in light of a series of higher court decisions, warrant the use of the Supreme Court's supervisory powers to direct the district court to hold such a hearing.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Moore, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: A22-0192, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Murder, Sentencing
J. Hudson affirms the defendant's conviction for felony domestic assault harm, finding that the state sufficiently proved that the defendant intended to cause harm to his victim, regardless of his claimed belief that his use of force was lawful. The use of force, furthermore, was not lawful self-defense since an "offense against the person" required to make an action self-defense must be an offense carrying the threat of bodily harm, and the district court's use of the word "assault" to describe such an offense in its jury instructions therefore did not change the meaning of the self-defense instruction. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: A20-0361, Categories: Domestic Violence, Self Defense, Jury Instructions
J. McKeig reverses the Court of Appeals' finding that the repurchase rate of a litigation financing agreement violated Minnesota's usury statute and that interest on the amount owed for that agreement began to accrue only after the Supreme Court's abolition of a prohibition on champerty. The agreement does not fall under the usury statute, since the lender's ability to recover money from the borrower is not absolute. The common-law champerty prohibition, additionally, did not give the borrower a vested contractual right to avoid paying interest. Whether the repurchase rate was "unconscionable on its face" is to be determined by the district court upon remand. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: McKeig, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: A21-1338, Categories: Civil Procedure, Contract
J. Moore affirms the district court's denial of the defendant's petition for postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing, finding that even if the facts alleged in the defendant's postconviction petition were proven by a preponderance of the evidence at such a hearing, his ineffective-assistance claims would not have succeeded because his appellate counsel could reasonably have concluded that the defendant's disputes would not prevail on appeal.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Moore, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: A22-1483, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder, Prosecutorial Misconduct
J. Gildea establishes the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Lawyers Professional Responsibility and appoints four members, with the mission of reviewing the report of the American Bar Association on the Rules and the Supreme Court's order addressing recommendations from that report, and subsequently developing and proposing rule amendments consistent with the directions in the court's order.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Gildea, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: ADM10-8043, Categories: Civil Procedure, Attorney Discipline
J. Thissen affirms the Court of Appeals' finding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting the county's motion seeking to prohibit landowners whose land it sought to condemn for highway improvement purposes from offering evidence about loss of access to the highway being improved in their appeal seeking greater compensation. The lower courts correctly found that since the new highway did not previously exist, the landowners have not been deprived of a right of access to it. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Thissen, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: A22-0314, Categories: Government, Property
J. Hudson suspends attorney Jeremy Kaschinske from the practice of law for a minimum of 60 days for failing to competently and diligently handle client matters, to communicate with and respond to communications from clients, to provide clients with information required for informed decision-making, to attend two court hearings with a client without notification or reasonable explanation and to expedite a client's matter, as well as for disclosing confidential communications to opposing counsel, making a knowingly false statement to a client about the status of that client's matter and failing to represent a client.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: A23-0820, Categories: Attorney Discipline