Every adult should have a will regardless of age, marital status, or net worth. This is a document that appoints the right people to make sure your wishes are accomplished and your assets pass to those you care about. However, many people don’t realize that the way in which an asset is titled is just as important as the document
Like most attorneys, I’ve spent sleepless nights worrying about what will happen if the phones go silent or clients stop coming through the office door. Fortunately, DannLaw has been extremely busy lately. Unfortunately, the influx of clients hasn’t relieved my insomnia. Now I’m up agonizing about the future of our country. That’s because the factors that are driving my intakes
Class action defendants have developed a mantra that, at the certification stage, “a trial court must undertake a rigorous analysis, which may include probing the underlying merits of the plaintiff’s claim[.]” Stammco, L.L.C. v United Tel. Co. of Ohio. Defendants often improperly interpret the probing of the underlying merits to mean that, instead of addressing the Rule 23 prerequisites when
When a court certifies a class action, due process requires that the class members receive notice. Although email accounts are ubiquitous and generally available for free to anyone with internet access, courts have been reluctant to approve email notice as the primary form of notice to class members. That reluctance is misplaced. Courts have never required that notice in Rule
When the owners of a closely held Minnesota company end up in a lawsuit with each other, you can usually expect one of the owners to request a fair value buyout of his or her interest. Minnesota law is unique in that both the Minnesota Business Corporation Act and the Minnesota Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act expressly provide for
When a plaintiff is time-barred from pursuing a personal injury action in a state with a connection to her claim because the statute of limitations has run, she may seek to bring her claim in a state such as Minnesota, with a six-year statute of limitations for personal injury cases, to take advantage of the longer limitations period. Minn. Stat.
Our English language is a quirky one. Pronunciation oddities, inconsistent grammatical rules and, of course, the continual quandary: “its” vs. “it’s.” English has numerous words that have negative connotations but, in many cases, the positive variation of that word is not in our common vernacular. Examples of such words are: uncouth, unravel, unwieldy, and unscrupulous. Really, when was the last
A party seeking or opposing issuance of a writ in an original proceeding under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.100 may have statutory or contractual grounds for seeking an award of attorney’s fees, but there are some potential procedural pitfalls as to the method and timing of requesting the award. METHOD The correct method of seeking attorney’s fees in original
For the past several decades, courts in many jurisdictions have handed out injunctions like candy in franchise non-compete cases. This is, of course, dead wrong. Here is a great example from my case files. Joe owns five McDonald’s locations in a high traffic area. Joe decides not to renew his franchise agreement. He figures he can go start some other
Art imitates life, it’s said, but this creates interesting legal tensions when the life being imitated is crowded with commercials. Marketing experts estimate that the average American is exposed to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of brand logos and advertisements each day. It is not surprising, then, that film makers, artists, musicians, and authors often want to use trademarks
Every adult should have a will regardless of age, marital status, or net worth. This is a document that appoints the right people to make sure your wishes are accomplished and your assets pass to those you care about. However, many people don’t realize that the way in which an asset is titled is just as important as the document
Like most attorneys, I’ve spent sleepless nights worrying about what will happen if the phones go silent or clients stop coming through the office door. Fortunately, DannLaw has been extremely busy lately. Unfortunately, the influx of clients hasn’t relieved my insomnia. Now I’m up agonizing about the future of our country. That’s because the factors that are driving my intakes
Class action defendants have developed a mantra that, at the certification stage, “a trial court must undertake a rigorous analysis, which may include probing the underlying merits of the plaintiff’s claim[.]” Stammco, L.L.C. v United Tel. Co. of Ohio. Defendants often improperly interpret the probing of the underlying merits to mean that, instead of addressing the Rule 23 prerequisites when
When a court certifies a class action, due process requires that the class members receive notice. Although email accounts are ubiquitous and generally available for free to anyone with internet access, courts have been reluctant to approve email notice as the primary form of notice to class members. That reluctance is misplaced. Courts have never required that notice in Rule
When the owners of a closely held Minnesota company end up in a lawsuit with each other, you can usually expect one of the owners to request a fair value buyout of his or her interest. Minnesota law is unique in that both the Minnesota Business Corporation Act and the Minnesota Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act expressly provide for
When a plaintiff is time-barred from pursuing a personal injury action in a state with a connection to her claim because the statute of limitations has run, she may seek to bring her claim in a state such as Minnesota, with a six-year statute of limitations for personal injury cases, to take advantage of the longer limitations period. Minn. Stat.
Our English language is a quirky one. Pronunciation oddities, inconsistent grammatical rules and, of course, the continual quandary: “its” vs. “it’s.” English has numerous words that have negative connotations but, in many cases, the positive variation of that word is not in our common vernacular. Examples of such words are: uncouth, unravel, unwieldy, and unscrupulous. Really, when was the last
A party seeking or opposing issuance of a writ in an original proceeding under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.100 may have statutory or contractual grounds for seeking an award of attorney’s fees, but there are some potential procedural pitfalls as to the method and timing of requesting the award. METHOD The correct method of seeking attorney’s fees in original
For the past several decades, courts in many jurisdictions have handed out injunctions like candy in franchise non-compete cases. This is, of course, dead wrong. Here is a great example from my case files. Joe owns five McDonald’s locations in a high traffic area. Joe decides not to renew his franchise agreement. He figures he can go start some other
Art imitates life, it’s said, but this creates interesting legal tensions when the life being imitated is crowded with commercials. Marketing experts estimate that the average American is exposed to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of brand logos and advertisements each day. It is not surprising, then, that film makers, artists, musicians, and authors often want to use trademarks
