Supreme Court of Minnesota

The court held that evidence of a new crime committed in response to a state-constitutional violation is subject to the fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree analysis and the four-factor attenuation test.

The court held that the reasonable-probability standard governing preliminary applications under the Act also governs a petition to vacate a conviction under subdivision 6(e)(2).

The court held that appointment as a trustee is a condition precedent to commencing a wrongful-death action under Minnesota's wrongful-death statute. Because Hagfors served the summons before his appointment as trustee, his attempted action was a legal nullity, and later appointment and service did not cure the defect…

The court held that applying Minnesota’s predatory-offender-registration statute to require registration after a trial court entered a judgment of acquittal on the predicate predatory offense violates substantive due process under the Minnesota Constitution.

The court concluded that it had jurisdiction because the nonprofit petitioner had statutory standing and the claims were ripe for resolution under the election-law petition procedure.

The Minnesota Supreme Court held that when a contractor's negligent construction causes damage exceeding the amount of its mechanic's lien, the homeowner's common law defense of recoupment eliminates the lien entirely.

The Minnesota Supreme Court held that quasi-judicial immunity bars a commercial tenant's breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim against a court-appointed receiver where every alleged act—declining repairs, pursuing rent, taking direction from the mortgagee, and allegedly conspiring with the mortgagee—fell within the scope of…

The Minnesota Supreme Court held that a litigant with injury-in-fact standing does not present a standing or jurisdictional question when the opposing party challenges whether she is a 'shareholder' entitled to sue under Minn. Stat.

The Supreme Court of Minnesota held that an unemployment law judge (ULJ) must dismiss an appeal from a determination of ineligibility for unemployment benefits that is filed after the statutory 20-day deadline in Minn. Stat. § 268.101, subd.

The Minnesota Supreme Court held that CVC Investments' declaratory judgment and breach-of-contract claims arising from a storm-damage insurance claim failed to present a justiciable controversy.

The court held that Keyes preserved his challenge to the denial of a specific-unanimity instruction and that the district court abused its discretion by refusing the instruction.

The court held that the district court abused its discretion by staying the presumptive 12-year executed sentence for Soto’s first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction. Although particular amenability to individualized treatment in a probationary setting may support a dispositional departure, the record did not…

The court held that a breach-of-contract claim based on a contractual representation that future lease transactions would comply with the law is actionable without pleading reliance.

The court affirmed Brooks’s three first-degree impaired-driving convictions, holding that the warrantless blood and urine searches were valid because Brooks voluntarily consented under the totality of the circumstances.

The court affirmed Silvernail’s first-degree premeditated-murder conviction, concluding that the combined circumstantial evidence permitted no reasonable inference other than that Silvernail killed Roberts.

The court affirmed the summary denial of Riley's second postconviction petition and his request for additional fingerprint and forensic DNA testing. It held that the petition was untimely and did not satisfy either the newly discovered evidence or interests-of-justice exceptions, while the alleged confession evidence…

The court held that Hamann’s breach-of-contract and promissory-estoppel claims accrued in April 2005, when Park Nicollet refused his demand to receive the benefits of its service-recognition policy.

The court held that the jury instruction defining probable cause for a chemical-test-refusal offense materially misstated the law by using a subjective standard, omitting the totality-of-the-circumstances inquiry, and requiring a belief that impairment was more likely than not.

The court reversed dismissal of Bahr's retaliation claim? No—the court reversed the court of appeals and reinstated dismissal, holding that the complaint failed even under the more favorable assumption that protected conduct requires only a good-faith, reasonable belief that the opposed practice violated the MHRA.

The court affirmed denial of Gassler’s untimely postconviction petition. It held that although later information undermined the scientific basis of the CBLA testimony, that evidence did not establish Gassler’s innocence by clear and convincing evidence, and the remaining evidence was substantial.

The court affirmed Andersen's first-degree premeditated-murder conviction, holding that the search-warrant application established probable cause even after correcting the alleged misrepresentations and omissions.

The court affirmed the denial of Raleigh’s presentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea to first-degree premeditated murder. It held that the plea was accurate, voluntary, and intelligent, so withdrawal was not necessary to correct a manifest injustice, and that the district court did not abuse its discretion under…

The court affirmed Bartylla's first-degree murder conviction and life sentence. It held that the warrantless, suspicionless collection of DNA from a convicted felon for inclusion in a state DNA database was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment and Minnesota Constitution, that use of the product rule to state the…

The court held that police unlawfully impounded Gauster’s vehicle because he was not arrested, the vehicle did not pose a safety hazard, and he was available and willing to make reasonable arrangements for its custody or removal.

The court held that Theis’s Alford plea was inaccurate because the plea-hearing record did not establish a strong factual basis or show that he believed the State’s evidence was sufficient to support a conviction.

The court affirmed the denial of most of Leake’s postconviction claims, concluding that several claims were procedurally barred, lacked factual support, or involved reasonable trial strategy.

The court held that plain-error review governs unobjected-to prosecutorial misconduct claims. The defendant must show that misconduct occurred and was plain, but once that showing is made, the state must demonstrate that the misconduct did not affect the defendant's substantial rights.

The court affirmed Swanson’s convictions and consecutive kidnapping sentence. It held that the evidence supported kidnapping liability, the challenged jury-instruction and impeachment rulings did not warrant relief, and prosecutorial errors were harmless under the applicable standards.

The court held that the statutory phrase requiring motorists to move “a lane away” from a stopped emergency vehicle plainly means moving into the lane next to the emergency vehicle, which Anderson had done.

The court held that the upward durational departure from Taylor's 144-month presumptive sentence was improper because the identified aggravating factors either relied on uncharged conduct or duplicated facts already incorporated into the offense definition.

The court held that failure to move for a new trial does not restrict appellate review of substantive legal questions that were properly raised and considered below. It further held that the later lease was a complete and unambiguous integration, so the additional-rent obligation did not survive the purchase-option…

The court affirmed the denial of Butala's request to withdraw his guilty pleas, holding that the undisclosed family-immunity and visitation arrangements did not make the pleas involuntary under the circumstances and that counsel was effective.

The Supreme Court of Minnesota affirmed the conviction of Robyn Keith Amos, Sr. The court held that the trial court properly admitted the witness’s prior testimony as a prior inconsistent statement under Minn. R. Evid.

The court affirmed Taylor’s first-degree premeditated-murder conviction, rejecting challenges to the grand-jury proceedings, jury selection, evidentiary rulings, sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence, and alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the law firm, holding that information learned through a prospective lender's failed transaction and related litigation was not material to the firm's representation of the borrower.

The court held that Hoover presented genuine issues of material fact on her disability-discharge, reasonable-accommodation, and reprisal claims under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

The court held that an insured's intentional conduct may nevertheless constitute an accident under a policy's occurrence provision when the insured did not specifically intend the resulting injury.

The court held that the employees' allegations concerning 3M's dual-ladder program failed to state claims for breach of unilateral contract, promissory estoppel, or fraudulent misrepresentation.

The court held that a claim for underinsured motorist benefits accrues, and the statute of limitations begins to run, when the insured's claim becomes ripe through settlement with or judgment against the tortfeasor.

The court held that the insurer, not the insured, must determine whether an insured aged 65 or older can reasonably be expected to receive wage-loss reimbursement benefits under the No-Fault Act.