Minnesota Supreme Court Decisions 2017
Date: December 6, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0330
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the totality of the circumstances of this case, the police did not violate the Fourth Amendment when, during their execution of a warrant to search a home, they searched a purse that belonged to a guest at the…
Date: December 6, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1213
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed Defendant’s convictions of first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree intentional murder in connection with the stabbing death of Defendant’s girlfriend, holding that Defendant was…
Date: November 22, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1470
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the order of the Commissioner of Human Services, which affirmed the determination by the Minnesota Department of Human Services that Yasmin Salim…
Date: November 16, 2017
Docket Number: A17-1142
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Governor, on May 30, 2017, vetoed line-item appropriations to the Legislature for its biennial budget, the Legislature commenced this action arguing that the line-item veto power cannot be used over the…
Date: November 15, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1701
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that Defendant may withdraw his plea of guilty to “knowingly violat[ing]” a provision of the predatory offender registration statute, Minn. Stat. 243.166(5)(a), because Defendant alleged that he…
Date: November 8, 2017
Docket Number: A17-0404
Justia Opinion Summary: The postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in when it denied Appellant’s second petition for postconviction relief without holding an evidentiary hearing. Appellant was found guilty of two counts of…
Date: November 8, 2017
Docket Number: A17-0419
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the tax court’s denial of relief to Ronald and Dee Johnson, who filed this action challenging the property taxes that Hennepin County assessed against their property. The tax court granted the…
Date: November 1, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1566
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Saint Paul City Council upholding an abatement order issued by the City of Saint Paul requiring Appellant to comply with Minn. Stat. 168.10(1)(e), which requires collector…
Date: October 11, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1678
Justia Opinion Summary: The chemical 1,1-difluoroethane (DFE) is not a hazardous substance under Minn. Stat. 169A.03(9) because it is not listed as a hazardous substance in Minn. R. ch. 5206. Appellant was arrested three times on suspicion of…
Date: October 11, 2017
Docket Number: A15-2045
Justia Opinion Summary: The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act (MFLSA), Minn. Stat. 177.21-.35, provides a private cause of action for an employee who is discharged for refusing to share gratuities. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of…
Date: October 4, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1417
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals’ decision to uphold Defendant’s conviction for second-degree intentional murder but reversed the court’s reversal of Defendant’s sentence of 480 months in prison. The court…
Date: September 27, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1637
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff may file a petition for an order declaring her eligible for compensation under Minnesota’s Imprisonment and Exoneration Remedies Act, Minn. Stat. 590.11, 611.362-.368. Several years after the Supreme Court…
Date: September 27, 2017
Docket Number: A15-2039
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant in this action alleging that Defendant, as a landowner, violated his duty of care to his invitee, a four-year-old boy. The boy wandered off…
Date: September 20, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1823
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether State v. Her, 862 N.W.2d 692 (Minn. 2015), applies retroactively to sentences that were imposed and became final before Her was decided. In Her, the Supreme Court ruled that the fact that a defendant…
Date: September 20, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0920
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) in this workers’ compensation case, holding that the compensation judge applied the wrong legal standard in granting Employer’s…
Date: September 13, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0005
Justia Opinion Summary: The part of Minnesota’s disorderly-conduct statute that prohibits “disturb[ing]” assemblies or meetings, Minn. Stat. 609.72(1)(2), violates the First Amendment. Defendant was convicted of disorderly conduct under…
Date: September 13, 2017
Docket Number: A17-0497
Justia Opinion Summary: The deadline for an appeal in a juvenile protection proceeding is based on the district court’s service of notice by mail. In this case, because the appeal was filed by that deadline, the court of appeals erred in…
Date: September 6, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1716
Justia Opinion Summary: An individual may commit motor vehicle theft without moving the vehicle. Defendant was charged with theft of a motor vehicle under Minn. Stat. 609.52(2)(a)(17) even though he never moved the vehicle. The district court…
Date: August 16, 2017
Docket Numbers: A14-1725, A14-2217
Justia Opinion Summary: The court of appeals reversed the jury verdict for Appellant and awarded Respondent’s request to tax costs and disbursements for the appeal. Most of the award was for the interest that Respondent incurred on a loan that…
Date: August 16, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0858
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part the court of appeals’ reversal of the district court’s grant of Company’s motion to dismiss Shareholder’s class action challenge to a merger…
Date: August 16, 2017
Docket Numbers: A15-1247, A15-1255
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence imposed by the district court for Defendant’s convictions for third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct on an accomplice-liability theory. The district court granted…
Date: August 16, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0694
Date: August 16, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1294
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of first-degree premeditated murder on an accomplice-liability theory. The court held (1) the district court did not commit clear error by…
Date: August 9, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1916
Justia Opinion Summary: The 2013 amendment to the Minnesota Whistleblower Act defining the term “good faith” eliminated the judicially created requirement that the putative whistleblower act with the purpose of “exposing an…
Date: August 9, 2017
Docket Number: A17-0340
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals’ (WCCA) reversal of the compensation judge’s dismissal of Respondent’s request for benefits under the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Act (Minnesota…
Date: August 2, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1257
Justia Opinion Summary: Minnesota’s water’s edge rule, Minn. Stat. 290.17(4)(f), does not prohibit the inclusion in “net income” the income of a foreign entity that elects under federal tax law to be disregarded as a separate entity. At issue…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0117
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s sentence of 161 months in prison for his conviction of first-degree possession of methamphetamine, holding that resentencing was required under sentencing grid as amended by the Drug…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1371
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s conviction for two counts of theft by false representation, holding that, even assuming that the trial court’s omission of the phrase “with intent to defraud” from the jury…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1454
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s sentence of 135 months in prison for his conviction for first-degree possession of methamphetamine, holding that resentencing was required under sentencing grid as amended by the…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0239
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals affirming the district court’s dismissal of the State’s amended complaint against Minnesota School of Business and Globe University (the Schools). The State alleged that…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1309
Justia Opinion Summary: In a reciprocal discipline case, the identical discipline in Minnesota to “exclusion from practice” before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an indefinite suspension from the practice of law with no right…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0570
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed Appellant’s conviction of first-degree driving while impaired, holding that Appellant’s 2005 gross-misdemeanor conviction of criminal vehicular operation was not a qualified prior impaired…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0958
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was the permissibility of preaward interest on an insurance appraisal award under the preaward interest statute, Minn. Stat. 549.09, subd. 1(b). Cincinnati Insurance Company issued James Poehler a…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1795
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court declined Appellants’ invitation to depart from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523 (1967) and hold that Minnesota’s constitution requires that an…
Date: July 12, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1188
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant in this products liability action, holding that this was a “close case” in which foreseeability must be resolved by the…
Date: July 12, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0275
Justia Opinion Summary: Minn. R. Evid. 1101 requires application of the Minnesota Rules of Evidence to restitution hearings. After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of aggravated forgery. At a restitution hearing, Defendant objected to…
Date: July 12, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1802
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) to reverse the denial of Respondent's claim for ankle-fusion surgery. Respondent, who was injured during the course of her…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1183
Justia Opinion Summary: Anibal Sanchez, an undocumented worker, brought suit against Dahlke Trailer Sales, Inc. under the workers’ compensation antiretaliation statute, alleging that Dahlke discharged him because he sought workers’ compensation…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1471
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court’s denial of Mother’s motion to “reinstate” joint custody of the parties’ children, though appealable, erroneously modified custody without complying with the requirements of Minn. Stat. 518.18. After…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0349
Justia Opinion Summary: The Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) was correct in concluding that Respondent’s injury was compensable. Respondent, who was employed by the University of Minnesota, slipped and fell on any icy sidewalk…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0361
Justia Opinion Summary: The Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) clearly and manifestly erred by rejecting the findings of the compensation judge and overturning the determination that Respondent failed to establish her claim for…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0726
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s first-degree murder conviction in connection with the death of his two-year-old niece. This appeal followed from Defendant’s third trial, which involved the same five counts of…
Date: June 21, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0689
Date: June 21, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1308
Date: June 21, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1883
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with two counts of second-degree intentional murder. Defendant filed a petition to plead guilty to both counts, but the petition was denied based on the State’s notice, right before the guilty-plea…
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1227
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1751
Justia Opinion Summary: In this negligence lawsuit filed against Kraemer Construction, Inc., the Supreme Court held that Kraemer and Ulland Brothers, Inc. were engaged in a common enterprise as a matter of law when Richard Washburn was killed…
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0057
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0133
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to terroristic threats. As part of the factual basis for his plea, Defendant admitted that he posted five threatening tweets directed at law enforcement officers. Defendant filed a motion for a…
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1203
Justia Opinion Summary: In this arbitration dispute, the district court erred by directing the entry of final judgment rather than staying the proceeding, and the court of appeals, faced with a final appealable judgment, should have vacated the…
Date: June 7, 2017
Docket Number: A16-2017
Justia Opinion Summary: The Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) abused its discretion when it granted Eddie Hudson’s petition to vacate an award of workers’ compensation benefits. Hudson was injured while working for Trillium…
Date: May 31, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1813
Date: May 24, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0711
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was found guilty of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction. The State petitioned for review,…
Date: May 24, 2017
Docket Numbers: A15-1402, A16-0648
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder committed for the benefit of a gang. The Supreme Court affirmed. The day before the postconviction statute of limitations expired, Appellant filed his second petition for…
Date: May 24, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0360
Justia Opinion Summary: Minn. Stat. 554.02, a section of Minnesota’s anti-SLAPP law, is unconstitutional as applied to claims at law alleging torts. Petitioners sued Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM), a nonprofit organization, seeking to…
Date: May 17, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0553
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, a juvenile offender, challenged the district court’s imposition of three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment with the possibility of release after thirty years on each sentence for his three murder…
Date: May 10, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0894
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for first-degree felony murder rendered after a jury trial. The district court sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment with the possibility of release after thirty…
Date: May 3, 2017
Docket Number: A15-2042
Date: May 3, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0895
Justia Opinion Summary: Based on the plain language of Minn. Stat. 176.101, subd. 1(i), the Supreme Court held that an offer to return to work with the same employer is not “consistent with” an employee’s rehabilitation plan stating that the…
Date: May 3, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0973
Justia Opinion Summary: This tax dispute arose out of a failed real estate investment that resulted in significant tax consequences for Germaine Harmon, the widow of one of the original investors. Harmon challenged the Commissioner of Revenue’s…
Date: April 26, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1058
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2015, Appellant was charged with two counts of first-degree driving while impaired (DWI). Appellant contested the use of his 1998 conviction for criminal vehicular operation resulting in substantial bodily harm to…
Date: April 26, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1385
Justia Opinion Summary: After a bench trial, Appellant was convicted of three counts of first-degree premeditated murder. The Supreme Court affirmed on direct appeal. Appellant then filed a pro se petition for postconviction relief, arguing…
Date: April 12, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1711
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent worked as a police officer for Appellant City of Minneapolis. When the City transferred Respondent from his position with the Violent Offender Task Force to another police unit Respondent was fifty-four years…
Date: April 12, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1773
Justia Opinion Summary: A grand jury indicted Appellant for first-degree premeditated murder. After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty as charged. The district court sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment without the possibility of…
Date: April 12, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0918
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1999, Yik Lo created H.K.D. Lo, Inc. Yik and his wife, Yau Lo, operated several restaurants through H.K.D., the last of which they sold in 2005. In approximately 2004, Yik and Yau’s son, Kee Lo, opened a restaurant…
Date: April 5, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0396
Justia Opinion Summary: After Nicole LaPoint applied for a job with Family Orthodontics, the company’s owner, Dr. Angela Ross, offered LaPoint a job as an orthodontic assistant. When LaPoint told Dr. Ross that she was pregnant, Family…
Date: April 5, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1438
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant suffered injuries after being hit by another driver. The at-fault driver’s liability insurer paid Appellant $100,000, the full amount available under the policy. Appellant made a settlement demand on State…
Date: April 5, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0044
Justia Opinion Summary: At dispute in this case was the taxable value of Macy’s Retail Holdings, Inc.’s downtown Minneapolis property. Macy’s challenged the Minneapolis Assessor’s valuation of the property for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 tax…
Date: March 22, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0708
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with gross misdemeanor second-degree driving while impaired. The matter proceeded to trial. After the State rested, Defendant made a motion for judgment of acquittal, arguing that there was…
Date: March 22, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0921
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged in May 2013 with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. When Defendant failed to appear for his first appearance, the district court issued a warrant for his arrest. In February 2015,…
Date: March 22, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1111
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, two counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder, and three drive-by-shooting counts. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment…
Date: March 22, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0882
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. The district court sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment without the possibility of release for…
Date: March 15, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0950
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, Appellant pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, a felony. When Appellant was released from probation the conviction was deemed a misdemeanor. In 2015, Appellant filed a petition for expungement. The district…
Date: March 15, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0269
Date: March 15, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0736
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant submitted several requests for public government data from Hennepin County and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (collectively, Respondents) under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Respondents…
Date: March 15, 2017
Docket Number: A16-1379
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants, members of a Minneapolis citizen group, submitted a petition to the Minneapolis City Council for consideration of a question regarding a proposed amendment to the Minneapolis City Charter. The proposed…
Date: March 8, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1951
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Defendant under Minn. Stat. 609.352, subd. 2a(2) with felony communication with a child describing sexual conduct after she sent sexually explicit images and messages to a fifteen-year-old boy.…
Date: February 22, 2017
Docket Number: A14-1679
Justia Opinion Summary: After Appellant pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct, removal proceedings were initiated against him. In an attempt to avoid deportation, Appellant filed an emergency motion to withdraw his guilty plea,…
Date: February 15, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0896
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued Defendants, health care providers, alleging professional negligence. Defendants filed a motion to compel authorization of an informal discussion with the surgeon who performed the Plaintiff’s surgery. The…
Date: February 15, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1481
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was arrested and charged with drug-related crimes. The district court ordered Defendant’s pretrial release. The district court later found probable cause that Defendant had violated the conditions of her…
Date: February 8, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0498
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Supreme Court overturned Petitioner’s first conviction on direct appeal, Petitioner was tried a second time and convicted of first-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit a kidnapping. Petitioner…
Date: February 8, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0629
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent received a head injury during the course of her employment. Respondent filed a request with the workers’ compensation division seeking coverage for various treatments she was receiving for her injuries,…
Date: February 1, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1713
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. The court concluded that the district court did not commit plain error in admitting evidence…
Date: January 25, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0584
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Defendant was ultimately sentenced to life with the possibility of release along with a specified 216-month minimum term of imprisonment.…
Date: January 25, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0769
Justia Opinion Summary: Madison Equities, Inc. brought an action against Robert Crockarell for repayment of an overdue promissory note. Crockarell filed a separate action against Madison Equities and others alleging that Madison Equities filed…
Date: January 18, 2017
Docket Number: A15-1172
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of a petty misdemeanor for violating Lester Prairie Municipal Code section 5.5.1.2, which prohibits certain blight conditions on residents’ property, including the open storage of unregistered or…
Date: January 18, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0137
Date: January 11, 2017
Docket Number: A15-0843
Justia Opinion Summary: American Family Insurance Company (American Family) issued automobile insurance policies to policyholders that were later injured in automobile accidents. The policy contained an anti-assignment clause, but, in order to…
Date: January 11, 2017
Docket Number: A16-0283
Justia Opinion Summary: John David Emerson was arrested and charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Upon Emerson’s motion, the district court issued an order restraining the Dakota County Sheriff from collecting Emerson’s…
Date: January 4, 2017
Docket Number: A15-2013
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, and other crimes. The district court sentenced Appellant to consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the…
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