Nick Sperling Joins Trepanier MacGillis Battina P.A. as Associate Attorney
Trepanier MacGillis Battina P.A. is excited to announce it has added Nicholas N. Sperling as an associate attorney. Nick is a 2010 graduate of the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and received his B.A.S. from University of Minnesota-Duluth. He joins the firm experienced in the areas of business law, corporate transactions, employment law, information technology […]
Row Over Riparian Rights in Wisconsin Reviewed by U.S. Supreme Court
An eastern Wisconsin family’s drawn-out attempt to sell their property has now made its way to the United States Supreme Court in the case Murr v. Wisconsin. The Murrs claim that St. Croix County is intruding on their private property rights under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment by making it impossible for them […]
Tortious Interference – The Triangular Tort
Tortious interference has broad applications in civil disputes involving employment relationships and commercial transactions, yet it may be an unfamiliar concept to most non-lawyers and is little studied even in law school. “Tortious” is an adjective describing conduct for which an actor is subject to civil liability under the law of torts. A tort is […]
Appellate Court Clarifies Elements of Conversion, Civil Theft, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, and Misrepresentation Claims
In a recent decision by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, TCI Business Capital, Inc. v. Five Star American Die Casting, LLC, No. A16-0741 (Jan. 23, 2017), the Court analyzed the elements of several causes of action commonly asserted in civil litigation as applied to unusual facts. Brian Flynn was employed by TCI Business Capital (“TCI”) […]
Apple Sued for Right to Publicity by Singer of 70s R&B Song Sampled by Jamie xx
Apple has been sued by Jerome Lawson, lead singer of the classic R&B a cappella group The Persuasions in California Superior Court for its use of a Jamie xx song in a 2015 iPhone 6 commercial (the “Commercial”). In his complaint filed January 24, 2017 (“Complaint”), Lawson asserts that Apple violated his right to publicity […]
Minnesota Corporate Acquisitions Trigger Interest in Change in Control Provisions
News that Arctic Cat is to be acquired by Textron, Inc. is the latest of a number of acquisitions of Minnesota-based companies, including the recently concluded purchase of St. Jude Medical by Abbott Laboratories and the still-pending acquisition of Valspar by Sherwin-Williams. The possibility that these recent transactions may create redundancies may have many Twin […]
Financial Execs Should Consider their U5 in Severance Negotiations
A public radio piece last October about fallout from the Wells Fargo scandal involving unauthorized bank accounts is a telling lesson for any executive in the securities or banking industry. In “Workers Say Wells Fargo Unfairly Scarred Their Careers,” National Public Radio told the story of Jeremy who worked in a Wells Fargo branch in […]
Nurse Staffing Companies in Minnesota Must Avoid Restrictions on Direct Hire
Most staffing companies and temp agencies in Minnesota and around the country require customers to pay a penalty or fee if they hire the placed employee directly. This is a standard practice in the industry and a provision to the effect should be included in staffing company contracts with their customers. Supplemental nursing services agencies […]
USCIS Issues New I-9 Form
All U.S. employers are required to verify the identity and employment authorization of new employees with an Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 (“I-9”) established by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). On November 14, 2016, the USCIS issued a new version of the I- 9. The previous version (issued on March 8, 2013) […]
Must a Whistleblower Act with the Purpose of “Exposing an Illegality?”
In a recent District of Minnesota case, Friedlander v. Edwards Lifesciences, LLC, et al., the Federal District Court certified the following question to the Minnesota Supreme Court: “Did the 2013 amendment to the Minnesota Whistleblower Act defining the term ‘good faith’ to mean ‘conduct that does not violate section 181.932, subdivision 3’ eliminate the judicially […]