ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO STAY ARBITRATION ARTHUR J. BOYLAN, United States Chief Magistrate Judge. INTRODUCTION This matter is before the Court, United States Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan, on Plaintiff's Motion to Stay Arbitration. [Docket No. 2.] A hearing was held on the motion on November 18, 2011 at the U.S. Courthouse, 300 South Fourth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415. Barry A. O'Neil appeared on behalf of Plaintiff. Brendan D. Cummins appeared on behalf of Defendants. For...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PAUL A. MAGNUSON, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Motions to Dismiss these putative class actions. Because the Complaints are nearly identical, Defendants filed joint memoranda in support of their respective Motions, and Plaintiffs filed a joint response. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants the Motions. BACKGROUND Plaintiffs have automobile insurance policies with the four Defendant insurance companies: USAA Casualty Insurance...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER JEFFREY J. KEYES, United States Magistrate Judge. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Leslie Ingram Miller sued Defendant Stifel Financial Corp./Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. ("Stifel"), on various claims arising out of the 2008 termination of her employment from Stifel. She claims that Stifel violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX") and the Minnesota Whistleblower Act ("MWA") by discharging her in retaliation for her complaints regarding other Stifel employees. She also...
REPORT & RECOMMENDATION STEVEN E. RAU, Magistrate Judge. This case is before the Court on Defendant Cingular Wireless Employee Services, LLC's and Defendant Communications Workers of America Local 7200's Motions for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 175 and 187]. This matter was referred to the undersigned by an Order of Reference entered by the District Court on January 27, 2011, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(B) and District of Minnesota Local Rule 72.1(b). For the reasons set forth below, the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER JOHN R. TUNHEIM, District Judge. This foreclosure dispute was initiated by plaintiffs Daryl and Diana Laxdal, in state court. Defendants, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS") and Bank of America, N.A. 1 ("BOA") removed the case to this Court on October 17, 2011. 2 The Laxdals seek a preliminary injunction, enjoining the Defendants from continuing the foreclosure process. (Docket No. 2.) Defendants move to dismiss all of the Laxdals' claims. (...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER PATRICK J. SCHILTZ, District Judge. In July 2011, the City of Minneapolis (the "City") enacted an ordinance prohibiting any licensed tobacco dealer from providing a smoking device to a customer for sampling tobacco unless the customer first purchases the device. 2011-Or-054, 1, July 1, 2011 ("Ordinance"). Plaintiff Shiraz Hookah, LLC ("Shiraz"), a tobacco dealer licensed by the City, brought this action in state court, challenging the validity of the Ordinance...
ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE JOHN R. TUNHEIM, District Judge. Peter Gerard Lonergan, a state prisoner, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. In a Report and Recommendation dated October 14, 2011, United States Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois recommended that the Court deny Lonergan's petition because Lonergan failed to demonstrate that the state court's interpretation of a state statute resulted in a violation of either the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN R. TUNHEIM, District Judge. Plaintiff Jennifer Lenzen ("Lenzen") worked for Workers' Compensation Reinsurance Association ("WCRA") as part of its administrative support staff. WCRA terminated her employment after thirteen years. Lenzen's amended complaint alleges that WCRA engaged in disability discrimination, failed to accommodate her disability, and retaliatorily discharged her in violation of the...
ORDER JOHN R. TUNHEIM, District Judge. Defendants filed a motion in limine on various issues identical to a motion previously filed in the MDL. Finding no newly discovered evidence, changes in the governing law or manifest error in the previous rulings, the Court adheres to the law of the case regarding this ruling. In order to be more consistent with those Orders, the Court makes the following amendment to its previous Order (Docket No. 188). ORDER Based on the foregoing, and the records,...
ORDER JOHN R. TUNHEIM, District Judge. I. LAW OF THE CASE A. Straka's Motions Straka filed several motions in limine (Docket No. 101) 1 that are identical to the motions filed in Schedin v. Johnson & Johnson, 2010 WL 4628566 (D. Minn. Nov. 8. 2010). Finding no newly discovered evidence, changes in the governing law or manifest error in the previous rulings, the Court adheres to the law of the case regarding these rulings. B. Defendants' Motions Defendants have also filed several...
ORDER PATRICK J. SCHILTZ, District Judge. Plaintiff Arthur Mueller leased retail space to defendant RadioShack Corporation ("RadioShack") in a shopping complex in Winona, Minnesota. Mueller believes that RadioShack incorrectly calculated the rent that it owed under the parties' lease agreement. Accordingly, Mueller brought this putative class action in Minnesota state court seeking past-due rent, as well as attorney's fees and declaratory and injunctive relief. 1 About two weeks later,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN R. TUNHEIM, District Judge. Plaintiff Clifford Straka brought this action against Johnson & Johnson; Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, LLC; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc. (collectively "Defendants"). Straka asserts both failure to warn and fraud claims, seeking damages for injuries he claims resulted from the Defendants' failure to...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER PATRICK J. SCHILTZ, District Judge. Plaintiff UnitedHealth Group Inc. ("United") brings this action against ten insurance companies — United's primary insurer and nine of United's excess insurers — asking this Court to determine, with respect to each of several dozen claims that were brought against United during the period December 1, 1998, through December 1, 2000, which of the ten insurers must indemnify United or pay United's defense costs. In essence, then,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, District Judge. This matter is before the court on Defendants' motion to dismiss (Doc. No. 36). For the reasons stated below, this Court grants the motion in part and denies it in part. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In this securities fraud action, Lead Plaintiff Building Trades Pension Trust Fund and Plaintiff City of Taylor Police and Fire Retirement System claim that Defendant St. Jude Medical, Inc. ("STJ"), and four of its...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 15]. For the reasons stated below, this Court denies Defendant's Motion. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Plaintiff Jean Grover alleges that she was discriminated against because of her gender while she was an employee of Defendant Smarte Carte, Inc. Specifically, Grover alleges that she was paid less than similarly situated male...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER RICHARD H. KYLE, District Judge. INTRODUCTION This case arises out of Plaintiff Mary Branch's September 3, 2007, arrest by Minneapolis police officers for violating Minnesota's "open-container" law, Minnesota Statutes 169A.35. Branch alleges that the officers — Defendants Timothy Gorman and Christopher Garbisch (collectively, "Defendants") 1 — lacked probable cause to arrest her and, hence, violated her Fourth-Amendment (and state-law) rights. She now moves...
ORDER PATRICK J. SCHILTZ, District Judge. Defendant Milton Rucker is charged with four crimes: (1) theft of government property; (2) conspiracy to commit bank fraud; (3) aggravated identity theft; and (4) being an armed career criminal in possession of a firearm. This matter is before the Court on Rucker's objections 1 to Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan's November 9, 2011 Report and Recommendation ("R&R"). Judge Boylan recommends denying Rucker's motions to suppress evidence. Based on a de...
ORDER JOAN N. ERICKSEN, District Judge. Plaintiff Cinnecole Lee (Lee) brought this action against Defendant K Mart Corporation (Kmart), alleging racial discrimination in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a), and the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), Minn.Stat. 363A.08, subdiv. 2. Lee, an African-American woman, asserts that she was racially discriminated against when Kmart terminated her employment after an incident in which Lee made physical contact with a customer. Kmart...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion for Claim Construction [Doc. No. 25]. I. BACKGROUND This litigation involves allegations by Plaintiff Airborne Athletics, Inc. ("Airborne") that Defendant Shoot-A-Way, Inc. is infringing one or more claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,776,018 (the "`018 Patent"). The `018 Patent relates to a basketball collection, passing and shot analysis machine. The parties disagree as to the...
MEMORANDUM OF LAW & ORDER MICHAEL J. DAVIS, Chief District Judge. I. Introduction This matter is before the Court on motions to dismiss by Defendant INATrust, fsb [Docket No. 16], and by Defendants Southwest Reinsure, Inc., ("SRI"), Ideal Insurance Company, and James B. Smith (collectively, the "SRI Defendants") [Docket No. 33]. The Court heard oral argument on Friday, October 7, 2011. II. Background This case arises out of a series of reinsurance contracts and other agreements between...
