Case Studies: How Minnesota Injury Cases Are Won and Lost
You won't find my clients' results on this page. What a client recovered is their business, and a past result says nothing about what your case is worth. What I publish instead is a study of each Minnesota appellate decision that changes how an injury case has to be run. These are public opinions, read closely, with the lesson spelled out.
Why these cases
Twelve Decisions, Twelve Lessons
Every case below is a published Minnesota appellate decision, and every one of them moved a line that injured people in this state have to live with. Some are about deadlines and the procedure that can end a case before a jury hears it. Some are about the insurance that pays when the at-fault driver can't. Some are about what a defendant owed and what a plaintiff has to prove. I read each one for a single question: what would I do differently on the next file because of it?
The write-ups are part of the MN Injury Case Watch series. This page organizes them by lesson; the full case-watch series, newest first, is on the blog.
Deadlines and procedure
Cases That Ended Before the Merits
Does filing in federal court pause the Minnesota deadline?
Blackwell v. Cub Foods. Filing in federal court did not save the Minnesota injury claim from its deadline. What that means for the limitations clock.
Read the study →Why did a dismissed injury case stay dismissed?
Evans v. Sunrise East Multifamily. A Rule 504 dismissal held on appeal, a hard lesson about deadlines and how a case is actually lost.
Read the study →Does suing a Minnesota company keep the case in Minnesota?
Miller v. The Emily Program. Not by itself. The court sent the injury case elsewhere under forum non conveniens, even with a Minnesota defendant.
Read the study →Why was an ice slip-and-fall outside work dismissed before trial?
Odegaard v. 610 MOB Partners. A winter fall claim that never reached a jury, and what the dismissal says about proving a property owner's responsibility for ice.
Read the study →Insurance and coverage
When the Policy Is the Case
Can a jury's uninsured-motorist verdict survive appeal?
Higgins v. Brown. An uninsured-motorist verdict held up against a motion for a new trial, and what that shows about how Minnesota injury verdicts are defended.
Read the study →Hurt by a government vehicle that can't be sued. Is there coverage?
Honcik v. American Family. Minnesota now recognizes an uninsured-motorist path when the at-fault driver is shielded by official immunity.
Read the study →Self-employed and injured. Why was a wage-loss award erased?
Kissner v. Farm Bureau. An underinsured-motorist wage-loss award did not survive, because of how the lost income was proven.
Read the study →Duty, causation, and damages
What Was Owed and What Has to Be Proven
Did a university's concussion plan create a legal duty?
Campion v. NCAA. A divided court rejected the argument that the University of Minnesota's concussion protocol created a duty of care it could be sued for breaching.
Read the study →Injured by a farm animal. What does the owner have to have known?
Eskew v. Luhmann. Why the owner's knowledge of that particular animal, not animals in general, decides a Minnesota animal-attack claim.
Read the study →Can you recover emotional-distress damages when a lab destroys embryos?
Pedersen v. Advanced Reproductive Technologies. A Minnesota court rejected the emotional-distress damages claim after a fertility lab destroyed embryos, and the reasoning reaches other distress claims.
Read the study →When does a family's malpractice claim clear the expert-affidavit hurdle?
Pitchford v. Hunter (Olmsted Medical). The court let a family's medical-malpractice claims proceed after a child's injury, on the strength of the expert affidavit.
Read the study →When is a youth program responsible for one child hurting another?
Schafer v. Oakwood Community Church. A foreseeability decision that sets the line for supervision claims against churches, camps, and youth programs.
Read the study →Important Information: The cases on this page are published Minnesota appellate decisions. They are discussed as general legal information, not legal advice, and no client result of the firm is described here. Every case depends on its facts, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.