Administrative Law

Power to the Paralegals! Just Be Sure to Keep Track of Your Time?.

Posted on June 02, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued this morning, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower court's ruling that paralegal costs were not recoverable as ?expenses? under the Equal Access to Justice Act.In 2005, the U.S. Department of Transportation?s Board of Contract Appeals denied in part the fee petition of Richlin Security Service Company, a government contractor that had earlier prevailed in litigation against the agency under the Service Contract Act...

Big Enough to Cover, Too Small to Let Out

Posted on June 02, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued on Friday, a special three-judge panel turned aside the challenges of the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District to the ?preclearance? requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The Utility District sought a declaratory judgment exempting it from the requirement to submit changes in voting procedures for review...

Yowsa! Chapter 295 is Packed with Changes

Posted on May 30, 2008
Years ago, in a very different life, I used to represent candidates and political committees as an election lawyer. And while I am no longer helping clients to stay on the straight and narrow (or completing filings for my own beleaguered campaign committee), I still enjoy watching the developments in this area of the law from the proverbial ?peanut gallery...

Interagency Rules Committee to Meet Thursday

Posted on May 27, 2008
The Interagency Rules Committee ? an all-volunteer group of state rule writers ? will gather on Thursday afternoon to confer about recently-issued rulemaking reports and to continue planning for the (13th) annual rulemaking seminar later this year.The meeting will be held in Room 6146 of the Minnesota Department of Human Services? Lafayette Building, from 3:00 p...

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Change on Disqualifications Does Not Violate Ex Post Facto Clause

Posted on May 27, 2008
In a very scholarly opinion issued today, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals turned away the challenge of a local nurse who sought to overturn her disqualification from providing direct contact services to patients.In 1992, Tonia Williams shot and killed a burglar who broke into her home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

Minnesota?s Signature Trait, Then and Now: The Very First to Volunteer

Posted on May 25, 2008
On this Memorial Day Weekend, I have spent a lot of time thinking about Minnesota?s men and women in uniform ? those who are serving in a deadly conflict today and those who literally rushed into harms way a century and a half ago.My thoughts ran to a bitterly divided country, armies mustering for war and a President?s urgent call for selfless volunteers ? in 1861...

Some Administrative Law Notes on the 2008 Legislative Session

Posted on May 21, 2008
Among the things that happened before the Minnesota Legislature adjourned on Monday were:Chapter 196, a measure that reforms the municipal boundary adjustment process.Chapter 215, a measure that increases the ceilings on the amount of civil penalties that may be imposed by Administrative Law Judges in matters arising under the Minnesota Human Rights Act...

Hi and Goodbye

Posted on May 19, 2008
On the next two Wednesdays, staff of the Minnesota Judicial Center will be hosting two celebrations ? one to welcome an appellate judge and another to wish a panelist a fond farewell.This Wednesday, the State Law Library is hosting a session of ?Meet Your Judges? ? with Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Matthew E...

Power to Assess Big Fines, or File Liens, Does Not State Action Make

Posted on May 18, 2008
On Tuesday of this past week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota dismissed the civil rights claim of certain life estate holders and remaindermen ? the Lennon Family ? against their condominium association.Complaining that the association?s assessment of $49,421...

The Sesquicentennial Gift for Lawyers and Law Clerks

Posted on May 17, 2008
In time for the 150th anniversary of Minnesota's admission to the Union, the Revisor of Statutes' office has made all of Minnesota's "Session Laws," from the Territorial days to the present, accessible through the internet. For anyone who is interested in the series of additions to, and substractions from, Minnesota law over time, this is important news...

Noteworthy Introductions

Posted on May 17, 2008
House File 4253: Representative Mark Olson (IR-Big Lake), introduced a measure today, proposing a prohibition upon state court judges from accepting ?a gift from a party who has appeared, or who is scheduled or is likely to appear before the judge in a judicial proceeding...

Inherently Difficult: Inherent Authority of the Courts and the Separation of Powers

Posted on May 17, 2008
An interesting Memorandum Opinion and Order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota earlier this month has had me thinking.At issue in the case was whether a local federal Magistrate could direct a senior official from the U.S...

Gallo, Edblad Saluted by the Minnesota Bar

Posted on May 16, 2008
I had the great privilege today to participate in the Public Law Section?s annual award ceremony honoring distinguished lawyers in the public sector. I was asked by the Section to present the William E. McGee Public Defender Excellence Award, to this year?s honoree, F...

How Broad is the Longoria Rule: Enough to Change Failure-to-Register Practice?

Posted on May 13, 2008
In an interesting published opinion issued today, a unanimous panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the imposition of a 10-year period of conditional release for an offender whose failure to register as predatory offender began before the effective date of the statute authorizing this penalty, but continued after the date on which the new penalty became effective...

When More is More: The Joy of Wide Open Spaces

Posted on May 12, 2008
As a very early Father?s Day-Statehood Day-Summer Solstice-Birthday-Fourth of July present, I recently received an 8 Gigabyte iPod Nano.Between a somewhat modest cache of the music that I enjoy and a not-modest-at-all collection of podcasts that I am interested in, I had badly outgrown my much slimmer 2 Gigabyte model...

Past and Prologue: The Importance of Agency Precedent

Posted on May 11, 2008
In an interesting published opinion issued on Tuesday of this week, a unanimous panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a determination of the Public Utilities Commission denying certain cost recoveries to CenterPoint Energy Minnesota Gas...

District Court: Landlords Have No Standing to Challenge Inspection Ordinance

Posted on May 04, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued on Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota turned away the challenge of landlords in Red Wing, Minnesota to a City ordinance that regulated rental housing. (An earlier photograph of a few of the plaintiff-landlords is accessible here...

First Ever Rule Veto, Stirs Memories and Old Debate

Posted on May 03, 2008
On Friday, Governor Tim Pawlenty exercised the powers the granted to him under Minnesota Statutes § 14.05 to ?veto all or a severable portion of a rule.? The Governor?s veto bars certain proposed revisions to the state?s voter registration rules from going into effect...

Representative Hansen Seeks Greater Disclosure from State Court Judges, County Commissioners

Posted on May 03, 2008
While the Legislative Session is winding into its final weeks, there are still introductions of new bills ? whether for position-taking by Members, or as a ?vehicles? for other collections of legislative proposals or as previews of the work that Members hope to do in upcoming legislative sessions...

The Indiana Photo ID Case: Would that be 6 to 3 or 3 to 6?

Posted on April 28, 2008
As you have no doubt already heard, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 6 to 3, upheld an Indiana law that requires presentment of a government-issued photo identification for in-person voting. Six Justices agreed with Indiana that even if there was evidence that the regulation impacted some voters more than others, the photo-ID requirement did not amount ?invidious discrimination...

Further Previews of "Making Your Case"

Posted on April 28, 2008
For those who were intrigued by their appearence on 60 Minutes last evening, the May 2008 issue of the ABA Journal includes excerpts of the just-released book from Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Antonin Scalia and the Editor-in-Chief of Black's Law Dictionary, Bryan A...

How to Clean Out the Shed

Posted on April 27, 2008
This Thursday, of course, is May 1st.While in many parts of the country this date is denominated as ?Law Day,? in Minnesota it is perhaps better known as the last day of winter?.So, today, I conflated my celebrations for each occasion by withdrawing our picnic table and Adirondack chairs from the garden shed, packing in the snow-blower, sled and hockey sticks in their place, all while listening to some tremendous podcasts...

What Did He Know, When Did He Know It, and Frankly, How Can One Tell?

Posted on April 25, 2008
On Tuesday, a divided panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a decision that has had me ruminating throughout the week.At issue in the case are the circumstances under which a Minnesota offender, who later relocates to another state, may be prosecuted for failing to update his Predatory Offender Registration...

Not Just Twirling in the Wind: Turbine Decision is a Useful Tale for Litigators

Posted on April 19, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued yesterday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit sustained the challenge of Clark County, Nevada to a series of Federal Aviation Administration orders.County officials challenged the agency?s determinations that a plan to place 83 wind turbines atop Table Mountain would not interfere with the county?s parallel development of an airport, in the valley below, some ten miles away...

Minnesota Supreme Court Grants Review of ?Filed Rate? Case

Posted on April 17, 2008
The Minnesota Supreme Court today granted further review of a January decision of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on the reach of the "filed-rate doctrine." Earlier this year, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that the doctrine barred court actions against electric utilities which challenge the adequacy of services provided, at certain approved rates, under tariffs that had been earlier-approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission...

The Registry Door Swings Both Ways

Posted on April 17, 2008
In a testament to the fact that Minnesota?s Predatory Offender Registration law is a flexible ?regulatory? statute, on Tuesday, a panel of the state?s Court of Appeals held that later-enacted amendments which narrowed the reach of the statute could be applied retroactively to relieve an offender of the requirements to register as a predatory offender...

Federalism and the Canada Lynx: Traps for the Unwary?

Posted on April 16, 2008
In an interesting opinion issued late last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota entered an injunction against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The injunction directed the Department to apply for certain permits under the Endangered Species Act and to provide a ?proposal, to be submitted to the Court on or before April 30, 2008, to restrict, modify or eliminate the use the incidental taking of Canada Lynx through trapping activities in the core Canada Lynx ranges...

Way Cool Audio - Part One: Be Not Afraid

Posted on April 13, 2008
I had the occasion to do a little state travel earlier this week. I took with me some podcasts from the American Radioworks series on Great Speeches by African-Americans. Included in the collection are speeches by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas...

Way Cool Audio - Part Two: The Law and Health, Work, Secrets and Death

Posted on April 13, 2008
As noted in the post above, I have been listening to some thought-provoking podcasts this past week. Below, are some selections that I thought might be of interest to the readers of these pages:n Denis Cortese, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mayo Clinic, made remarks to the National Press Club earlier this month...

He?s a Real Nowhere Man

Posted on April 12, 2008
In an interesting unpublished opinion issued on Tuesday of this week, a unanimous panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a lower court?s dismissal of the habeas petition of one Jeffrey Alan Truelson and remanded his case for further proceedings...

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