John J. Todd

Telephone Associates, Inc. submitted a bid to St. Louis County for installation of phone service but lost to Norstan Communications Systems, Inc. despite submitting a lower bid. The trial court denied injunctions, but the court of appeals reversed, and the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the reversal while remanding for appropriate relief. The court found that the county improperly inserted a maintenance cost figure into Norstan's bid during evaluation, violating bidding rules. Since the system was already installed, the court awarded the low bidder its bid preparation costs and expenses under promissory estoppel rather than requiring removal or lost profits.

business & regulatoryprocedure

The case involved Mary Ann Jackson, who was convicted after a bench trial of uttering a forged instrument, aggravated forgery, and theft by check based on her use of a forged check and identification to purchase a watch. The trial court imposed three concurrent stayed sentences, which the court of appeals affirmed as to the sufficiency of the evidence and the convictions but modified by vacating two sentences under Minn. Stat. § 609.035. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed that the eyewitness identifications and other evidence supported the convictions and that two sentences must be vacated for a single behavioral incident, but reversed on the multiple-conviction issue. It held that Minn. Stat. § 609.04 bars formal adjudications of conviction for both aggravated forgery and uttering a forged instrument under different subdivisions of the same statute when they arise from one incident, and therefore vacated the uttering conviction.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved a declaratory judgment action by Federated Mutual Insurance Co. against its insured, Concrete Units, Inc., to determine whether the insurer had a duty to defend or indemnify Concrete Units for claims by a construction company and its client arising from defective concrete supplied for a grain elevator project. The trial court ruled in favor of coverage, but the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part. The court held that certain claims for loss of use of the elevator qualified as covered "property damage" caused by an "occurrence" under the comprehensive general liability policy, while other claims for repair costs, interest, and lost profits did not trigger the duty to defend or indemnify. Core reasoning focused on the policy's definitions of property damage and occurrence, along with the scope of exclusions for damage to the insured's own product or work, which did not bar coverage for third-party property losses.

business & regulatorypropertytorts & liability

In State v. Stark, the defendant was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .10 or more after being stopped for erratic driving and submitting to a breath test showing over .15. The jury convicted him on the first charge but acquitted on the second. The district court appeal panel vacated the conviction, finding errors in the trial court's jury instructions on the elements of driving under the influence and in its responses to jury questions during deliberations. The reviewing court reversed the appeal panel, holding that the instructions were not erroneous when read as a whole, the responses to the jurors did not coerce a verdict or fail to address confusion, and the trial court properly submitted both charges. As a result, the conviction was reinstated.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved defendant Ortlepp, a former police chief, who was convicted by a jury of aggravated criminal damage to property and unjustifiably killing an animal after he and an accomplice allegedly shot at a house and dogs in retaliation during a high-speed chase over a stolen lawnmower. The trial court stayed sentencing on the felony and imposed probation and jail time. On appeal, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the convictions, holding that the accomplice's prior statement to police was admissible as substantive evidence of guilt, that the evidence was sufficient to support the verdicts even without that statement, and that there was no error in the aiding-and-abetting jury instruction or in the effectiveness of defense counsel.

criminal lawprocedure

The case Williams v. State concerns whether amendments to Minnesota's sentencing guidelines in 1983 require automatic reductions in previously imposed sentences for inmates like Williams, and whether a trial court's failure to file a departure report invalidates a sentencing departure. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' ruling that sentence reductions are not automatic under Minn.Stat. § 244.09, subd. 11, as the statute allows for justified durational departures from new presumptive sentences. However, it reversed on the departure report issue, holding that the trial court's reasons sufficed despite the missing report, and prospectively adopted strict rules requiring stated reasons for departures to ensure compliance with guidelines.

criminal lawprocedure