Legal articles, client education, and firm news from Madgett Law, LLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota.https://www.madgettlaw.com/en-ushttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-car-dealer-doc-fee-cap-168-27/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-car-dealer-doc-fee-cap-168-27/Minnesota's junk fee exemption is keyed to fees authorized by law, not to car dealers. The doc fee cap is the lesser of $350 or ten percent of the sale.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-health-club-contract-fees-325g/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-health-club-contract-fees-325g/Minnesota's club-contract sections ban the gym termination fee and give an injured member damages plus attorney's fees. The junk fee law gives an injunction.Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-junk-fee-law-disclosure-is-not-inclusion/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-junk-fee-law-disclosure-is-not-inclusion/The price on the listing page and the price at checkout are different numbers. Section 325D.44, subd. 1a(a) says the first one must include the fee.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-restaurant-service-charges-junk-fee-law/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-restaurant-service-charges-junk-fee-law/Minnesota's junk fee law shelters automatic and mandatory gratuities. The bold-type notice that lets a house keep a service charge says the charge is not one.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-credit-card-surcharge-law-325g051/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-credit-card-surcharge-law-325g051/Minn. Stat. § 325G.051 permits a card surcharge, caps it at five percent, and names no plaintiff. Who can sue, and why I read a cashless counter to violate the junk fee law by obeying it.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-assistance-transfer-penalty/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-assistance-transfer-penalty/Minn. Stat. § 256B.0595, subd. 2(b)(2) starts the penalty clock only when the applicant is otherwise eligible and in care — not when the gift was made. And the lookback runs backward only: subd. 1(b) reaches transfers made 'any time after' the request for payment, with no forward boundary at all.Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assisted-living-fees-chapter-504b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assisted-living-fees-chapter-504b/Chapter 144G gives a family no damages for an undisclosed assisted living fee. I read one sentence in § 144G.11 to borrow the remedy in § 504B.120.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-church-property-disputes/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-church-property-disputes/Minnesota decides church property fights with neutral principles of law. The denominational trust clause is usually the weakest document in the file.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-commitment-253b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-commitment-253b/Chapter 253B measures commitment in six-month blocks, but Minn. Stat. § 624.713, subd. 1(3) bars anyone who 'is or has ever been committed' from possessing a firearm, with no expiration and only one way out. I walk the standards, the deadlines, and the consequences nobody explains at the hearing.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wrongful-discharge-public-policy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wrongful-discharge-public-policy/Phipps v. Clark Oil covers an employee fired for refusing to break the law, and nothing else. Minnesota's Supreme Court has refused three times to widen it.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-implied-consent-license-revocation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-implied-consent-license-revocation/The implied consent petition stopped being a 30-day filing on July 1, 2017. What Minn. Stat. § 169A.53 actually requires you to file and serve, what the hearing can decide, and where the search-warrant track under § 171.177 diverges.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-malicious-prosecution-private-complainant/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-malicious-prosecution-private-complainant/Minnesota does not ask who called the police. It asks who supplied the decision to charge — and what the officer or prosecutor was told.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-arbitration-vacating-award-572b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-arbitration-vacating-award-572b/Minn. Stat. § 572B.23(a) lists six grounds for vacating an arbitration award, and being right is not one of them. The clock in subsection (b) starts when you receive notice of the award — not when judgment enters, and not when your client decides to fight.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-open-meeting-law-13d/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-open-meeting-law-13d/Chapter 13D never defines a meeting, never voids a decision, and almost never removes anyone from office. Here is what it does do, section by section.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-remote-online-notarization-358/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-remote-online-notarization-358/Minn. Stat. § 358.645 quantifies remote identity proofing down to the number of questions — a method NIST now prohibits. A bad notarization rarely voids a deed.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-voice-and-likeness-cloning-remedies/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-voice-and-likeness-cloning-remedies/Minnesota's 2026 forged-likeness amendment is criminal only, and no Minnesota statute creates a right of publicity. What is actually left to plead, and what it pays.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/tcpa-robocall-traceback-why-attribution-fails/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/tcpa-robocall-traceback-why-attribution-fails/Federal law built an entire caller-authentication apparatus after 2019 — STIR/SHAKEN, traceback, the Robocall Mitigation Database. None of it is a plaintiff's tool, and here is why attribution still fails.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-apartment-fees-total-monthly-payment-504b120/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-apartment-fees-total-monthly-payment-504b120/Rent plus every nonoptional fee, summed on page one: Minn. Stat. § 504B.120 requires it on leases signed since January 1, 2024, reaches the listing, and trebles damages.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-coerced-debt-332-71/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-coerced-debt-332-71/Minn. Stat. §§ 332.71–332.75 let an abuse victim get a debt declared coerced and enforcement enjoined. It reaches only debts incurred on or after January 1, 2024, it excludes secured debt, and it awards the debtor no damages and no fees.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-drivers-license-data-privacy-dppa/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-drivers-license-data-privacy-dppa/18 U.S.C. § 2724 fixes liquidated damages at $2,500 with no showing of injury. But the Eighth Circuit applies the occurrence rule to the four-year clock, and Minnesota classifies driver data by a federal cross-reference frozen at May 23, 2005 — which the legislature loosened in 2026.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-section-1983-malicious-prosecution-fourth-amendment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-section-1983-malicious-prosecution-fourth-amendment/For thirty-two years the Eighth Circuit held that malicious prosecution is no constitutional violation at all. Thompson v. Clark ended that, and left four questions open.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-work-product-doctrine/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-work-product-doctrine/Minnesota's supreme court says materials prepared in anticipation of litigation are 'not work product' unless they carry counsel's mental impressions — and by rule, a party may take an opponent's nonparty witness statements without any showing at all.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/ai-assisted-identity-theft-what-the-data-shows/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/ai-assisted-identity-theft-what-the-data-shows/The FBI tagged 460 of its 31,675 identity theft complaints with any AI reference in 2025, and the FTC's dataset has no AI field at all. What the federal sources actually document — and the defense.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-antilapse-statute-524-2-603/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-antilapse-statute-524-2-603/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-603, subd. 2, makes words of survivorship a sufficient contrary intent — the legislature repealed the older section in 2001 and wrote this one in its place. And there is no § 524.2-706: the only nonprobate antilapse rule Minnesota wrote lives in the transfer on death deed statute.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-crime-fraud-exception-privilege/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-crime-fraud-exception-privilege/Minnesota's privilege statute contains no crime-fraud exception. Here is the judge-made test, the prima facie showing it demands, and why in camera review is not the shortcut lawyers assume it is.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-environmental-rights-act-116b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-environmental-rights-act-116b/Chapter 116B lets any Minnesota resident sue to protect a natural resource. It provides no damages, no attorney fees, and an injunction the plaintiff must prove.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-apa-judicial-review-14/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-apa-judicial-review-14/Chapter 14 review of a contested case and common-law certiorari both end in the Court of Appeals on a writ of certiorari. The fork is not which court — it is which clock, 30 days from receipt or 60 days to issue the writ, and no court may extend either.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-background-check-rights-employment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-background-check-rights-employment/The FCRA forces employers to build a four-document paper trail before rejecting you over a background check — and the step they skip is the one you cannot see.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-duty-to-defend-vs-indemnify/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-duty-to-defend-vs-indemnify/Minnesota decides the duty to defend from the complaint plus the facts the insurer knows — and those facts cut both ways. What that means for mixed complaints, reservations of rights, and refusals.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-favorable-termination-element/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-favorable-termination-element/The federal bar is now the easier one: a prosecution that ended without a conviction. Minnesota never said that — and the three dispositions clients want most are the three worst ways to end a case if you may want to sue.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-staying-judgment-pending-appeal-supersedeas/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-staying-judgment-pending-appeal-supersedeas/Under Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 108, an appeal does not stay enforcement. The stay is bought — bond, letter of credit, or cash — in the district court first, and Minn. Stat. § 550.36 hides a ten-day statutory alternative.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-abuse-of-process/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-abuse-of-process/Hoppe v. Klapperich gives the tort two elements, no favorable-termination requirement, and no probable-cause requirement — so it can be pleaded as a counterclaim while the underlying case is still open. Here is why nearly every Minnesota claim still fails.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-class-actions-rule-23/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-class-actions-rule-23/Minn. R. Civ. P. 23 tracks the 2003 federal rule, but certification appeals run through a 30-day Rule 105 petition, settlement approval skips the federal factor list, and leftover funds have a statutory destination.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-economic-loss-doctrine-604-101/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-economic-loss-doctrine-604-101/Minn. Stat. § 604.101 governs only if both sales postdate August 1, 2000. It bars two things — and leaves plain negligence, statutory claims, and fraud standing.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-emergency-vehicle-police-pursuit-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-emergency-vehicle-police-pursuit-liability/Minnesota gives emergency vehicles four narrow statutory privileges and none of them cancel the due-regard duty — but the decision to pursue is protected by official immunity, so the injured bystander's money usually comes from somewhere else.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-informed-consent-medical/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-informed-consent-medical/Minnesota's informed consent claim is negligent nondisclosure, and its disclosure duty has three separate triggers. Causation is objective, and expert testimony is required for some elements but not for the one that decides most cases.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-social-host-liability-340a-90/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-social-host-liability-340a-90/Minn. Stat. § 340A.802's notice and two-year bar are written to § 340A.801 claims against licensees. A § 340A.90 claim against the adult at the house runs on § 541.05, subd. 1(2) — six years — and the parental carve-out everyone cites is in the criminal statute only.Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-defending-out-of-state-judgment-identity-theft/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-defending-out-of-state-judgment-identity-theft/Full faith and credit closes the merits of an out-of-state judgment. What survives is jurisdiction — and in an identity-theft case the fight is over service, the address the thief supplied, and whether a creditor can prove an electronic signature was your act under Minn. Stat. § 325L.09.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ending-month-to-month-tenancy-504b135/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ending-month-to-month-tenancy-504b135/Minn. Stat. § 504B.135 sets the notice period, but a century-old counting rule decides when the notice actually works — and the 14-day nonpayment notice to quit is no longer in the statute.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-liquidated-damages-penalty-clauses/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-liquidated-damages-penalty-clauses/Minnesota does not judge a stipulated-damages clause from a single moment in time — and when the clause is struck, the plaintiff does not lose the case. The two questions most treatments skip.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parol-evidence-integration-clauses/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parol-evidence-integration-clauses/Minnesota treats the parol evidence rule as substantive contract law, not evidence — and a merger clause, however airtight, does not defeat a fraud-in-the-inducement claim.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-post-trial-motions-rule-50-59/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-post-trial-motions-rule-50-59/Minn. R. Civ. P. 50.02 lets a party move for judgment as a matter of law after the verdict 'whether or not' it moved before — the opposite of federal practice. Rule 59.03 is the deadline that actually decides what an appellate court will read.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-crime-victim-civil-remedies-611a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-crime-victim-civil-remedies-611a/Criminal restitution, the Crime Victims Reimbursement Board, and the civil suit are three separate recoveries under Minnesota law — and ch. 611A wires each one to reduce or credit the others.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-frye-mack-expert-evidence/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-frye-mack-expert-evidence/Minnesota rejected Daubert. Here is the Frye-Mack two-prong standard, what actually triggers a hearing, and the standard of review on each prong.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-implied-covenant-good-faith-fair-dealing/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-implied-covenant-good-faith-fair-dealing/Every Minnesota contract carries an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing — except employment contracts. What the covenant forbids, what it will not do, and how to plead it.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-malicious-prosecution-elements/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-malicious-prosecution-elements/Minnesota lets you sue over a civil lawsuit without an arrest, an attachment, or any special injury — and has since 1889. Here is what it demands instead, and why the claim still almost always fails.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-boating-accident-claims-86b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-boating-accident-claims-86b/Minn. Stat. § 86B.341, subd. 2 makes the owner and operator of a watercraft jointly and severally liable and presumes family members had consent. Meanwhile § 65B.43 keeps boats out of no-fault entirely: no PIP, no UM, no UIM. What is left is a straight negligence case with unusual evidence rules.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-child-labor-laws-181a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-child-labor-laws-181a/Minnesota lets a 14-year-old work eight hours a day until 9 p.m. Federal law caps the same kid at three hours on a school day. A practitioner's read of Minn. Stat. ch. 181A.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-declaratory-judgment-act-555/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-declaratory-judgment-act-555/Chapter 555 lets a Minnesota court settle a dispute before anyone breaches. Section 555.11 decides whether the declaration you win is worth anything.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-false-claims-act-15c/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-false-claims-act-15c/Chapter 15C gives a relator treble damages and up to 30 percent of the recovery. In seventeen years it has produced one published appellate decision, and the relator lost.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insolvent-estate-claim-priority/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insolvent-estate-claim-priority/Minn. Stat. § 524.3-805(a) sets seven classes of claims, not six, and § 524.3-715(18) lets the personal representative pay the top of that list without any claim being presented at all.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nonconsensual-intimate-images-604-31/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nonconsensual-intimate-images-604-31/Minnesota's civil claim for a fake sexual image carries a statutory penalty ten times the one for a real image — and drops an element. Four statutes, two clocks, one federal lever.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-restrictive-covenants-500-20/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-restrictive-covenants-500-20/Minn. Stat. § 500.20, subd. 2a ends private covenants at 30 years, but eight enumerated exceptions carve out condominiums, cooperatives, CICs under ch. 515B, shared-structure buildings, and affordable housing. What is left is the plain platted subdivision — and a two-year renewal window most claimants never see.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-riparian-rights-lakeshore/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-riparian-rights-lakeshore/Minnesota riparian rights attach to ownership of the shore, and can also arise from ownership of the bed, but no titleholder gets exclusive control of the surface. Johnson v. Seifert lets every abutting owner use the whole surface regardless of navigability and regardless of who owns the bottom — and three different legal lines govern where your lakeshore ends.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-temporary-injunctions-rule-65/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-temporary-injunctions-rule-65/Minn. R. Civ. P. 65.01 is captioned 'Temporary Restraining Order; Notice; Hearing; Duration' — and unlike Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b)(2), it sets no 14-day limit, no outside date, no extension mechanism. What actually ends a Minnesota TRO, and what the Dahlberg factors really demand.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-towing-impound-rights-168b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-towing-impound-rights-168b/Minnesota Chapter 168B lets a lot hold your car until you pay — but not your ID, medicine, or, for many owners, anything else in it. Plus notice, sale, and deficiency rules.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-utma-custodial-accounts-527/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-utma-custodial-accounts-527/Minnesota gives the transferor no choice of termination age, and § 527.42 leaves a whole class of older custodial accounts still ending at 18. Chapter 527 also redefines 'adult' as 21, which disqualifies most young custodians.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workplace-safety-mosha-rights/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workplace-safety-mosha-rights/Minnesota's occupational safety act lets a retaliated-against employee sue in district court, in front of a jury. Federal law does not. What Minn. Stat. ch. 182 actually hands a worker — and where it stops.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-automatic-renewal-subscriptions-325g-56/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-automatic-renewal-subscriptions-325g-56/Minn. Stat. §§ 325G.56–.63 govern subscriptions that renew themselves. The sections are unusually specific about conduct and conspicuously silent about damages — and the strongest consumer remedies in them are self-executing.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-bankruptcy-exemptions-state-vs-federal/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-bankruptcy-exemptions-state-vs-federal/Minn. Stat. § 550.371, subd. 1 affirmatively makes 11 U.S.C. § 522(d) available here. Three or four line items decide the choice — and one Minnesota subdivision can lock a separately filing spouse out of the other set for three years.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-captive-audience-meetings-181-531/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-captive-audience-meetings-181-531/Minn. Stat. § 181.531 prohibits punishing an employee who declines an employer's political or religious meeting — not the meeting itself. The state's own poster says so, and the private action expires 90 days after the violation.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-cartway-landlocked-parcel-164-08/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-cartway-landlocked-parcel-164-08/The cartway statute says the town board 'shall' establish a road to a landlocked five-acre parcel. That word is enforceable by mandamus — but it settles whether, not where, and the petitioner pays for all of it.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-charitable-solicitation-registration-309/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-charitable-solicitation-registration-309/Minnesota Statutes chapter 309 requires registration with the Attorney General before soliciting. The small-charity exemption fails the moment anyone gets paid.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-commercial-lease-basics/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-commercial-lease-basics/Habitability, security deposits, late-fee caps, the 14-day notice, fee reciprocity: residential only. But distress for rent is abolished for everyone, redemption reaches commercial leases, and there is no duty to mitigate.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-default-judgment-rule-55/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-default-judgment-rule-55/Minnesota's default rule says judgment 'shall be entered' — but the clerk track is far narrower than the federal one, a late defendant can defeat the motion outright, and a federal affidavit the rule never mentions applies to every case.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-independent-contractor-misclassification-181-722/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-independent-contractor-misclassification-181-722/Minn. Stat. § 181.722 was a misrepresentation statute until July 1, 2024. The rewrite dropped the misrepresentation element, added individual liability, and made the penalties recoverable by the worker.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-junk-fee-price-transparency-law/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-junk-fee-price-transparency-law/Minnesota's all-in pricing law lives in § 325D.44, subd. 1a — inside the one consumer statute whose only remedy is an injunction. Where the money claim actually comes from.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-landlord-retaliation-504b-285/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-landlord-retaliation-504b-285/Minn. Stat. § 504B.285, subd. 2, shifts the burden to the landlord inside 90 days. But by its own words it reaches only a tenancy terminated by notice to quit. Where Minnesota's real retaliation law lives now.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-motorcycle-crash-no-fault-gap/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-motorcycle-crash-no-fault-gap/Minn. Stat. § 65B.46, subd. 3 deems a rider's injuries not to arise from the use of a motor vehicle 'although a motor vehicle is involved in the accident.' That one sentence is why there is no PIP, why the tort threshold is an open question, and why your auto policy's UIM may not follow you onto your own bike.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-naming-a-guardian-for-minor-children/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-naming-a-guardian-for-minor-children/Minn. Stat. § 524.5-202 makes a parental appointment effective on death, an adjudication of incapacity, or a physician's written determination — whichever comes first. And a one-page objection can end it.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pay-transparency-181-173/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pay-transparency-181-173/Minn. Stat. § 181.173 requires a starting salary range in every job posting by a 30-employee Minnesota employer. The legislature left it off the commissioner's compliance-order list in § 177.27 and off the private-action list in § 181.171 — in the same act.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-probate-time-limits-524-3-108/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-probate-time-limits-524-3-108/Minn. Stat. § 524.3-108 bars probate and appointment proceedings three years after death — but property already devolved at death, and the determination-of-descent route only becomes available once the three years have run.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-project-payment-bond-574-26/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-project-payment-bond-574-26/Minnesota's Public Contractors' Performance and Payment Bond Act replaces the mechanic's lien on public work. The payment bond claim runs on a 120-day notice and a one-year suit deadline.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-robocall-telemarketing-law-325e/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-robocall-telemarketing-law-325e/Minn. Stat. §§ 325E.311–.316 — the state no-call registry and its caller-ID provision — expired December 31, 2012. What survives, what replaced it, and where the private remedy is.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-salary-history-ban/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-salary-history-ban/Minnesota's pay-history inquiry ban sits inside the Human Rights Act — which means a one-employee threshold, a one-year clock, treble damages, and a mandatory penalty paid to the state.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-service-of-process-rule-4/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-service-of-process-rule-4/Minn. R. Civ. P. 3.01 commences an action by service. That single design choice creates the traps that end Minnesota cases: no service by mail, a 'usual place of abode' that is a fact question, publication grounds that must actually be true, and a one-year filing clock that dismisses with prejudice without a motion.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-slayer-statute-524-2-803/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-slayer-statute-524-2-803/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-803 passes the estate 'as if the killer had predeceased the decedent.' That is a rule of substitution, not forfeiture — and it means the killer's own children can take the share the killer lost.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-snowmobile-atv-accident-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-snowmobile-atv-accident-claims/No-fault does not reach snowmobiles or ATVs, no statute requires anyone to insure one, and no auto UM coverage is owed — but a 2024 amendment to § 169.09 may have just made the machine's owner liable for the friend who was driving it.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-statute-of-limitations-tolling-541-15/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-statute-of-limitations-tolling-541-15/Minn. Stat. § 541.15 suspends the clock for four disabilities, but only for the person who has one. Minnesota has no general discovery rule, and the doctrine most litigants call tolling is really estoppel — which carries a due-diligence requirement tolling does not.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-surface-water-drainage-disputes/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-surface-water-drainage-disputes/Minnesota's reasonable-use rule is symmetric. The neighbor who berms, plugs, or fills to keep water out is exposed on the same four factors as the neighbor who ditches it downhill.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-anti-slapp-upepa-554/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-anti-slapp-upepa-554/Minnesota's anti-SLAPP statute was struck down in 2017 and left dead until May 25, 2024. What Leiendecker actually held, what UPEPA restored, and the two remedies the legislature did not bring back.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-benefit-corporations-304a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-benefit-corporations-304a/Minnesota's public benefit corporation statute does not require a company to do any good. It removes the liability for doing good — and gives almost no one the power to enforce it.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-child-support-modification-518a39/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-child-support-modification-518a39/Minn. Stat. § 518A.39, subd. 2(f) makes a support modification retroactive only to the date the motion was served. The four exceptions the Supreme Court applied in Gully are gone, and since 2024 the section no longer governs spousal maintenance at all.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-cohabitation-agreements-513-075/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-cohabitation-agreements-513-075/Minn. Stat. §§ 513.075 and 513.076 bar a cohabitant's property claim without a signed writing — but only where cohabitation is the sole consideration. Eriksen, Palmen, and Obert define the exception, and § 513.075 has a second requirement almost nobody reads.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-data-privacy-act-325m/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-data-privacy-act-325m/The MCDPA is codified at Minn. Stat. §§ 325M.10–.21, not in a chapter of its own. Its 21 exclusions are where the surprises live: the small-business exemption carries a carve-back with no size threshold, and there is no general exemption for nonprofits.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dwi-vehicle-forfeiture-169a63/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dwi-vehicle-forfeiture-169a63/Since January 1, 2022, the owner who was not driving does not file a lawsuit — she writes a letter to the prosecutor, and the State then has 30 days to sue her. Minn. Stat. § 169A.63 after Olson v. One 1999 Lexus.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-electronic-signatures-325l/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-electronic-signatures-325l/How Minn. Stat. ch. 325L makes emails, DocuSigns, and typed names legally binding signatures — and the short list of documents Minnesota still requires on paper.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-employment-nda-limits/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-employment-nda-limits/The word 'nondisparagement' does not appear anywhere in the Minnesota Statutes. The Speak Out Act reaches only clauses signed before the dispute arose. The most useful Minnesota provision is a 15-day rescission right in the Human Rights Act that most severance packets never mention.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-enforcing-out-of-state-judgments-548-26/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-enforcing-out-of-state-judgments-548-26/Minn. Stat. § 548.27 makes a foreign judgment subject to the same procedures and defenses as a Minnesota judgment. Matson v. Matson holds that Rule 60.02 does not apply the same way — the grounds are a closed list, the merits are off the table, and the case was usually won or lost in the rendering state.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-gift-card-law-325g53/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-gift-card-law-325g53/Minn. Stat. § 325G.53 forbids any expiration date or fee on a gift certificate — but I read its 'tangible record' definition, six carve-outs, and the one appellate case on it as the whole ballgame.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-health-care-directive-145c/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-health-care-directive-145c/Minn. Stat. § 145C.10(e) creates no presumption for anyone who never signed a directive. And the chapter is asymmetric: a direction to provide life-sustaining care carries a statutory duty; a direction to stop carries only immunity.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-hiring-a-contractor-recovery-fund/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-hiring-a-contractor-recovery-fund/The $100,000 backstop in Minn. Stat. § 326B.89 requires a final judgment against a licensed contractor. Hire someone unlicensed and you lose it, along with the written-contract rule and the insurance requirement — but § 514.02 runs the other way.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-hoa-owner-rights-515b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-hoa-owner-rights-515b/Owner rights under MCIOA beyond assessments: records, meetings, voting, fines, amendments by silence, and the 2026 amendments that take effect January 1, 2027.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-joint-tenancy-vs-tenancy-in-common/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-joint-tenancy-vs-tenancy-in-common/Minn. Stat. § 500.19, subd. 5 lets one joint tenant sever a joint tenancy by recording a single instrument, and § 507.02 exempts that severance from the rule requiring both spouses to sign anything touching the homestead. A judgment creditor gets no such power.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-meal-rest-breaks-overtime-177/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-meal-rest-breaks-overtime-177/Minnesota's break law got teeth on January 1, 2026 — 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and liquidated damages. Its 48-hour overtime rule did not change, and usually is not the one that governs.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pets-in-divorce/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pets-in-divorce/Chapter 518 contains no companion-animal provision — the dog is personal property divided under § 518.58, and § 518.582 is about pensions. But Minn. Stat. § 518B.01, subds. 6(a)(14) and 7(a)(6) have let a court direct a pet's care and possession, ex parte, since 2010.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pierringer-releases/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pierringer-releases/Frey v. Snelgrove confirmed the Pierringer release was already Minnesota practice and set the procedure. What it did not do is make settlement money a credit — and the indemnity clause the plaintiff signs can take money back out of the judgment years later.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-purchase-agreement-cancellation-559-217/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-purchase-agreement-cancellation-559-217/Minn. Stat. § 559.217 is permissive — a purchase agreement that cancels by its own terms is already dead. What the statute actually does is decide the deposit, on a first-to-serve basis, and § 82.75 makes it the only way most brokers can release it.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-stepparent-adoption-259/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-stepparent-adoption-259/Minn. Stat. § 259.24, subd. 1, gives three ways past a parent who will not consent — and the six-month abandonment presumption is switched off in exactly the case where stepparent adoptions arise.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-student-loan-borrower-rights-58b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-student-loan-borrower-rights-58b/Chapter 58B's private right of action is in § 58B.09, subd. 4 — not where most people look. Its 45-day notice and 30-day cure provisions are conditions on the claim, and they are why the class action is the enforcement vehicle.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tangible-personal-property-list-524-2-513/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tangible-personal-property-list-524-2-513/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-513 lets an unwitnessed, freely revisable list control who gets your tangible personal property — if your will says one sentence and you respect three exclusions.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unused-pto-payout/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unused-pto-payout/Minnesota has no statute requiring a vacation or PTO payout. The Supreme Court held § 181.13 is a timing statute — so the employer's own documents decide the case.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-used-car-warranty-325f662/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-used-car-warranty-325f662/Minn. Stat. § 325F.662 gives a car with 150,000 miles a warranty the same car would not get at 60,000 miles — and exempts franchised new-car dealers from the tier that covers it. The warranty also exists whether or not the dealer wrote one.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-zoning-variances-cup-462-357/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-zoning-variances-cup-462-357/Variances, conditional use permits, the 60-day rule of Minn. Stat. § 15.99, and why the forum for judicial review turns on whether a city or a county said no.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ancillary-probate-out-of-state/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ancillary-probate-out-of-state/Minnesota real estate in a nonresident's estate does not always require a Minnesota probate. Chapter 524, article 4 gives the out-of-state personal representative a route around it — one that any Minnesota creditor can shut down in 60 days.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assumed-name-333/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assumed-name-333/Skipping the ch. 333 assumed-name filing does not void your contracts. It stays your lawsuit until you file — and hands the other side $250 in costs whether they win or lose.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-bicycle-pedestrian-crash-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-bicycle-pedestrian-crash-claims/Two Minnesota rules decide these cases and almost nobody knows them: no traffic violation in chapter 169 is negligence per se, and a cyclist who rolls a stop sign with no car in the vicinity has broken no law at all.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-boundary-fences-344/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-boundary-fences-344/Chapter 344 makes adjoining landowners split the cost of a boundary fence — but since May 31, 2017, only where both parcels are used to produce or maintain livestock. The leading cases construe a trigger the Legislature deleted.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-breaking-a-lease-early/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-breaking-a-lease-early/Minnesota gives tenants four express termination rights, and since August 1, 2024, a non-waivable duty-to-mitigate statute that can end the lease outright when a landlord sits on an empty unit.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civic-leave-jury-voting-school/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civic-leave-jury-voting-school/Seven Minnesota leaves that have nothing to do with illness — what each one costs an employer, and why the remedy is almost always narrower than the duty.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-assault-battery/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-assault-battery/The elements are easy and the conviction is often already in hand. What actually decides these cases is a two-year clock with a six-year exception, and an insurance exclusion built to defeat exactly this claim.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-contempt-588/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-contempt-588/Minnesota's contempt power under chapter 588 — the civil/criminal line, the Hopp requirements, purge conditions, and why you cannot jail a judgment debtor.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-disclaiming-inheritance-524-2-1106/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-disclaiming-inheritance-524-2-1106/Minnesota's Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act has no time limit — the nine-month clock is federal tax law. But Minn. Stat. § 524.2-1106(b)(4) bars an insolvent disclaimant outright, and no federally qualified disclaimer gets around it.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dividing-retirement-qdro-divorce/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dividing-retirement-qdro-divorce/QDROs for ERISA plans, § 408(d)(6) transfers for IRAs, and what Minn. Stat. §§ 518.58 and 518.581 do for public pensions — plus the 18-month federal clock that ends with the money back in the participant's account.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-debt-fairness-act/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-debt-fairness-act/The 2024 Debt Fairness Act ended spousal liability for medical bills, banned medical debt credit reporting, and created a one-way fee shift for debtors who win. A precise look at ch. 332C — including what 'medical debt' excludes.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-name-change-259/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-name-change-259/Minn. Stat. §§ 259.10–.14 govern legal name changes — plus § 518.27 and § 517.08. Two of the routes are free by statute, one carries a criminal-history report to the BCA, and a felony conviction changes everything.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-negligent-security-premises/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-negligent-security-premises/Minnesota's premises duty is a duty to deter crime, not to prevent it. And after the supreme court's January 2026 decision in Glay v. R.C. of St. Cloud, the defense that used to end these cases is off the table.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nonprofit-317a-basics/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nonprofit-317a-basics/Minnesota nonprofit corporations don't have to be charitable, their directors are not trustees, and the volunteer-immunity statute has a hole exactly where the risk is. A practitioner's walk through ch. 317A, ch. 309, and ch. 501B.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-officer-director-duties-302a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-officer-director-duties-302a/Minnesota's director standard-of-conduct statute never mentions the business judgment rule. Here is what § 302A.251 does say, what the 2025 officer amendment changed, and where the real protection comes from.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-property-tax-appeal-278/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-property-tax-appeal-278/Chapter 278 petitions rarely die on the filing deadline. They die on May 16, on August 1, and on a one-way door in the Tax Court's Small Claims Division that closes 30 days after you walk through it.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-sales-representative-act-325e37/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-sales-representative-act-325e37/Minnesota's Termination of Sales Representatives Act does not make a rep un-fireable. It makes the manufacturer use a door it did not write into the contract — and it voids the out-of-state choice-of-law clause it relied on.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-special-assessment-appeals-429/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-special-assessment-appeals-429/Chapter 429 assessments are limited by the increase in market value the improvement produced. But the assessment roll is prima facie proof the city got it right, and a signed written objection at the hearing is what preserves the fight.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-summary-dissolution-518-195/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-summary-dissolution-518-195/Minn. Stat. § 518.195 lets a court administrator enter a divorce decree without a judge — but eight criteria frozen since 1997 disqualify nearly everyone, and the alternative is usually just as fast.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tips-gratuities-177-24/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tips-gratuities-177-24/Since August 1, 2024 a Minnesota employer must hand over the full credit-card tip with no deduction for processing. And a mandatory service charge is legally a gratuity unless the customer got notice in the right type size.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tree-damage-treble-561-04/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tree-damage-treble-561-04/Minn. Stat. § 561.04 trebles tree-trespass damages almost automatically. The fight is never about the multiplier — it is about the number being multiplied, and Minnesota's default measure of tree damage is the diminution in the value of the land.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unpaid-commissions-181-145/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unpaid-commissions-181-145/Minn. Stat. § 181.145 pays commission salespeople fast and penalizes employers who stall — but it covers independent contractors, not employees, and the penalty clock runs out four years before the contract clock does.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-auto-total-loss-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-auto-total-loss-claims/The 80 percent figure in Minnesota law is a title-branding trigger under ch. 168A. The statute that governs what your insurer must pay for a totaled car is § 72A.201, subd. 6 — and Morris holds you cannot sue to enforce it.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-conspiracy-aiding-abetting/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-civil-conspiracy-aiding-abetting/Minnesota has held since 1950 that there is no civil action for conspiracy. So why plead it? Because of what it does to joint and several liability under § 604.02.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-prompt-payment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-prompt-payment/Minn. Stat. § 337.10 is a pass-through statute with a 5% retainage cap and a mandatory fee shift. What it obligates, who is excluded, and how public projects work differently — including the new § 15.72 payment-transparency rule.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-conversion-civil-theft-604-14/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-conversion-civil-theft-604-14/Minn. Stat. § 604.14 can double a recovery for stolen property — but the word 'steals' has been read narrowly, there is no fee-shifting, and the independent-duty rule kills most business claims.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-criminal-expungement-609a-clean-slate/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-criminal-expungement-609a-clean-slate/Minnesota has automatically sealed nearly 1.9 million records. An automatic grant is still weaker than a petitioned order in three specific ways.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-defamation-law-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-defamation-law-guide/Minnesota had no working anti-SLAPP statute from 2017 to 2024. UPEPA rebuilt it — and three published decisions already show it is narrower than defendants expect.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-employee-handbook-as-contract/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-employee-handbook-as-contract/Minnesota reads a handbook provision by provision. In 2021 the Supreme Court held a general 'this is not a contract' disclaimer was ambiguous and sent the question to a fact-finder.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-eviction-expungement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-eviction-expungement/Minnesota tenants no longer have to prove the landlord's case was baseless. Here is what §484.014 requires now, and what expungement does to screening reports.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-fraud-misrepresentation-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-fraud-misrepresentation-claims/Minnesota measures fraud damages by out-of-pocket loss, not benefit of the bargain — and the negligence version of the claim usually is not available in an arm's-length deal.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parentage-act-257/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parentage-act-257/Under Minn. Stat. § 257.75, subd. 3, an ROP has the force of a parentage judgment — and the mother keeps sole custody until a court says otherwise. The adjudicated father is in a better procedural position than the one who signed at the hospital.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pet-trusts-501c-0408/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pet-trusts-501c-0408/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0408 makes a trust for an animal enforceable — and lets a court cut the funding if you leave too much. The drafting choices decide which happens.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-quiet-title-559-01/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-quiet-title-559-01/Minn. Stat. § 559.01 lets you clear an adverse claim only if you are in possession or the land is vacant. What the statute grants, what it does not reach, and why registered land runs on a different track.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-accidental-partnership-323a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-accidental-partnership-323a/Minnesota forms a partnership "whether or not the persons intend to form a partnership" — no filing, no agreement, and every partner personally liable for everything the business owes.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-custody-modification-518-18/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-custody-modification-518-18/Minn. Stat. § 518.18 imposes a one-year bar after the decree and a two-year bar after a prior motion — both with exceptions. The real chokepoint is Nice-Petersen and Goldman: no evidentiary hearing at all unless the affidavits alone make out four elements.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dissenters-rights-302a-471/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dissenters-rights-302a-471/Under Minn. Stat. §§ 302A.471 and 302A.473, a shareholder must object before the vote, demand within 30 days, and demand again within 30 days of the check — and cannot undo the deal absent fraud.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ebike-escooter-crash-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ebike-escooter-crash-claims/Minnesota's no-fault law never planned for e-bikes and rental scooters. The result is strange: struck by a car, a rider is often better insured than a motorcyclist.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-grandparent-third-party-custody-257c/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-grandparent-third-party-custody-257c/The statute on the page is not the law that applies — a Minnesota Supreme Court decision struck one subdivision and rewrote the burden of proof. I walk through where these cases are actually won and lost.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insurance-agent-negligence-failure-to-procure/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insurance-agent-negligence-failure-to-procure/A Minnesota jury can find your agent knew you were relying on him, knew you needed the coverage, and was 80% at fault — and you still lose. Failure to procure and the special-circumstances exception.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-landlord-entry-tenant-privacy-504b-211/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-landlord-entry-tenant-privacy-504b-211/Minn. Stat. § 504B.211 requires a reasonable business purpose, not less than 24 hours' notice, a stated time window, and entry between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Subdivision 6 attaches a per-violation penalty, rescission, and fees.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-liability-waivers-exculpatory-clauses/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-liability-waivers-exculpatory-clauses/Minnesota enforces liability waivers — but only if the release actually says the business is off the hook for its own negligence. A practitioner's guide to exculpatory clauses after Justice v. Marvel.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-life-insurance-beneficiary-disputes/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-life-insurance-beneficiary-disputes/Minnesota's revocation-on-divorce and slayer statutes are state law — and state law is exactly what ERISA and FEGLIA preempt. Same facts, three different outcomes.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-marital-vs-nonmarital-property/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-marital-vs-nonmarital-property/Minn. Stat. § 518.003, subd. 3b says the increase in value of nonmarital property is nonmarital. Nardini, Antone, and Baker read a marital-effort exception into that text — and the one nonmarital shelter § 518.58 cannot invade is not the one most clients assume.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-negligent-infliction-emotional-distress/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-negligent-infliction-emotional-distress/Minnesota's zone-of-danger rule decides who can bring an NIED claim, not what they can recover. A practitioner's guide to Engler, Stadler, K.A.C., and the three ways emotional distress becomes compensable.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-order-for-protection-vs-hro/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-order-for-protection-vs-hro/The OFP/HRO choice is decided by the relationship, not the severity of the conduct — and it controls firearms, custody, and every other remedy available.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parental-relocation-518-175/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parental-relocation-518-175/The relocation statute governs only an out-of-state move, only by the parent the child lives with, and only where the decree has no locale restriction. Miss one and the motion is governed by § 518.18's endangerment standard instead — and the burden allocation usually decides the rest.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-promissory-estoppel/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-promissory-estoppel/Minnesota calls promissory estoppel equitable — which usually means no jury, a judge deciding "injustice" as a policy question, and a remedy that can be cut to what you actually lost.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-right-of-disposition-149a80/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-right-of-disposition-149a80/Not your executor, not your agent under a power of attorney, and not necessarily your family. A twelve-rung statutory ladder decides — and it decides fast.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-sexual-abuse-civil-statute-541-073/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-sexual-abuse-civil-statute-541-073/Minn. Stat. § 541.073 sets different limitations rules for perpetrators, negligent institutions, and vicarious liability claims. A close reading of the current statute text and the 2013 amendments.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-spousal-maintenance-518-552/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-spousal-maintenance-518-552/Minn. Stat. § 518.552 once told courts to award permanent maintenance whenever the need was uncertain. Since August 1, 2024, three rebuttable presumptions keyed to the length of the marriage decide duration instead — and the modification standard is no longer where practitioners look for it.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-time-barred-debt-acknowledgment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-time-barred-debt-acknowledgment/Minn. Stat. § 541.053, effective August 1, 2013, provides that an expired consumer-debt limitations period "is not revived by the collection of a payment on an account, a discharge in a bankruptcy proceeding, or an oral or written reaffirmation of the debt."Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tortious-interference-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tortious-interference-claims/Kallok v. Medtronic lets a plaintiff recover the attorney fees of the underlying contract suit as damages from the interferer. Sysdyne Corp. v. Rousslang lets a defendant defeat the same claim by reasonably relying on incorrect advice of counsel.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-truth-in-repairs-act-325f56/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-truth-in-repairs-act-325f56/Minn. Stat. §§ 325F.56–.66 govern auto, appliance, and dwelling repairs. Laws 2024, ch. 114, art. 3, § 48 struck the upper dollar limit — the big-ticket engine job is now inside the Act, with treble punitive damages available under § 325F.63.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unjust-enrichment-quantum-meruit/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unjust-enrichment-quantum-meruit/In Minnesota, "unjust" means closer to unlawful than to unfair — and a legal remedy you had but never used will defeat the claim. What actually has to be pleaded and proved.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-well-and-septic-disclosure-at-closing/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-well-and-septic-disclosure-at-closing/Minnesota's well disclosure certificate can block a county recorder from accepting your deed. The septic disclosure cannot — and the statute says so in as many words.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-termination-reason-letter-181-933/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-termination-reason-letter-181-933/A fired Minnesota employee has 15 working days to demand the truthful reason for the termination in writing — and the employer has ten working days to answer.Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-debt-buyer-judgments-548-101/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-debt-buyer-judgments-548-101/Minn. Stat. § 548.101 makes a debt buyer prove its case even when nobody shows up — seven evidentiary items, and a missing one is grounds to attack the judgment.Sun, 16 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mortgage-foreclosure-by-action-581/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mortgage-foreclosure-by-action-581/Minn. Stat. ch. 581 lets a mortgagee foreclose through a lawsuit instead of a sheriff's advertisement. The chapter is twelve sections long, and the reason to use it lives in § 582.30: the deficiency judgment.Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-digital-assets-fiduciary-access-521a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-digital-assets-fiduciary-access-521a/Under Minn. Stat. ch. 521A, a custodian's online tool beats your will, your will beats the terms of service, and without express consent your executor gets the envelope information — never the letters.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-severance-release-agreements/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-severance-release-agreements/Minnesota severance releases carry a 15-day rescission right, a federal 21-day clock for workers 40+, and a list of claims no employer can purchase at any price.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-conciliation-court-491a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-conciliation-court-491a/Minnesota's conciliation court now hears claims up to $20,000. Filing, service, trial, the 21-day removal window, and turning the judgment into money.Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-new-home-warranties-327a/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-new-home-warranties-327a/Minn. Stat. ch. 327A gives every new-home buyer 1-, 2-, and 10-year statutory warranties the builder cannot waive. Sixteen exclusions, a six-month written-notice rule, and a mandatory repair process decide who actually collects.Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-small-loans-47-60/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-small-loans-47-60/Minn. Stat. § 47.60 caps a consumer small loan at $350, 30 days, and an APR of 50 percent that includes every fee. A 2026 amendment extended the definition of lender to anyone arranging the loan — and the Revisor's codified display does not yet show it.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-corporate-farming-law-500-24/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-corporate-farming-law-500-24/Minn. Stat. § 500.24 prohibits corporations, LLCs, trusts, limited partnerships, and pension or investment funds from farming or owning agricultural land — unless the entity fits one of twenty enumerated definitions, has a conservation plan, and files an annual report. General partnerships are outside the subdivision entirely.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-discriminatory-covenant-discharge-507-18/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-discriminatory-covenant-discharge-507-18/Minn. Stat. § 507.18, subd. 2 voids the covenant regardless of the year the instrument was executed. The free statutory form in subdivisions 5 and 6 is a title record, not a change in the legal effect — and by its own terms it is unavailable on Torrens property.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-educational-data-13-32/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-educational-data-13-32/Under 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(d), FERPA rights pass to the student at 18 or on attending a postsecondary institution — whichever comes first. Minn. Stat. § 13.32 then supplies nineteen clauses of permitted disclosure, a parent veto over juvenile justice requests, and a ban on monitoring school-issued devices.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-eminent-domain-minimum-compensation-117/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-eminent-domain-minimum-compensation-117/Minn. Stat. § 117.031(a) compares the final award to the condemning authority's last written offer, not to its appraisal, and the Minnesota Supreme Court has held the 40 percent figure is a minimum eligibility threshold with the amount set by lodestar. Sections 117.186 and 117.187 add going-concern and minimum-compensation damages, each on its own conditions.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-execution-levy-chapter-551/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-execution-levy-chapter-551/Under Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subd. 2, cl. (5), a garnishee retains the debtor's money until a writ of execution is served. Chapter 551 — attorney's summary execution — is the step that converts a freeze into a payment, and it has its own caps, notices, and void-on-failure rules.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-genetic-testing-employment-181-974/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-genetic-testing-employment-181-974/Minn. Stat. § 181.974 has no employer-size threshold, no agency to exhaust, and a treble-damages private action. It also protects less information than GINA does, and it has no exceptions at all.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-home-solicitation-sales-cancellation-325g/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-home-solicitation-sales-cancellation-325g/Minn. Stat. §§ 325G.06–.11 give a three-business-day right to cancel a home solicitation sale. The sentence governing a seller who never gave notice is in § 325G.08, subd. 2 — and I read it as answering how the buyer may cancel, not, in terms, the deadline.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-invasion-of-privacy-tort/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-invasion-of-privacy-tort/Minnesota recognized no common-law privacy tort until 1998. Lake v. Wal-Mart adopted three branches and refused a fourth — and it decided nothing about the elements, which later cases have mostly narrowed.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-manufactured-home-park-lot-leases-327c/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-manufactured-home-park-lot-leases-327c/Minn. Stat. ch. 327C gives lot leases seven statutory termination grounds plus park closure, and § 327C.02, subd. 2a, can leave a park owner winning the rule fight and still not getting possession. Chapter 504B keeps applying underneath — I map exactly where.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-naig-settlement-subrogation-176-061/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-naig-settlement-subrogation-176-061/Under Naig v. Bloomington Sanitation and Minn. Stat. § 176.061, an injured employee can settle the damages a compensation carrier has no subrogation interest in — on notice, and on proof of what the settlement covers. The opinion says the employee gives up the statutory one-third in exchange.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-polygraph-honesty-testing-181-75/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-polygraph-honesty-testing-181-75/Minn. Stat. § 181.75 bars an employer from soliciting or requiring 'a polygraph, voice stress analysis, or any test purporting to test the honesty' of an employee or applicant — words that are not limited to a machine — and backs it with a misdemeanor, an attorney general injunction, and a private action with fees.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-employee-personnel-data-13-43/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-employee-personnel-data-13-43/Minn. Stat. § 13.43 makes eight categories of government personnel data public, voids confidentiality terms in public-employment settlements, and applies that rule to court orders too.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-social-security-number-restrictions-325e59/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-social-security-number-restrictions-325e59/Minn. Stat. § 325E.59 imposes seven prohibitions on a private business's use of Social Security numbers plus an affirmative access-control duty — and contains no penalty, damages, or enforcement subdivision at all. The remedy question has to be answered from outside the section.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tenant-lockout-504b375/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tenant-lockout-504b375/Minn. Stat. § 504B.375 lets a locked-out residential tenant present a verified petition and get an immediate possession order enforced by the sheriff. The section supplies possession, costs, and fees — the damages live in other sections.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unemployment-quit-misconduct-268-095/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unemployment-quit-misconduct-268-095/Minnesota defines employment misconduct by statute, then carves ten categories back out of it. Most unemployment denials are won or lost inside that list, not on the appeal deadline.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wage-deductions-181-79/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wage-deductions-181-79/Minnesota conditions a deduction for a broken tool or a till shortage on a writing the employee signs after the loss occurred — or on a court judgment. Any contrary agreement is void, and the remedy is double.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workers-compensation-attorney-fees-176-081/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workers-compensation-attorney-fees-176-081/In a chapter 176 case the fee is not what my retainer says — it is what Minn. Stat. § 176.081 says: 20 percent of the first $275,000, capped at $55,000 per injury. Laws 2026, ch. 103, § 9 finally conformed the required notice, effective May 19, 2026.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workers-compensation-exclusive-remedy-176-031/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workers-compensation-exclusive-remedy-176-031/Minn. Stat. § 176.031 makes workers' compensation the employer's exclusive liability — then hands the employee of an uninsured employer a choice, and strips that employer of the fellow-servant, assumption-of-risk, and contributory-negligence defenses.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workers-compensation-retaliation-176-82/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-workers-compensation-retaliation-176-82/Minn. Stat. § 176.82 holds two claims. Subdivision 1 runs against 'any person' and carries fees plus punitive damages up to three times the compensation benefit. Subdivision 2 is a capped one-year-wages claim that never touches an employer with 15 or fewer full-time equivalent employees.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-abandoned-tenant-property-504b271/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-abandoned-tenant-property-504b271/Minn. Stat. § 504B.271 and § 504B.365, subd. 3, run on different clocks, different sale procedures, and different liability. Which applies turns on how the tenant left and where the property is stored.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-antenuptial-agreement-519-11/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-antenuptial-agreement-519-11/Minn. Stat. § 519.11 invites the parties to bar each other of all rights in their respective estates. Minn. Stat. § 524.2-213 construes that exact formula as waiving the elective share alone. Two statutes, two sets of formalities, and one drafting habit that fails both.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assignment-of-rents-559-17/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assignment-of-rents-559-17/Minn. Stat. § 559.17 is titled 'Mortgage Not a Conveyance; Mortgagee Cannot Possess.' Subdivision 2 is the way around it, and every condition in it is load-bearing.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-claim-against-the-state-3736/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-claim-against-the-state-3736/Minn. Stat. § 3.736, subd. 5 requires notice to the attorney general and to every state employee from whom compensation will be sought. Chapter 466 requires one letter to a governing body. That is the smallest difference between the two acts, and the one that ends cases.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-confession-of-judgment-548-22/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-confession-of-judgment-548-22/Minn. Stat. § 548.22 and § 548.23 authorize judgment without an action. Section 548.23 requires the authorizing instrument to be 'distinct from' the instrument evidencing the debt, and 16 C.F.R. § 444.2(a)(1) removes the device entirely from consumer credit.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-data-practices-request-13-04/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-data-practices-request-13-04/Chapter 13 gives the subject of government data four separate rights: the Tennessen warning, a ten-business-day access clock, a 30-day correction procedure, and § 13.08 damages. The use limit in § 13.05, subd. 4 is the one with teeth.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-defamation-self-publication-employment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-defamation-self-publication-employment/Minnesota lets a fired employee sue over a defamatory statement only the employee ever repeated. But the qualified privilege, the proof standard from Rouse, and a one-sentence statute defeat most of these claims before a jury sees them.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-earned-sick-and-safe-time/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-earned-sick-and-safe-time/The 1-hour-per-30-worked rule is the easy part. The exposure sits in the 80-hour carryover bank, the attendance-point prohibition, and a damages provision that fixes liability at 48 hours a year when the employer has no records.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-false-statements-inducing-employment-181-64/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-false-statements-inducing-employment-181-64/Section 181.64 bars inducing a worker to relocate by knowingly lying about the job; § 181.65 supplies actual damages plus attorney fees. The limits are the whole story.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-hoa-assessment-lien-515b/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-hoa-assessment-lien-515b/MCIOA subordinates an association's assessment lien to any first mortgage, then attaches six months of common expenses to whoever takes title out of the foreclosure. I work through § 515B.3-116 and the 2026 amendments.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-lis-pendens-557-02/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-lis-pendens-557-02/Minn. Stat. § 557.02 lets any party to an action affecting title record a lis pendens without a judge. What the statute requires instead — and what a wrongly recorded notice actually exposes you to.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-marketable-title-act-541-023/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-marketable-title-act-541-023/Everyone knows the 40-year rule in Minn. Stat. § 541.023. The useful law is in the exceptions: registered land, persons in possession, railroads and religious corporations, and covenants that run on a different clock entirely.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-biometric-privacy-act/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-biometric-privacy-act/Minnesota Statutes use the word 'biometric' in 17 sections, and none of them is an Illinois-style BIPA. What actually reaches a fingerprint, faceprint, or voiceprint in Minnesota is chapter 13, one honesty-testing statute, and a school fingerprint-card rule.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pregnancy-accommodations-parental-leave/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pregnancy-accommodations-parental-leave/The accommodation statute practitioners still cite was repealed in 2021. Here is where the duty actually lives now, why a four-person employer owes it, and what can and cannot be counted against the 12-week leave.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-rule-68-offers-of-judgment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-rule-68-offers-of-judgment/Minn. R. Civ. P. 68 shifts costs, but only if the offer 'expressly refers to Rule 68.' Minn. Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1(b), reallocates interest off any written offer. Different clocks, different comparisons, and a zone where one does nothing.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-social-media-manipulation-act-325m/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-social-media-manipulation-act-325m/Sections 325M.30–.34 compel a platform to publish statistics about itself and give no one a private cause of action. Section 325M.40, added by Laws 2026, ch. 111, creates a $10,000 statutory-damages claim for a child or parent — effective July 1, 2027.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-supplementary-proceedings-575-02/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-supplementary-proceedings-575-02/Minn. Stat. § 575.02 hands a creditor an order compelling the debtor to appear and answer under oath — but only after an execution issued to the right sheriff comes back unsatisfied. Chapter 575 then does far more than ask questions.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-torrens-registered-land/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-torrens-registered-land/What Torrens registration under Minn. Stat. ch. 508 really cuts off, the seven exceptions in § 508.25, and why a reference on the record is not notice while off-record knowledge is.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-veterans-preference-197-46/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-veterans-preference-197-46/Section 197.46 gives a covered veteran a hearing before removal and names mandamus as the remedy — which in Minnesota means a jury-triable civil action carrying a damages judgment.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wage-theft-notice-181-032/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wage-theft-notice-181-032/Minnesota made wage theft a theft offense — but the criminal clause borrowed its measuring stick from the notice and earnings-statement requirements of § 181.032. The paperwork is the case.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-attorney-lien-481-13/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-attorney-lien-481-13/Minn. Stat. § 481.13 gives a lawyer a lien on the cause of action itself from service of the summons — and under City of Oronoco the cause-of-action lien needs no filing to outrank third parties. What the fired lawyer recovers is reasonable value, not the contract fee.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-collecting-a-judgment-docketing-liens/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-collecting-a-judgment-docketing-liens/Entry, docketing, and execution are three different acts. Under Minn. Stat. § 548.09, subd. 1, the lien begins at docketing but the judgment survives only ten years from entry — and renewing an ordinary money judgment under § 541.04 means filing a new lawsuit, not a form.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-digital-assets-fiduciary-access/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-digital-assets-fiduciary-access/Minn. Stat. ch. 521A gives a personal representative the catalog of a decedent's electronic communications by default and the content only with consent — and a provider's online tool overrides your will.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-discovery-sanctions-spoliation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-discovery-sanctions-spoliation/Minnesota sanctions evidence lost before suit under a court's inherent authority, and it has no spoliation tort. Rule 37.05's federal-style intent-to-deprive threshold reaches only electronically stored information.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-homestead-exempt-property-family-allowance/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-homestead-exempt-property-family-allowance/Homestead descent, the $15,000 exempt property selection, and the family allowance outrank creditors and the will under Minn. Stat. §§ 524.2-402 to 524.2-405 — but the homestead right is deemed waived unless the spouse files. I explain the clock.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-informal-vs-formal-probate/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-informal-vs-formal-probate/Informal probate is granted by a registrar, not a judge, and Minn. Stat. § 524.3-711 lets the personal representative deal with estate property 'without notice, hearing, or order of court' — real estate 30 days after letters issue. Minnesota repealed its counterpart to the UPC's notice of appointment to heirs in 1975.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-intestate-succession/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-intestate-succession/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-102 does not give the whole estate to a surviving spouse whenever there are stepchildren on either side — including the surviving spouse's own children from a prior relationship.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mandatory-adr-rule-114/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mandatory-adr-rule-114/Under Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 114.04(b), a party who will not agree on an ADR process does not avoid ADR — the court 'shall order' a non-binding one. Seven exceptions, a separate inability-to-pay provision, and a 21-day clock that turns a 'non-binding' arbitration award into an unappealable judgment.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-omitted-spouse-and-children/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-omitted-spouse-and-children/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-301 gives a spouse married after the will an intestate share, and § 524.2-302 protects only children born or adopted after the will was signed. Both statutes are narrower than they look.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-personal-representative-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-personal-representative-liability/Minn. Stat. § 524.3-712 measures a personal representative's breach 'to the same extent as a trustee of an express trust,' and § 524.3-1005 bars claims six months after the closing statement — except for three things it does not cover.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pod-and-joint-accounts/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-pod-and-joint-accounts/Minn. Stat. § 524.6-204(d) lets a will change a survivorship or POD designation by specific reference. That is not the rule in most states, and the exception is narrower than it sounds.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-property-insurance-appraisal-65a01/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-property-insurance-appraisal-65a01/Minn. Stat. § 65A.01, subd. 3 writes appraisal into every Minnesota fire policy — 20 days to name an appraiser, an itemized award of any two — and provides that nothing is waived by a proceeding relating to appraisal. Hail runs on § 65A.26's ten days and one year.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-revocation-by-divorce/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-revocation-by-divorce/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-804 revokes beneficiary designations to a former spouse by operation of law, survived a Contracts Clause challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, and was broadened in 2025.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-rule-11-sanctions-549211-safe-harbor/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-rule-11-sanctions-549211-safe-harbor/Minn. R. Civ. P. 11 and Minn. Stat. § 549.211 both bar filing a sanctions motion until 21 days after it is served. Skip the window and Minnesota courts reject the motion — even where the conduct violated the rule.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-rule-35-medical-examination/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-rule-35-medical-examination/Minn. R. Civ. P. 35 never uses the word 'independent' — the scheduling rule does. What the rule actually requires is a motion, a condition 'in controversy,' 'good cause shown,' and an order specifying manner, conditions, scope and examiner. And requesting the examiner's report widens your privilege waiver beyond the case.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-securities-act-80a-exemptions/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-securities-act-80a-exemptions/Minn. Stat. § 80A.49 makes offering a security unlawful unless one of three exits applies — and § 80A.70(a) puts the burden of proving the exit on the issuer. The § 80A.76(b) registration claim needs no proof of intent and expires one year after the violation.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-security-deposit-504b178/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-security-deposit-504b178/Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 4, the penalty turns on whether a written statement went out within three weeks — the withheld amount again, on top of what was wrongfully withheld, plus up to $500 for each deposit in bad faith under subd. 7.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-small-estate-affidavit/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-small-estate-affidavit/Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1201 moves a $75,000 estate on an affidavit with no court involvement — and the same statute is a collection tool the State can point back at you.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-will-contest-capacity-undue-influence/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-will-contest-capacity-undue-influence/Minn. Stat. § 524.3-720 pays a nominated personal representative's fees out of the estate whether or not the will he defends is admitted — which rewrites the economics of every Minnesota will contest before anybody reaches the merits.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-will-execution-harmless-error/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-will-execution-harmless-error/Minn. Stat. § 524.2-503 lets a court probate a will that fails the execution formalities on clear and convincing evidence of intent. It began as a temporary COVID window and was made permanent in 2021.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fcra-standing-after-transunion-ramirez/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fcra-standing-after-transunion-ramirez/The Supreme Court held that a statutory violation is not itself an injury. For FCRA plaintiffs the practical dividing line became whether the false information was ever sent to anyone — and 6,332 of 8,185 class members lost on that.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fcra-willfulness-safeco-standard/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fcra-willfulness-safeco-standard/Reckless disregard counts as willful — but only where the defendant's reading of the statute was objectively unreasonable. That single word decides whether a case is worth $100 to $1,000 per violation or nothing but proven actual damages.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/furnisher-liability-1681s2-private-right/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/furnisher-liability-1681s2-private-right/The FCRA gives consumers a private action against furnishers under § 1681s-2(b) only. Subsection (a) is enforceable by regulators alone — and (b) duties are triggered only by a dispute routed through a credit bureau.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/miller-shugart-stipulated-judgment-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/miller-shugart-stipulated-judgment-minnesota/Miller v. Shugart, 316 N.W.2d 729 (Minn. 1982), lets an insured settle a claim collectible only from the policy. The claimant then carries the burden of proving the settlement was reasonable — to a judge, never to a jury.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-appeal-deadlines-what-is-appealable/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-appeal-deadlines-what-is-appealable/In Minnesota the 60-day appeal clock runs from entry for a judgment but from service of written notice of filing for an order — and the motions that toll it are a closed list.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-elective-share-spouse-524-2-202/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-elective-share-spouse-524-2-202/Minnesota's elective share reaches past the will into revocable trusts, beneficiary designations, and joint accounts — but nine months after death, the nonprobate transfers drop out of the calculation.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-long-arm-personal-jurisdiction-543-19/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-long-arm-personal-jurisdiction-543-19/Minn. Stat. § 543.19 reaches as far as due process allows, so the statute almost never decides the motion. Minnesota's five-factor constitutional test does — and in my experience quality of contacts beats quantity every time.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-provider-liens-514-68/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-provider-liens-514-68/Minn. Stat. §§ 514.68–514.72 give hospitals — and only hospitals — a lien on the injury claim itself. The perfection clock is ten days, the enforcement clock is two years, and an inflated lien statement can void the lien entirely.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-responsible-person-tax-liability-270c56/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-responsible-person-tax-liability-270c56/Minn. Stat. § 270C.56 reaches the owner on a track that has nothing to do with veil piercing: no fraud, no unity of interest, no injustice finding — and, unlike federal law, no willfulness element at all.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-revoking-acceptance-lemon-law/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-revoking-acceptance-lemon-law/Under Minn. Stat. § 336.2-608 a buyer who has accepted goods must prove substantial impairment, not just a defect. And § 325F.665's repair-attempt, out-of-service, and coverage thresholds exclude more buyers than they cover.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unemployment-appeal-268-105/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unemployment-appeal-268-105/One telephone hearing builds the only record that will ever exist. Minn. Stat. § 268.105 closes it, and every deadline in the appeal path is written in calendar days.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-vacating-default-judgment-60-02/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-vacating-default-judgment-60-02/Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02 never mentions the four-factor test. It comes from a 1952 case decided under a repealed statute — and the factor that sinks most motions is the one movants treat as the other side's burden.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/proving-damages-in-a-credit-reporting-case/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/proving-damages-in-a-credit-reporting-case/Section 1681o pays actual damages. Section 1681n adds statutory and punitive damages but demands willfulness. Both shift fees. What separates a provable case from a frustrating one is almost always a paper trail somebody built months before I saw the file.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/schmidt-clothier-uim-notice-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/schmidt-clothier-uim-notice-minnesota/Schmidt v. Clothier buys your underinsured-motorist carrier 30 days' written notice before you release the at-fault driver. American Family v. Baumann made skipping it presumptively fatal — and handed you the burden of proving no harm was done.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/what-a-reasonable-reinvestigation-requires/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/what-a-reasonable-reinvestigation-requires/The FCRA demands a reasonable reinvestigation and procedures assuring maximum possible accuracy. The automated dispute pipeline is built to ask one question — and there are whole categories of error it structurally cannot find.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-peace-officer-discipline-626-89/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-peace-officer-discipline-626-89/Minn. Stat. § 626.89 is written for officers under investigation. For a civil plaintiff, it decides what investigative material has to exist — and a 2026 amendment just widened it.Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-strip-search-jail-fourth-amendment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-strip-search-jail-fourth-amendment/Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders is overstated in both directions. Here is the precise scope of the intake-search rule, the questions the Court expressly reserved, and what the Eighth Circuit still treats as actionable.Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/police-k9-bite-excessive-force-eighth-circuit/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/police-k9-bite-excessive-force-eighth-circuit/Minnesota K-9 bite cases run on specific Eighth Circuit law about warnings, bite duration, and qualified immunity — not on Graham v. Connor alone.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-municipal-immunity-exceptions/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-municipal-immunity-exceptions/Minn. Stat. § 466.03 enumerates 29 exceptions to Minnesota municipal tort liability. Subdivision 1 makes landing in one of them immunity rather than common law, and subdivisions 7 and 15 make the list open-ended.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-procedural-due-process-property-liberty/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-procedural-due-process-property-liberty/State law creates property interests; the Constitution does not. Roth, Perry, Loudermill, and Mathews v. Eldridge, applied to Minnesota public employment, licenses, and benefits.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-bank-arbitration-clause-what-to-look-for/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-bank-arbitration-clause-what-to-look-for/Minn. Stat. § 572B.04 lists what a pre-dispute arbitration clause may not take away: the § 572B.16 right to a lawyer, the § 572B.12 neutral-arbitrator disclosures, and the § 572B.07 and § 572B.23 court role. What the arbitrator may award you, under § 572B.21, is on neither list.Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-malpractice-trial-procedure/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-malpractice-trial-procedure/Minn. Stat. § 604.11 is not a trial statute — the word 'verdict' does not appear in it. It is a discovery statute with three subdivisions, and one sentence in subdivision 2 gives every party an absolute veto over ADR.Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-employee-first-amendment-speech/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-employee-first-amendment-speech/Pickering balancing, Connick's public-concern threshold, and Garcetti's official-duties rule — plus the Eighth Circuit's allocation of the burden on workplace disruption.Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-false-arrest-and-probable-cause/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-false-arrest-and-probable-cause/For a Fourth Amendment false arrest claim, probable cause is a complete defense — and in the Eighth Circuit, even arguable probable cause ends it. The Supreme Court has twice reshaped the malicious prosecution claim since 2022, and the Eighth Circuit added a requirement in 2025.Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-receivership-chapter-576-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-receivership-chapter-576-guide/Minnesota's receivership statute, Minn. Stat. ch. 576, distinguishes general from limited receivers and gives a court-appointed stranger control of the assets. For owners it is an emergency; for buyers of distressed assets it is an opportunity.Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1983-damages-nominal-compensatory-punitive/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1983-damages-nominal-compensatory-punitive/A constitutional violation is not priced by the importance of the right. Carey, Stachura, Smith v. Wade, and City of Newport set what a § 1983 plaintiff can actually recover — and from whom.Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/personal-guaranty-minnesota-business-owner/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/personal-guaranty-minnesota-business-owner/A personal guaranty is a separate contract that survives your company's collapse and its bankruptcy. Minnesota's statute of frauds requires it in writing — and I find the waivers buried in the boilerplate are usually more dangerous than the guaranty itself.Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-arbitration-account-you-never-opened/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-arbitration-account-you-never-opened/Can a bank use the arbitration clause in an account you did open to force arbitration of claims about an account you never opened? Minnesota has a rule about contracts that never existed — and it does not answer this question.Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-jail-suicide-failure-to-protect/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-jail-suicide-failure-to-protect/Farmer v. Brennan's deliberate-indifference standard applied to suicide and inmate-on-inmate violence — the two prongs, the Eighth Circuit's subjective rule, and the Minnesota jail standards that generate the proof.Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-prejudgment-interest-on-verdicts/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-prejudgment-interest-on-verdicts/Minn. Stat. § 549.09 runs interest across three separate periods computed by three different officials, and subdivisions 3 and 4 apply every payment to disbursements, then accrued interest, and only then to principal.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/chatrie-geofence-warrants-minnesota-got-there-first/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/chatrie-geofence-warrants-minnesota-got-there-first/In Chatrie v. United States, a divided Supreme Court held that pulling a person's location data from Google is a search. Minnesota's Legislature required a warrant for exactly that in 2014 — before Carpenter, and long before this term.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-first-amendment-retaliatory-arrest/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-first-amendment-retaliatory-arrest/Nieves v. Bartlett requires a retaliatory-arrest plaintiff to plead and prove the absence of probable cause, with one narrow exception. In the Eighth Circuit the bar is higher still — and Minnesota's obstruction statute is where the fight actually happens.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/prison-litigation-reform-act-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/prison-litigation-reform-act-minnesota/Exhaustion, the physical-injury rule, the fee cap, and three strikes. The PLRA decides prisoner cases before anyone reaches the constitutional question — here is how each piece works.Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-brady-claims-section-1983/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-brady-claims-section-1983/Why a Minnesota wrongful-conviction damages case is decided on the prosecutorial-investigative line and the Eighth Circuit's bad-faith rule, not on the Brady violation itself.Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-three-privacy-regimes/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-three-privacy-regimes/Minn. Stat. § 325E.61, chapter 325M, and chapter 13 run on three different definitions, three different triggers, and three different enforcers — and § 13.05, subd. 11 pulls private contractors into the Data Practices Act whether or not the contract says a word about it.Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-member-dispute-buyout/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-member-dispute-buyout/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0701 lets a Minnesota LLC member petition a court when those in control act illegally, fraudulently, or oppressively. The remedy I care about is not dissolution — it is a court-ordered buyout at fair value.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/wells-fargo-forged-signatures-arbitration/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/wells-fargo-forged-signatures-arbitration/Wells Fargo opened accounts its customers never authorized — then enforced the arbitration clauses in the accounts they did authorize. How the maneuver worked, and where a Minnesotan's version of it would be decided.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-collateral-deduction/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-collateral-deduction/Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, subd. 1 orders the court to subtract no-fault benefits from a tort recovery — with no motion, no deadline, and, in the ordinary Minnesota crash, no subrogation right on the other side. The money does not go back to the carrier. It stays with the defendant.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-exoneration-compensation-590-11/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-exoneration-compensation-590-11/Minn. Stat. § 590.11 and the Incarceration and Exoneration Remedies Act give an exonerated Minnesotan a damages route that does not depend on proving anyone violated the Constitution.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/monsanto-durnell-fifra-preemption-minnesota-farms/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/monsanto-durnell-fifra-preemption-minnesota-farms/The Supreme Court held that federal pesticide law preempts a state failure-to-warn claim over Roundup's label. The rule it used came from a case about a device made in Fridley — and Minnesota's own statute makes the federal label binding here.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1983-who-can-be-sued-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1983-who-can-be-sued-minnesota/Section 1983 creates no rights — it enforces them. Who counts as a 'person,' why official-capacity and individual-capacity suits are two different lawsuits, and the Eighth Circuit pleading rule that has killed Minnesota claims on a caption.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mhra-or-federal-choosing-your-forum/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mhra-or-federal-choosing-your-forum/Damages caps, jury rights, fee shifting, exhaustion, and the election-of-remedies provisions in Minn. Stat. §§ 363A.04, 363A.07, and 363A.33 — the tradeoffs behind choosing a statute, not a calendar.Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assignment-what-claims-can-be-sold/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-assignment-what-claims-can-be-sold/Maslowski v. Prospect Funding Partners abolished champerty in 2020 and, in 2023, held that a litigation financing agreement is not subject to Minn. Stat. § 334.01's usury cap. What survives is unconscionability — a doctrine that lives entirely in the document.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-certificate-of-existence/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-certificate-of-existence/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0207 routes an LLC certificate to § 5.12, and § 5.26 defines good standing as compliance with Secretary of State filing requirements. That is all it certifies. Not taxes, not solvency, not authority.Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/piercing-corporate-veil-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/piercing-corporate-veil-minnesota/Forming an LLC or a corporation is not the end of the analysis. Under Victoria Elevator Co. v. Meriden Grain Co., Minnesota courts pierce the corporate veil on a two-prong test — a non-exclusive list of relationship factors, plus injustice or fundamental unfairness.Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/tennessee-v-garner-fleeing-suspect-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/tennessee-v-garner-fleeing-suspect-minnesota/Garner set the constitutional floor for shooting a fleeing suspect. Minn. Stat. § 609.066, subd. 2(a)(2) sits well above it — and the felony is only half the test.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/the-courthouse-door-is-narrowing/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/the-courthouse-door-is-narrowing/A Minnesota consumer lawyer on three quiet forces—tougher pleading rules, buried class-action waivers, and plain cost—that are shutting ordinary people out of the courts.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-data-practices-building-a-civil-rights-case/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-data-practices-building-a-civil-rights-case/Minnesota's Data Practices Act gives a data subject a ten-business-day response deadline, a written-denial requirement that must cite a statute, and two enforcement tracks. Most people use none of it.Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-non-compete-ban-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-non-compete-ban-guide/Minn. Stat. § 181.988 makes employee non-competes void and unenforceable, with only two narrow exceptions — but it applies only to contracts and agreements entered into on or after July 1, 2023. Older agreements are still governed by common-law reasonableness review.Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1988-attorney-fees-civil-rights/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1988-attorney-fees-civil-rights/42 U.S.C. § 1988 lets a prevailing civil rights plaintiff collect fees from the defendant. Who counts as prevailing, how the lodestar works, and the traps I watch for — Buckhannon, nominal damages, Rule 68, and fee waivers bargained into a settlement.Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-management-structure/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-management-structure/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0407 recognizes member-managed, manager-managed, and board-managed LLCs. The default is member-managed, the election lives in the operating agreement, and what the articles say about it does not control.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-death-in-custody-who-can-sue/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-death-in-custody-who-can-sue/Section 1983 says a violator is liable 'to the party injured,' and says nothing about who sues when the injured party is dead. Federal law sends that question to Minnesota's wrongful death statute — and the Eighth Circuit has enforced it against an estate that got the wrong appointment.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/pung-tax-forfeiture-surplus-after-tyler/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/pung-tax-forfeiture-surplus-after-tyler/Tyler v. Hennepin County made it unconstitutional for a county to keep your surplus after a tax forfeiture. In Pung v. Isabella County, the Court held the surplus is measured by the auction price — not what the home was worth. Minnesota homeowners have six months to claim it.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-accommodations-363a11/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-public-accommodations-363a11/A private plaintiff under ADA Title III gets injunctive relief and fees, not money. Minn. Stat. § 363A.11 reaches damages — but § 363A.331 requires a pre-suit notice, with at least 60 days to respond, before counsel files an architectural-barrier case.Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-fair-housing-discrimination-363a09/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-fair-housing-discrimination-363a09/Minn. Stat. § 363A.09 protects creed, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and status with regard to public assistance — classes the federal Fair Housing Act does not list. That gap decides which statute you sue under.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-delegation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-delegation/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0807 lets a trustee delegate to anyone, including an affiliate. The liability shield in paragraph (c) is conditional on selection, scope, and ongoing monitoring — and Minnesota's Prudent Investor Act has no separate delegation rule.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/hemani-cannabis-firearms-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/hemani-cannabis-firearms-minnesota/In United States v. Hemani, the Supreme Court held that prosecuting a marijuana user for keeping a gun at home violated the Second Amendment. Minnesota's firearms statute already carved out adult-use and medical cannabis. The two systems still do not line up.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-police-state-law-claims-vs-1983/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-police-state-law-claims-vs-1983/A § 1983 claim and a Minnesota battery claim arising from the same arrest run on different immunities, different damages ceilings, and different clocks. Pleading only one is a decision, and it is usually made by accident.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ada-title-ii-law-enforcement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ada-title-ii-law-enforcement/Title II of the ADA reaches police departments, and the Eighth Circuit has applied it to the transport of a disabled arrestee. Whether it reaches the arrest itself is still open — the Supreme Court declined to answer.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fs-credit-saba-investment-company-act-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fs-credit-saba-investment-company-act-minnesota/In FS Credit Opportunities Corp. v. Saba Capital, the Court held there is no private right of action under Section 47(b) of the Investment Company Act. Minnesota's blue-sky statute gives express private remedies, with limitations periods as short as one year.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-distribution-upon-termination/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-distribution-upon-termination/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0817 lets a trustee cut off objections to a final distribution in 30 days — but only if the proposal told the beneficiary about the right to object and the time allowed. It also lets the trustee hold a reserve.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/keathley-bankruptcy-nondisclosure-judicial-estoppel-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/keathley-bankruptcy-nondisclosure-judicial-estoppel-minnesota/In Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction, a unanimous Court threw out a test that killed injury claims based on a debtor's 'motive to conceal.' The Eighth Circuit — which governs Minnesota — has taken the better view since 2006.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnehaha-creek-watershed-district-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnehaha-creek-watershed-district-guide/How the MCWD's permits, the Wetland Conservation Act, and a half-dozen agencies overlap on one backyard project — and why the landowner carries the burden of proof.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-jail-medical-care-deliberate-indifference/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-jail-medical-care-deliberate-indifference/Kingsley's objective standard governs excessive force against a pretrial detainee. The Eighth Circuit has not extended it to medical care — so in Minnesota, plan on proving what the jailer actually knew.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-police-body-camera-data-13825/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-police-body-camera-data-13825/Minn. Stat. § 13.825 classifies body-worn camera data as private or nonpublic and then carves out five exceptions. The retention floor is 90 days — which is the number that decides most cases.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fcc-att-location-data-penalties-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/fcc-att-location-data-penalties-minnesota/In FCC v. AT&T, the Court upheld the FCC's power to impose forfeiture penalties without a jury. Minnesota's own Consumer Data Privacy Act took effect July 31, 2025 — with real rights, and enforcement reserved exclusively to the Attorney General.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-limitation-action-against-trustee/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-limitation-action-against-trustee/Minn. Stat. § 501C.1005 sets three years from an adequate report and six years otherwise. The fight is never the arithmetic — it is whether a document was a report that adequately disclosed a potential claim.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/flowers-foods-brock-arbitration-exemption/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/flowers-foods-brock-arbitration-exemption/In Flowers Foods v. Brock, a unanimous Court held that last-mile drivers moving goods that traveled interstate are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act — even if the driver never leaves the state. A rare decision that opens the courthouse door.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-choke-hold-prone-restraint-ban/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-choke-hold-prone-restraint-ban/Minnesota's 2020 restraint limits are conditional, not flat bans — they turn on whether deadly force would be authorized. Plus the warrior-style training prohibition.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-identity-theft-victim-steps/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-identity-theft-victim-steps/Under Minn. Stat. § 609.527, a Minnesota law enforcement agency must prepare a police report and give the complainant a copy, and courts must order at least $1,000 in restitution to each direct victim. I explain why that report unlocks your federal remedies.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-arbitration-what-the-state-can-resist/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-arbitration-what-the-state-can-resist/Minn. Stat. ch. 572B, § 337.10, subd. 1, and § 181.988, subd. 3 each tell Minnesota parties something about where and whether they must arbitrate. Two of the three name arbitration expressly — which is precisely the feature the Federal Arbitration Act treats with suspicion.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-cotrustees/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-cotrustees/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0703 says a trustee who does not join in another trustee's action is not liable for it — and then takes most of that back in paragraph (g). What a dissenting Minnesota cotrustee actually has to do.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-garnishment-exemptions-judgment/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-garnishment-exemptions-judgment/Minn. Stat. § 550.37 exempts a substantial list of property from collection, and § 571.922 caps wage garnishment on a sliding scale. Exemptions are not automatic. Unclaimed, they are waived — and the amounts change every even-numbered year.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1983-limitations-period-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/section-1983-limitations-period-minnesota/Section 1983 has no limitations period of its own. In Minnesota the borrowed period is six years, and the Eighth Circuit has said so in a published opinion. The citation trail behind that answer is messier than the answer.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-malpractice-deadlines/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-malpractice-deadlines/Minn. Stat. § 541.076 gives four years from accrual. But the definition of 'health care provider' in the limitations statute is not the definition used by the minority-tolling statute, the expert-affidavit statute, or the death statutes.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-monell-municipal-liability-police/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-monell-municipal-liability-police/Section 1983 has no respondeat superior. A Minnesota city answers only for its own policy or custom, and the Eighth Circuit's custom test asks for a pattern of similar misconduct, not a single incident.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wage-and-hour-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wage-and-hour-guide/Exempt vs. non-exempt, tips, overtime, and wage theft in Minnesota — what the law actually says, told through everyday scenarios.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/withdrawal-liability-mk-employee-solutions-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/withdrawal-liability-mk-employee-solutions-minnesota/In M&K Employee Solutions v. IAM National Pension Fund, a unanimous Court held that withdrawal-liability assumptions need not be chosen by the measurement date. Minnesota has one of the most heavily unionized workforces in the country.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-forfeiture-as-enforcement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-forfeiture-as-enforcement/When a Minnesota notice requirement is missed, the sanction is usually loss of the entire right: no lien, no claim, a void deed, a dismissed case. But the exceptions are not random — the cure goes to the party with less leverage.Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-firemans-rule/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-firemans-rule/Minn. Stat. § 604.06 does not codify the common law fireman's rule. It disables it for peace officers and public safety officers. A 2026 amendment enlarged the covered class and applied the change retroactively to February 1, 2020.Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-qualified-immunity-clearly-established/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-qualified-immunity-clearly-established/Qualified immunity is not a defense on the merits — it is a rule about how specific the prior case law has to be. In the Eighth Circuit, that usually means finding a case with facts close to yours.Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/montgomery-caribe-freight-broker-liability-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/montgomery-caribe-freight-broker-liability-minnesota/In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, a unanimous Court held that negligent-hiring claims against freight brokers are not preempted by the FAAAA. The industry's center of gravity sits in Minnesota, and so does the exposure.Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-useful-life-product-defense/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-useful-life-product-defense/Minn. Stat. § 604.03 makes expiration of a product's ordinary useful life a defense — not a deadline. It has no date certain, the manufacturer's own stated service life is one of six nonexclusive factors, and it does not bar the claim.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/federal-arbitration-act-consumers/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/federal-arbitration-act-consumers/The Federal Arbitration Act was written to help merchants settle commercial disputes. Four decades of Supreme Court decisions turned it into a tool that pushes consumers out of court.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-excessive-force-graham-objective-reasonableness/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-excessive-force-graham-objective-reasonableness/The Fourth Amendment asks whether force was objectively reasonable. Minnesota's statute asks whether it was necessary. One incident, two standards, two different answers.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/ucc-article-9-repossession-deficiency-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/ucc-article-9-repossession-deficiency-minnesota/Minn. Stat. § 336.9-610 makes every aspect of a collateral sale answer for its commercial reasonableness. A lender that sold carelessly, or skipped proper notice, can watch its deficiency shrink to zero.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-collateral-source-offset/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-collateral-source-offset/Minn. Stat. § 548.251 is not a damages rule. It is a written evidentiary proceeding on a ten-day fuse, it applies only where there is a verdict, it never reaches future benefits, and in an auto case it is usually not the operative statute at all.Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-deadly-force-statute-609066/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-deadly-force-statute-609066/Minnesota's Legislature wrote a deadly-force rule stricter than the federal constitutional floor — necessity plus a three-part threat test. Here is what it says and where it bites.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-decanting-irrevocable-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-decanting-irrevocable-trust/Under Minn. Stat. § 502.851, a Minnesota trustee can pour the assets of an old trust into a new one with better terms — no court order, 60 days' notice. How much can change depends entirely on the trustee's discretion under the original document. I walk through the statute.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-survival-of-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-survival-of-claims/Until May 20, 2023, Minn. Stat. § 573.01 said a personal injury cause of action 'dies with the person.' It now says the claim survives the death of any party. What that changed — and what it did not.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/enbridge-nessel-removal-deadline-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/enbridge-nessel-removal-deadline-minnesota/In Enbridge Energy, LP v. Nessel, a unanimous Court held the 30-day removal deadline cannot be equitably tolled. Minnesota's Attorney General was on the winning side, and 337 miles of Enbridge pipeline run through this state.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-vs-south-dakota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-vs-south-dakota/An honest comparison of Minnesota trust law with South Dakota, Nevada, Delaware, Alaska, and Wyoming — asset protection, dynasty trusts, and taxes, with the real limits.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-inaccurate-filed-record-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-inaccurate-filed-record-liability/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0206 makes a signer who knew the record was inaccurate personally liable to anyone who suffers a loss by relying on it — and reaches members and managers who never signed anything at all.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-data-breach-notification-325e61/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-data-breach-notification-325e61/Minn. Stat. § 325E.61 requires notice 'in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay,' plus notice to the national credit bureaus within 48 hours when more than 500 people are notified at one time. Enforcement is the Attorney General's alone — and GLBA financial institutions are exempt outright.Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-annual-renewal-and-reinstatement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-annual-renewal-and-reinstatement/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0705 terminates an LLC that misses the free annual renewal. Section 322C.0706 reinstates it retroactively and validates the contracts signed in the gap — but only three of its effects, and only for domestic companies.Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/litigation-funding-minnesota-maslowski/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/litigation-funding-minnesota-maslowski/In Maslowski v. Prospect Funding Partners, the Minnesota Supreme Court abolished the common-law prohibition against champerty. Third-party litigation funding is enforceable in Minnesota. The protections that remain are contract law and unconscionability.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-business-asset-vs-stock-purchase/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-business-asset-vs-stock-purchase/A Minnesota deal lawyer's plain-English guide to asset vs. equity purchases — liabilities, successor risk, the non-compete ban, taxes, and why the choice matters.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-professional-firms-act/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-professional-firms-act/Chapter 319B applies only if your organizational document says three specific things. Minn. Stat. § 319B.03, subd. 2 sets the election; § 319B.06, subd. 3 declines to change what you owe the person you served.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/cox-sony-isp-liability-what-it-means-for-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/cox-sony-isp-liability-what-it-means-for-minnesota/In Cox v. Sony Music, the Court erased a $1 billion verdict and held that an ISP is not liable merely for serving subscribers it knows are infringing. The last time the music industry could not reach the middleman, it sued a mother of four from Brainerd.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-estate-plan-and-buy-sell-are-one-document/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-estate-plan-and-buy-sell-are-one-document/Minn. Stat. § 302A.751, subds. 2 and 3a make a buy-sell binding in a Minnesota buyout. Connelly v. United States says the same agreement is 'ordinarily not dispositive' for the estate tax. Section 507.071, ch. 523, and § 524.3-803 each miss the entity.Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-derivative-action/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-derivative-action/Minn. Stat. §§ 322C.0902 and 322C.0903 decide whether a member's claim survives the caption. Demand, futility, proper-plaintiff status, and the direct/derivative line each dismiss cases on their own.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/credit-report-error-wont-get-fixed/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/credit-report-error-wont-get-fixed/You disputed the error and the bureau closed it as 'verified.' Why self-disputes fail, what the FCRA actually requires, and the moment it becomes a legal claim.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-dissolution-events/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-dissolution-events/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0701 lists six dissolution triggers. I read it as a map of who holds which key — three triggers your operating agreement can rewrite, two court powers it cannot touch.Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-fraudulent-transfer-uvta/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-fraudulent-transfer-uvta/Minn. Stat. § 513.44 lets a creditor unwind a transfer made with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud — and lists eleven factors courts weigh. Most of them describe things people do without believing they are doing anything wrong.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-duty-of-impartiality/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-duty-of-impartiality/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0803 requires a trustee to give 'due regard to the beneficiaries' respective interests' — interests the settlor usually made unequal on purpose. The qualifier is the rule.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-estate-tax-trap/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-estate-tax-trap/Minnesota taxes estates over $3 million even when no federal tax is owed. Here's who gets caught, why married couples are especially exposed, and how planning helps.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-private-attorney-general-831/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-private-attorney-general-831/Minn. Stat. § 8.31, subd. 3a gives any person injured by a violation of Minnesota's consumer protection statutes a civil action for damages, costs of investigation, and reasonable attorney's fees. I consider it the most underused remedy in Minnesota consumer law.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-successor-trustee-vacancy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-successor-trustee-vacancy/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0704 tells you when a Minnesota trusteeship vacancy has to be filled, when it does not, and the four-tier order I work through before anyone pays for a petition.Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-paid-leave-now-in-effect/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-paid-leave-now-in-effect/Benefits began January 1, 2026, and the first premiums were due April 30. A plain-English guide to the 2026 premium rate, the leave categories, the 20-week cap, and where Minnesota employers most often get this wrong.Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/postal-service-konan-mail-notice-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/postal-service-konan-mail-notice-minnesota/In Postal Service v. Konan, a 5–4 Court held the FTCA's postal exception bars claims for intentional nondelivery. Minnesota law starts foreclosure clocks, surplus-claim clocks, and response deadlines from the moment something is mailed.Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-beneficiary-consent-and-release/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-beneficiary-consent-and-release/Minn. Stat. § 501C.1009 makes a beneficiary's consent, release, or ratification binding — with two exceptions that turn on what the trustee knew and what the beneficiary was told.Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/hain-celestial-palmquist-forum-choice-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/hain-celestial-palmquist-forum-choice-minnesota/In Hain Celestial Group v. Palmquist, a unanimous Court held that erroneously dismissing a non-diverse defendant after removal does not cure the jurisdictional defect. A federal jury trial and a defense judgment were vacated for want of jurisdiction.Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/put-your-house-in-a-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/put-your-house-in-a-trust/A plain-English look at what a revocable living trust does and doesn't do for a Minnesota home — probate, homestead, taxes, and the transfer-on-death deed alternative.Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-duty-of-loyalty/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-duty-of-loyalty/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0802 sets out three different regimes with three different burdens. A fair price defeats a claim under paragraph (d) and does nothing at all under paragraph (b).Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-shareholder-oppression-302a751/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-shareholder-oppression-302a751/Minn. Stat. § 302A.751 lets a shareholder in a Minnesota corporation that is not publicly held sue over conduct that is 'unfairly prejudicial' — and subdivision 3a directs courts to weigh the parties' reasonable expectations. The remedy is usually a buyout at fair value.Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/protection-order-financial-exploitation-vulnerable-adult/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/protection-order-financial-exploitation-vulnerable-adult/As of January 1, 2026, Minnesota courts can issue an order for protection against financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult — freezing assets and lines of credit and barring contact. Here is who can ask for one and what a court must find.Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-statute-of-frauds-as-a-remedy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-statute-of-frauds-as-a-remedy/Minn. Stat. § 513.01, § 507.02, § 334.01, subd. 2, § 181.723, subd. 4(a)(9), and § 504B.291, subd. 1(c) all require a writing — and read together they put the cost of an undocumented deal on the party who had the power and the reason to document it.Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-compensation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-compensation/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0708 lets a Minnesota court raise or lower the compensation a trust document specifies — and § 501C.0105(b)(7) makes that power one of the few things a settlor cannot draft around.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-operating-agreements/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-operating-agreements/Minnesota's LLC act fills every gap in your operating agreement with default rules. What those defaults actually say, and the eight places I watch these agreements break down.Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-transfer-on-death-deed/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-transfer-on-death-deed/A transfer on death deed under Minn. Stat. § 507.071 moves real property at death without probate, stays revocable while you live, and costs a recording fee. I see four defects over and over: no recording, one spousal signature on a homestead, the public assistance clearance certificate, and no right of exoneration.Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-price-of-delay-interest-rates/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-price-of-delay-interest-rates/Minn. Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1(c) splits judgment interest at a $50,000 hinge — 4% for 2026 versus a flat ten percent. Section 337.10, subd. 3 charges 1-1/2 percent per month on construction payables. Sections 334.01 and 334.011 govern the private note.Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-product-liability-seller-not-manufacturer/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-product-liability-seller-not-manufacturer/Minn. Stat. § 544.41 lets a nonmanufacturer certify the manufacturer's identity and be dismissed. The dismissal is conditional, reversible on five grounds, and reaches only strict liability in tort.Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/expert-affidavit-federal-court-berk-choy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/expert-affidavit-federal-court-berk-choy/In Berk v. Choy, the Supreme Court held that a state affidavit-of-merit requirement does not apply in federal court. Minnesota has two of them — and Minnesota's Attorney General signed the brief urging the Court to rule the other way.Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-joint-and-several-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-joint-and-several-liability/Minn. Stat. § 604.02, subd. 1 made several liability the default in 2003 and kept joint and several liability for four categories — including any defendant whose fault is greater than 50 percent.Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/successor-liability-minnesota-asset-purchase/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/successor-liability-minnesota-asset-purchase/Minn. Stat. § 302A.661, subd. 4 limits an asset buyer's liability to what the contract or another statute imposes, and says an asset sale is not a de facto merger. The federal courts read it as abrogating most of the old common-law exceptions. The Minnesota Court of Appeals has never squarely agreed.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/welcome-to-the-new-madgettlaw-com/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/welcome-to-the-new-madgettlaw-com/Madgett Law has launched a faster, cleaner website — with a new News section where we'll share legal insights and firm updates.Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTfirm-newsMadgett Law, LLChttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-certificate-of-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-certificate-of-trust/Minn. Stat. § 501C.1013 lets a trustee prove the trust with a six-item certificate instead of the dispositive terms. It contains no consequence for a third party who refuses it, and knowing that changes how you argue.Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/void-judgment-clock-coney-island-minnesota/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/void-judgment-clock-coney-island-minnesota/In Coney Island Auto Parts v. Burton, the Court held that a motion attacking a void judgment must still be filed within a reasonable time. In Minnesota, where 82% of debt-collection cases in district court end in default, that is not an academic rule.Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-creditor-claims-against-a-revocable-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-creditor-claims-against-a-revocable-trust/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0505 subjects revocable trust property to the settlor's creditors in life and at death. It attaches no claims procedure and no deadline of its own, which cuts against the trustee.Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-shareholder-control-agreements-302a457/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-shareholder-control-agreements-302a457/Minn. Stat. § 302A.457 lets shareholders do by agreement what bylaws cannot — move the board's authority, and the directors' liability, to themselves. It is also what a court reads under § 302A.751, subd. 3a.Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trade-secrets-act-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trade-secrets-act-guide/Minn. Stat. ch. 325C protects information with independent economic value that is not readily ascertainable and is the subject of reasonable efforts to keep it secret. Exemplary damages up to twice compensatory, attorney's fees running both directions, and a three-year clock from discovery under § 325C.06.Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-member-information-rights/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-member-information-rights/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0410 gives a member-managed LLC member a broad, purpose-free right to records — and gives a manager-managed member a narrower one. A dissociated member keeps a third right entirely.Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-corporate-dissolution-winding-up/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-corporate-dissolution-winding-up/Dissolution under Minn. Stat. §§ 302A.701–302A.791, with the LLC parallel at §§ 322C.0701–322C.0708. The claims procedure is what cuts off exposure: 90 days with notice, two years without — and an administratively dissolved corporation gets neither.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mechanics-lien-deadlines/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-mechanics-lien-deadlines/45 days for the subcontractor pre-lien notice, 120 days to record and serve the lien statement, one year to sue. Minn. Stat. ch. 514 forgives almost nothing, and the deadlines start earlier than most contractors think.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-choice-of-law-you-cannot-export/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-choice-of-law-you-cannot-export/Minn. Stat. § 80C.21, § 337.10, subd. 1, § 325E.37, subd. 7, and § 181.988, subd. 3 each void an out-of-state choice-of-law or forum clause in a defined class of contract. Read together they describe a rule; the FAA question at the edge is genuinely unsettled.Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-franchise-act-80c/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-franchise-act-80c/Minn. Stat. ch. 80C registers the sale of franchises — but what franchisees need is § 80C.14's 90-day termination notice and 180-day nonrenewal rule, § 80C.17's fee-shifting, and § 80C.21, which voids any waiver or choice-of-law clause.Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-power-of-attorney-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-power-of-attorney-guide/Minn. Stat. ch. 523 provides a statutory short form power of attorney with fourteen categories of authority. Durability is elected on the form, the principal's signature must be notarized, and gifts to the agent themselves require a separate express authorization.Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-attachment-prejudgment-remedy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-attachment-prejudgment-remedy/Prejudgment attachment under Minn. Stat. ch. 570 is Minnesota's rarest creditor remedy because § 570.02 makes the grounds intent-based — and only four of the six can support an ex parte seizure under § 570.025.Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-burden-of-proof-on-value/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-burden-of-proof-on-value/Minn. Stat. § 336.9-626(a)(2) and (a)(4), § 302A.751, subd. 2, §§ 513.42(b), 513.44(c), 513.45(c), 513.48(g), and § 550.175, subd. 1 all answer the question 'what is this worth?' — and they hand the burden to a different party each time.Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-replevin-claim-and-delivery/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-replevin-claim-and-delivery/Minn. Stat. ch. 565 moves possession of personal property before judgment: § 565.23 after notice and hearing, § 565.24 before it, plus bonds, redelivery rights, and the UCC Article 9 problem that sends a secured party to court at all.Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-eviction-timeline-redemption/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-eviction-timeline-redemption/Minn. Stat. § 504B.321 sets the hearing 7 to 14 days out, and § 504B.291 lets a nonpayment tenant redeem the tenancy any time before possession is delivered. Skip the 14-day residential notice and the case is dismissed and expunged.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-future-damages-and-present-value/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-future-damages-and-present-value/Minn. Stat. § 604.07 was repealed in 1988 and §§ 604.08–604.09 in 1994. What survives is § 549.25 — a hearing, not a discount — and a past/future split that exists because the interest statute needs it.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nursing-home-neglect-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nursing-home-neglect-claims/Minn. Stat. § 626.557 creates a private treble-damages action for financial exploitation only. For neglect and abuse it supplies a mandatory report, a state investigation, and a public memorandum — and the negligence case still has to stand on its own.Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-statutes-of-limitations-civil-claims/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-statutes-of-limitations-civil-claims/Minn. Stat. § 541.05 gives six years for most contract and tort claims — but strict product liability gets four, and a long list of claims run on much shorter clocks. The most expensive mistake in civil litigation is arriving late.Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-successor-liability-four-tests/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-successor-liability-four-tests/Minn. Stat. § 302A.661, subd. 4 protects an asset buyer — and expressly preserves liability imposed by 'other statutes of this state.' Those statutes include § 181.723, subd. 7(e) and the UVTA at §§ 513.41–.51, with federal MPPAA overlay at 29 U.S.C. § 1384.Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-easements-and-access-disputes/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-easements-and-access-disputes/Easements arise by grant, implication, and prescription — and Minn. Stat. § 508.02 wipes out the unrecorded ones on Torrens land. But Minn. Stat. § 164.08, subd. 2 says a town board "shall establish a cartway."Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-minor-settlement-court-approval/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-minor-settlement-court-approval/Minn. Stat. § 540.08 makes an unapproved settlement of a minor's claim invalid, and Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 145 supplies the machinery — including a rule that reaches claims with no lawsuit on file, and a fund the child cannot touch at 18 without a second order.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/buy-sell-agreements-minnesota-closely-held/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/buy-sell-agreements-minnesota-closely-held/A buy-sell agreement decides what happens when an owner dies, divorces, quits, or is forced out. In Minnesota it does something more: under Minn. Stat. § 302A.751, subd. 3a, buy-sell agreements are presumed to reflect shareholders' reasonable expectations concerning the matters they deal with.Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-vehicle-owner-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-vehicle-owner-liability/Minn. Stat. § 169.09, subd. 5a makes a permissive driver the owner's agent 'in case of accident.' No cap, no theft exception, no presumption of consent — and the leading cases all cite a statute number that no longer exists.Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-loss-of-consortium/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-loss-of-consortium/Minnesota's spousal consortium claim comes from Thill v. Modern Erecting Co. (1969), not from a statute, and it was created with conditions attached — including a joinder rule that kills the claim if the injured spouse's case goes to trial without it.Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-purchase-agreement-disclosure-duties/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-purchase-agreement-disclosure-duties/Minn. Stat. § 513.55 requires disclosure of material facts "of which the seller is aware," and § 513.57 immunizes everything outside that knowledge. Section 513.60's waiver does not reach the well, septic, meth, or radon statutes.Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-fiduciary-duty-vs-operating-agreement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-fiduciary-duty-vs-operating-agreement/Everyone reads the two lists in Minn. Stat. § 322C.0110 — what an operating agreement may not do, and what it may. I try duty-term disputes on subdivision 8, which fixes when, by whom, and on what record the term gets tested.Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-adverse-possession-boundary/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-adverse-possession-boundary/Adverse possession under Minn. Stat. § 541.02 and boundary by practical location are different doctrines with different elements and different proof. Minn. Stat. § 508.02 bars the first on registered land and expressly preserves the second.Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-injury-claim-against-a-city/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-injury-claim-against-a-city/Minn. Stat. § 466.05 requires written notice to a municipality's governing body within 180 days of discovering the injury. Minn. Stat. § 466.04 caps damages, § 466.03 lists the immunities, and § 466.06 contains the one lever most claimants never pull.Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-worker-misclassification-181723/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-worker-misclassification-181723/Minn. Stat. § 181.723 makes every individual performing building construction services an employee unless they operate as a business entity meeting all fourteen statutory requirements — with penalties up to $10,000 per worker and personal liability for owners.Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-seat-belt-evidence-rule/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-seat-belt-evidence-rule/Minn. Stat. § 169.685, subd. 4 makes proof of seat belt and child restraint use or nonuse inadmissible in any litigation involving personal injury or property damage from the use or operation of a motor vehicle. The bar runs both ways, with one exception.Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-foreclosure-by-advertisement-redemption/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-foreclosure-by-advertisement-redemption/Minn. Stat. ch. 580 lets a mortgagee foreclose without a lawsuit. But Minn. Stat. § 582.30, subd. 2 bars a deficiency judgment after an advertisement foreclosure with a six-month redemption period. The redemption period is the whole case.Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-health-plan-subrogation-limits/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-health-plan-subrogation-limits/Minn. Stat. § 62A.095 forbids a health plan's subrogation clause unless it applies only after full recovery and is reduced by a pro rata share of fees and costs. Self-funded ERISA plans argue the limit does not reach them.Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-contract-for-deed-cancellation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-contract-for-deed-cancellation/Minn. Stat. § 559.21 lets a contract for deed seller terminate the contract by serving a notice and waiting. The cure period is 60 days on most modern contracts, 30 on some, 90 on others — and almost everyone remembers the wrong rule.Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-expert-affidavit-merits-gate/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-expert-affidavit-merits-gate/Minn. Stat. § 544.42 and § 145.682 require expert affidavits in professional and malpractice cases, and both make dismissal with prejudice mandatory. Neither deadline runs from a court filing, and the two statutes are not the twins they look like.Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-employee-noncompete-alternatives/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-employee-noncompete-alternatives/Minn. Stat. § 181.988 voids employee non-competes signed on or after July 1, 2023. What remains is ch. 325C and the DTSA, the carve-outs in subd. 1(a), § 181.9881, the sale exception, and the duty of loyalty.Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-arbitration-mandatory/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-arbitration-mandatory/Minn. Stat. § 65B.525 forces no-fault benefit claims of $10,000 or less into binding arbitration under the Minnesota No-Fault Arbitration Rules. The arbitrator's fact findings are final; the arbitrator's legal conclusions are reviewed de novo.Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-contract-void-clauses/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-contract-void-clauses/Chapter 337 makes broad-form indemnity, additional-insured coverage for someone else's negligence, out-of-state choice of law and forum, and pre-payment lien waivers void in Minnesota building and construction contracts — and deems a 10-day prompt-payment term into every one of them.Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-tort-threshold/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-tort-threshold/Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, subd. 3 bars noneconomic damages in a Minnesota motor vehicle case unless a threshold is met — and the $4,000 computation removes diagnostic x-rays and rehabilitative treatment from the total before it is measured.Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-human-rights-act-deadlines/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-human-rights-act-deadlines/Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3(a) gives one year from the occurrence. Then § 363A.33, subd. 1 adds 45- and 90-day windows, § 363A.07, subd. 3 makes the forum choice exclusive, and § 363A.31 gives 15 days to rescind a release. I map the machine.Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unfunded-revocable-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-unfunded-revocable-trust/A Minnesota revocable trust controls the property actually transferred to it. It reaches anything else only through an instrument that points at it — a pour-over will under Minn. Stat. § 524.2-511, a beneficiary designation, a transfer on death deed — and the pour-over route runs the assets you paid to keep out of probate straight through probate.Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-comparative-fault-collateral-source/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-comparative-fault-collateral-source/Minn. Stat. § 548.251 and § 604.01 answer two different questions, and § 548.251, subd. 3(c) fixes the sequence between them. Collateral sources come off before the fault reduction; settlement credits come off after. Same dollars, different result.Tue, 26 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-personnel-record-review-act/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-personnel-record-review-act/Minn. Stat. §§ 181.960–181.966 give an employee the right to review and copy the personnel record on written request — seven working days, no fee — and § 181.963 bars the employer from later using what it left out.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-investment-prudent-investor/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-investment-prudent-investor/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0901 judges a trustee's investments at the portfolio level and by process, not by results. The trustee who documented a strategy is defensible; the one who just held what the settlor left is not.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-fraud-act-deceptive-trade-practices/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-fraud-act-deceptive-trade-practices/Minn. Stat. § 325F.70, subd. 3 gives a consumer a direct damages remedy under the Consumer Fraud Act that the statute itself deems to benefit the public. Everyone else is back in § 8.31 and Ly v. Nystrom. The Deceptive Trade Practices Act pays nobody.Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-liability-and-exculpation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-liability-and-exculpation/Minn. Stat. § 501C.1005 gives a Minnesota beneficiary three years from a report that adequately disclosed a potential claim — and the trustee decides when to send it, by a method that does not require you to receive it.Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-drug-alcohol-testing-employees/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-drug-alcohol-testing-employees/Under Minn. Stat. §§ 181.950–181.957 an employer may not request or require a drug or alcohol test except as authorized — and nothing is authorized unless it is done pursuant to a written policy meeting § 181.952, subd. 1.Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-supplemental-needs-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-supplemental-needs-trust/Minn. Stat. § 501C.1205 protects a disabled beneficiary's public benefits — but only if someone else's money funds it. A settlement or an inheritance that lands first is a different, harder problem.Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-whistleblower-act-181932/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-whistleblower-act-181932/Minn. Stat. § 181.932 protects six categories of conduct. Since the 2013 amendment defining 'good faith' in § 181.931, subd. 4, the only state-of-mind question left is whether the report was knowingly false or reckless.Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-prejudgment-interest-settlement-offers/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-prejudgment-interest-settlement-offers/Under Minn. Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1(b), the party whose written settlement offer lands closer to the verdict controls who gets preverdict interest and on what amount — and subd. 1(c) sets a flat ten percent above $50,000.Tue, 22 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-directed-trust-and-trust-protectors/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-directed-trust-and-trust-protectors/Minnesota lets a trust split the trustee's job among an investment advisor, a distribution advisor, and a trust protector. Minn. Stat. § 501C.0808 decides who is liable — and the default surprises every settlor I explain it to.Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-recreational-land-use-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-recreational-land-use-liability/Minn. Stat. §§ 604A.20–604A.27 strip a landowner's duty of care toward recreational users — but only for an owner 'who gives written or oral permission ... without charge.' Section 604A.27 keeps that permission from ripening into an easement.Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-removing-a-trustee/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-removing-a-trustee/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0706(b)(4) is the cheapest removal ground in Minnesota trust law — and the easiest to plead badly. Read the trust's own removal clause before you file anything.Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-shareholder-books-records-inspection/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-shareholder-books-records-inspection/Minn. Stat. § 302A.461, subd. 4(a) gives a shareholder of a non-publicly-held Minnesota corporation an absolute right to inspect the share register and ten enumerated categories of record — no proper purpose to prove, and attorney fees if the company refuses. I explain how to use it.Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wrongful-death-trustee/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-wrongful-death-trustee/Minn. Stat. § 573.02 hands the cause of action to a court-appointed trustee, not to the spouse or the children. Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 144 supplies the machinery — and a 2023 amendment quietly enlarged what that trustee may recover.Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-punitive-damages-permission-549191/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-punitive-damages-permission-549191/Minn. Stat. § 549.191 forbids a complaint from seeking punitive damages and requires a motion, affidavits, and a prima facie showing first. Read with § 549.20 and § 544.36, it means a Minnesota complaint may not say what the case is worth.Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-contest-deadline/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trust-contest-deadline/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0605 gives a revocable-trust contestant three years — unless the trustee sends a copy of the instrument and a four-item notice. Then it is 120 days. Note the section number.Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dog-bite-statute/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dog-bite-statute/Minn. Stat. § 347.22 makes a dog's owner liable for 'the full amount of the injury sustained' — no negligence, no prior bite, no scienter. All that is left to fight about is provocation and whether the person was lawfully present.Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-modify-or-terminate-irrevocable-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-modify-or-terminate-irrevocable-trust/Minn. Stat. §§ 501C.0410 through 501C.0417 supply six ways to modify or terminate an irrevocable Minnesota trust. Only one of them beats a material purpose, and only one needs no judge.Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dram-shop-liability/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-dram-shop-liability/Minn. Stat. § 340A.801 creates a claim against a vendor who caused an intoxication by an illegal sale. Minn. Stat. § 340A.802 conditions it on written notice served within 240 days of the date counsel is retained — and bars the action without it.Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nonjudicial-settlement-agreement-trust/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-nonjudicial-settlement-agreement-trust/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0111 lets interested persons resolve almost any trust matter by written agreement. It buys speed and privacy — and leaves a defect that only a court order can cure.Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-auto-basics/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-no-fault-auto-basics/Minn. Stat. ch. 65B pays $40,000 in basic economic loss benefits regardless of fault. Section 65B.51, subd. 3 then bars any recovery for noneconomic detriment unless a $4,000 net medical figure — or one of four injury categories — is met.Tue, 03 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-duty-to-inform-beneficiaries/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-trustee-duty-to-inform-beneficiaries/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0813 is three paragraphs long. It sets no schedule, prescribes no report format, and reaches only irrevocable trusts — so the real engine is § 501C.1005.Tue, 03 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-deadlines-that-run-from-a-fact/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-deadlines-that-run-from-a-fact/A deadline running from a filing is a calendar entry. A deadline running from 'the last item of work,' 'first furnished,' or 'should have been discovered' is a fact question — and in Minnesota those are the ones that forfeit rights.Tue, 27 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-operating-agreement-cannot-override/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-operating-agreement-cannot-override/Seven of the eleven restrictions on a Minnesota operating agreement admit no exception at all — including the one that makes Minnesota law non-negotiable for a Minnesota LLC's internal affairs, and the one that follows a void term into the articles of organization.Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-reaching-the-owner-without-piercing/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-reaching-the-owner-without-piercing/Victoria Elevator requires a multi-factor showing plus injustice. Minn. Stat. § 270C.56, § 302A.559, § 181.723, subd. 7(d), § 336.3-402, and § 513.48 require none of it — and reach the owner directly.Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-probate-creditor-claims-four-months/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-probate-creditor-claims-four-months/Minn. Stat. § 524.3-803 bars claims against a decedent's estate after four months from published notice. But a 'known and identified' creditor gets served, and I explain why the personal representative who fails to look for one has a problem of their own.Tue, 13 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-attorney-fee-shifting-map/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-attorney-fee-shifting-map/Minnesota shifts attorney fees in some claims, refuses to in others, and in one instance caps the fee at $5. Read together — § 8.31, § 325F.70, § 181.171, § 337.10, § 325C.04, § 302A.461 — the pattern is not about the seriousness of the wrong.Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-conversion-and-merger/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-conversion-and-merger/Minn. Stat. §§ 322C.1001–322C.1016 make merger, conversion, and domestication statutory transactions with a filed plan and a unanimity default. Section 322C.1010, subd. 1: the converted organization 'is for all purposes the same entity that existed before.'Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insolvent-means-four-things/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insolvent-means-four-things/Minn. Stat. § 513.42, § 302A.551, § 322C.0405, § 576.25, and 11 U.S.C. § 101(32) all turn on insolvency and none of them measures it the same way. I explain how a lawful corporate distribution can be a voidable transfer on identical facts.Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-single-member-llc-limits/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-single-member-llc-limits/Chapter 322C never addresses single-member companies except to confirm a sole member has an operating agreement. It does not say whether the § 322C.0503 charging order protects one. It does say the company dissolves 90 days after the owner dies.Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-dissociation-what-you-lose/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-dissociation-what-you-lose/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0601 gives every member the power to walk out. Section 322C.0603 turns the interest into a bare transferable interest. There is no buyout — and § 322C.0102, subd. 15 quietly strips the standing to ask for one.Tue, 15 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-usury-business-loan-interest/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-usury-business-loan-interest/Minnesota caps interest at $8 on $100 per year — but subd. 2 exempts written credit extensions of $100,000 or more entirely, and § 334.011 gives business and agricultural loans a floating cap. Violate the business cap and the entire interest is forfeited.Tue, 15 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-criminal-history-hiring-364/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-criminal-history-hiring-364/Minn. Stat. § 364.021 bars a public or private employer from asking about criminal history before the interview. But the direct-relationship standard in § 364.03 and the written-explanation duty in § 364.05 reach only public employment and licensing — and § 364.06, subd. 2(d) makes the private-employer remedy exclusive.Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-capital-calls-and-dilution/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-capital-calls-and-dilution/Chapter 322C never uses the words capital call, capital account, dilution, or forfeiture. Minn. Stat. § 322C.0401, subd. 5 says a member need not contribute at all. What that leaves is a contract — measured against Gorco Construction Co. v. Stein.Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-farmer-lender-mediation-act/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-farmer-lender-mediation-act/The Farmer-Lender Mediation Act conditions foreclosure, repossession, contract for deed cancellation, garnishment, and levy on a mediation notice — but the operative bars sit in Minn. Stat. §§ 336.9-601(h), 550.365, 559.209, and 582.039. Sections 583.20 to 583.32 expire June 30, 2027.Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-indemnification-advancement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-indemnification-advancement/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0408 makes indemnification and advancement of defense costs mandatory for Minnesota LLCs by default. Section 322C.0408, subd. 4 lets the operating agreement delete both.Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-guardianship-conservatorship/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-guardianship-conservatorship/Minn. Stat. § 524.5-310 and § 524.5-409 both require the court to find that the respondent's needs cannot be met by less restrictive means — and both name the alternative: a health care agent under ch. 145C, an attorney-in-fact under § 523.01. I explain how to use that.Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-statement-of-authority/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-statement-of-authority/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0301 ends status-based agency for LLC members. Section 322C.0302 replaces it with an optional filing I rarely see used — one that grants power broadly, limits it narrowly, and never expires.Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-improper-distributions-clawback/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-improper-distributions-clawback/Minn. Stat. §§ 322C.0405 and 322C.0406 impose a fault-based clawback on the people who approved a distribution and a knowledge-based one on the people who took it. I read the two-year bar as covering far less than it appears to.Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-spendthrift-trusts-creditors/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-spendthrift-trusts-creditors/Minn. Stat. § 501C.0502 stops a creditor from reaching a beneficiary's interest or a distribution "before its receipt." Sections 501C.0504 and 501C.0506 mark the two edges of that protection — and Minnesota's chapter has no § 501C.0501 and no § 501C.0503 at all.Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-final-paycheck-181-13/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-final-paycheck-181-13/Under Minn. Stat. § 181.13, wages owed a discharged employee are due immediately on written demand, and the employer is in default 24 hours later — with a penalty of one day's average earnings for every day, up to 15. Attorney fees are mandatory.Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-deadlock-fifty-fifty/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-deadlock-fifty-fifty/Chapter 322C gives a deadlocked LLC member a dissolution petition and — read closely — no buyout to go with it. The exit has to be built into the operating agreement first.Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-charging-order-exclusive-remedy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-llc-charging-order-exclusive-remedy/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0503 makes the charging order the exclusive remedy against a member's transferable interest. Read closely, it is narrower than both sides usually think.Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-assistance-estate-recovery/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-assistance-estate-recovery/Minn. Stat. § 256B.15 defines "estate" to include life estates, joint tenancies, pay-on-death accounts, living trusts, and transfer on death deeds, and § 514.981 puts a lien on the house while the recipient is still alive. Neither is stopped by avoiding probate.Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-what-you-cannot-agree-to/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-what-you-cannot-agree-to/Read § 322C.0110, § 337.02, § 337.05, § 337.10, § 336.9-602, § 325E.61, and § 504B.365 together and a pattern appears: Minnesota's non-waivable core is not substance. It is access, information, and forum. I make the case.Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tenant-habitability-rent-escrow/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-tenant-habitability-rent-escrow/Minn. Stat. § 504B.161 makes the covenants of habitability unwaivable, and § 504B.385 lets a residential tenant deposit rent with the court administrator 14 days after written notice. The catch sits in subdivision 1(d): a tenant may not withhold rent.Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-antitrust-act/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-antitrust-act/Minn. Stat. §§ 325D.49–325D.66 mirror Sherman Act §§ 1 and 2 almost word for word. But § 325D.57 gives treble damages to anyone 'injured directly or indirectly' — and the act contains no provision telling courts to follow federal law.Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-homestead-exemption-creditors/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-homestead-exemption-creditors/Minn. Stat. § 510.02 shields hundreds of thousands of dollars of homestead value across as much as 160 acres, on an amount that adjusts every even-numbered year. But § 510.05 lists exactly what the shield does not stop, and § 510.07 lets you abandon it by accident. I walk through all four sections.Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-vulnerable-adult-financial-exploitation/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-vulnerable-adult-financial-exploitation/Minn. Stat. § 609.2335 makes financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult a crime, § 626.557 makes it reportable within 24 hours, and § 626.557, subd. 20 gives the adult a treble-damages claim — on definitions that do not match.Thu, 06 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-surveillance-recording-consent/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-surveillance-recording-consent/Minn. Stat. § 626A.02, subd. 2(d) lets a party to a conversation record it, and § 626A.13 gives the person recorded a civil action worth at least $10,000 when it does not. Section 609.746 governs cameras, contains no one-party rule, and creates no civil remedy at all.Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ucc-article-2-warranties/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-ucc-article-2-warranties/Minn. Stat. §§ 336.2-313 to 336.2-316 create and disclaim warranties on the sale of goods; § 336.2-607(3)(a) bars the buyer who fails to notify; § 336.2-719 lets a seller cap the remedy — until the cap fails of its essential purpose.Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-records-and-privacy/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-medical-records-and-privacy/The Minnesota Health Records Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 144.291–144.298, requires signed consent for releases that HIPAA permits outright. Section 144.292 sets a 30-day access deadline and a capped fee schedule; § 144.298 gives the patient a private action against the requester as well as the releaser.Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-premises-liability-snow-and-ice/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-premises-liability-snow-and-ice/Minnesota abolished the invitee/licensee distinction in 1972, but Minn. Stat. § 466.03, subd. 4 immunizes municipalities for snow and ice on most public sidewalks, § 466.03, subd. 6e immunizes parks, and § 466.05 gives a claimant 180 days to present notice.Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-partition-actions/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-partition-actions/Minn. Stat. ch. 558 governs partition actions commenced before August 1, 2025; the new Minnesota Partition Act, ch. 558A, governs everything after. The new act replaces 'great prejudice' with a seven-factor test — and adds attorney fees enforceable against the homestead.Tue, 28 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-uninsured-underinsured-motorist/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-uninsured-underinsured-motorist/Minnesota requires every auto policy to carry uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under Minn. Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a. Section 65B.49, subd. 4a sets the payout against what the at-fault driver actually paid, and subd. 10 now puts a four-year clock on UIM.Thu, 23 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-small-business-startup-checklist/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-small-business-startup-checklist/Minn. Stat. § 322C.0201 forms an LLC on filing and a $135 payment. Minn. Stat. § 302A.821, subd. 4(b) administratively dissolves a corporation that skips its annual renewal — and says that corporation 'is not entitled to the benefits of section 302A.781,' the claims bar.Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insurance-bad-faith-604-18/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-insurance-bad-faith-604-18/Minn. Stat. § 604.18 gives a first-party insured taxable costs — half the proceeds above the insurer's pre-trial offer, capped at $250,000, plus fees capped at $100,000 — but only after a motion to amend, only from the judge, and never after arbitration or appraisal.Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-harassment-restraining-orders/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-harassment-restraining-orders/Minn. Stat. § 609.748 defines harassment 'regardless of the relationship between the actor and the intended target' — the opposite of the order for protection under § 518B.01, which begins and ends with relationship. I walk through both sides of the caption.Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parenting-time-and-support-basics/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-parenting-time-and-support-basics/Minn. Stat. § 518A.34 sets a six-step computation, § 518A.35 supplies the guideline table, and § 518A.36 adjusts for parenting time by cubing each parent's annual overnights. Parenting time and imputed income under § 518A.32 are where Minnesota support cases are actually fought.Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-conciliation-court-guide/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-conciliation-court-guide/Minn. Stat. § 491A.01 sets the conciliation court limit at $20,000 — but only $4,000 for consumer credit transactions, and eleven categories of claim are excluded outright. The 21-day removal window is where most of the real damage happens.Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-legal-funding-debt-settlement/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-consumer-legal-funding-debt-settlement/Minn. Stat. ch. 332B registers debt settlement providers and, at § 332B.09, subd. 3, forbids collecting any payment before the services are fully performed. Chapter 332A does the same job differently for debt management. Both carry private rights of action with statutory damages and fees.Thu, 09 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-debt-collection-practices/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-debt-collection-practices/Minn. Stat. §§ 332.31–332.44 license collection agencies and debt buyers and list 24 prohibited practices in § 332.37, including a clause making any FDCPA violation a Minnesota violation. But the private damages remedy lives in the federal statute, 15 U.S.C. § 1692k.Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgetthttps://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-defect-repose/https://www.madgettlaw.com/news/minnesota-construction-defect-repose/Minn. Stat. § 541.051 gives two years from discovery of the injury and ten years from substantial completion. The ten-year clause is written as a bar on accrual, not on filing — and read with ch. 327A's 1/2/10-year warranties, that changes what it does.Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticleDavid J.S. Madgett