Volume 43, Issue 1

Why are the Twin Cities so segregated? The Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area is known for its progressive politics and forward-thinking approach to regional planning, but these features have not prevented the formation of some of the nation’s widest racial disparities and the nation’s worst segregation in a predominantly white area. On measures of educational and…

What’s wrong with the world today?Things just got to get betterSho’ ain’t what the leaders sayMaybe we should write a letter Said dear Mr. Man, we don’t understandWhy poor people keep strugglingBut you don’t lend a helping handMatthew 5:5 say,The meek shall inherit the Earth. . . . Who told me, Mr. Man, that working…

The disparate impact doctrine emerged to more effectively remedy the policies and practices that cause or maintain disparities based on a protected class—even when the discriminatory intent is not explicit. Unlike individual disparate-treatment claims, disparate-impact claims more directly address and remedy implicit bias and discrimination. Although judicial hostility to robust enforcement of civil rights has…

In State v. Riggs, the Minnesota Supreme Court decided whether a trial court may reduce a crime victim’s restitution award when the victim was the initial aggressor. The restitution statute, Minnesota Statutes section 611A.045, provides criteria that trial courts must apply when awarding restitution; however, the victim’s fault is not listed among the criteria. In…

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must…

In 328 Barry Avenue v. Nolan Properties Group, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations under section 541.051, applying to claims of defective construction of an improvement to real property, does not require that construction be substantially complete before such claims accrue. The court further held that there was a genuine issue…

Plaintiffs alleging legal malpractice in some states must file expert affidavits supporting their claims before trial. Requirements for these affidavits vary by state; in Minnesota, for example, they must contain specific details linking the defendant’s negligent conduct to the plaintiff’s damages. This imposes a high burden on plaintiffs and filters out frivolous lawsuits that will…

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,Is the immediate jewel of their souls.Who steals my purse steals trash; ‘tis something, nothing;‘Twas mine, ‘tis his, and has been slave to thousands;But he that filches from me my good nameRobs me of that which not enriches him,And makes me poor indeed. Since the inception of the United…