LGN Partner Susan Ellingstad was recently interviewed by WCCO about a new Minnesota law that makes sexual harassment settlements tax-free. Watch the whole story at this link.
Susan heads the firm’s employment law department and her practice includes claims involving employment discrimination and harassment under Title VII, the MHRA and other federal and state employment statutes, wage and hour violations, commercial litigation, and class actions.
LGN Associate Arielle Wagner attended the Collaborative Bar Leadership Academy as part of the 2023 cohort. The CBLA is an annual, multi-day program for diverse bar association leaders, which provides leadership training and professional development programs which will benefit current and future leaders of bar associations, and the legal profession overall. This year’s CBLA was hosted in Minneapolis, MN from June 25-27.
LGN was proud to sponsor the Twin Cities Cardozo Society’s 22nd Annual Dinner on June 22nd. Steve Hunegs, Alan Milavetz, and Judah Druck were honored at the event for their commitment to serving the Jewish and general communities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The Twin Cities Cardozo Society is a place for Jewish attorneys, judges, and law students to network and serve the community. They strengthen bonds among legal professionals through educational, social and philanthropic activities, and offer opportunities for communal involvement and leadership.
LGN Partner Kristen Marttila filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL) in the Ninth Circuit Epic v. Apple litigation, supporting Plaintiff-Appellant Epic’s petition for en banc review. In the underlying litigation, Epic had alleged that Apple’s prohibition on third-party app stores and in-app-payment (IAP) systems from operating on its proprietary iOS platform violated the antitrust laws.
The panel opinion, like the district court below, gave only cursory treatment to the final step of its Rule of Reason analysis, in which anticompetitive effects of the challenged conduct must be balanced against any pro-competitive justification to determine the net effect of the conduct on consumer welfare. Rather than re-affirming the need for a meaningful balancing step, the panel held that “[i]n most instances,” that step could be satisfied with a single sentence recognizing that “a business practice without a less restrictive alternative is not, on balance, anticompetitive.” COSAL argued that this conclusion failed to recognize that the balancing step is the entire point of the Rule of Reason inquiry, and the panel’s formalistic application would allow even the most egregious anticompetitive conduct if the wrongdoer could offer some minor, pretextual, and post hoc explanation of procompetitive benefit. The brief further argued that Supreme Court precedent and persuasive authority from other courts of appeal make clear that courts must engage in a robust balancing process in Rule of Reason cases, and that this robust inquiry is needed to protect consumers and competition.
Ms. Marttila chairs COSAL’s amicus committee. Also representing COSAL in this matter were Geoffrey Kozen, Stephen Safranski, and Matthew Leighton at Robins Kaplan.
LGN is a longtime member of COSAL, which was founded in 1986 to promote and support the enactment, preservation, and enforcement of a strong body of antitrust laws in the United States.
Beginning January 1, 2024, all employers must provide paid sick and safe leave to employees who work at least 80 hours in Minnesota in a single year, including part-time and temporary employees. Passed as part of an omnibus jobs and economic development spending bill, the statewide earned sick and safe leave law is similar to existing ordinances in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and other Minnesota cities. Employees can accrue at least one hour of earned sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked, for a maximum of 48 hours accrued per year (unless the employer agrees to a higher amount). Accrual commences on the first day of employment, and employees may use the leave as it accrues. Employees will also be entitled to carry over unused sick and safe time into the following year for up to a maximum of 80 hours total accrued (unless the employer agrees to a higher amount). Alternatively, an employer can frontload leave at the beginning of the year or pay out accrued leave at the end of the year, with limited conditions. Employers are not required to pay out an employee’s unused sick and safe leave upon separation from employment. However, an employee is entitled to reinstatement of previously accrued unused sick and safe leave upon rehire within 180 days of separation by the same employer.
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On May 5, 2023, Charlie Schmit, grandson of LGN founding partner Bob Schmit, attended and spoke at the signing ceremony for a bill that expands the freedom to vote in Minnesota. The bill includes preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds and a permanent absentee ballot option, as well as automatic voter registration as a result of applications for new or renewed driver’s licenses or state identification cards, initial or renewal applications for MinnesotaCare or Medical Assistance, and applications for benefits or services to another participating agency. Automatic voter registration will result in about 450,000 added or updated voter registrations each year.
Charlie is a junior at Washburn High School and a Minnesota Youth Council member. He testified several times in favor of the bill.
LGN was proud to sponsor a WithAll’s golf event on June 5 at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis! WithAll provides resources and education to parents, teachers, coaches, and health providers so they can help kids develop a positive body image and relationship with food. WithAll also provides recovery support grants to folks in treatment for an eating disorder.
We are honored to be a partner in this important work. LGN associate Derek Waller serves on the board of WithAll and he attended the event with colleagues from LGN’s health law practice, including David Asp, Jennifer Jacobs, and Kristen Marttila.
LGN Partner Kate Baxter-Kauf was recently elected to a three-year term on The Sedona Conference Working Group 11: Data Security and Privacy Liability Steering Committee. The mission of Working Group 11 is to identify and comment on trends in data security and privacy law, in an effort to help organizations prepare for and respond to data breaches, and to assist attorneys and judicial officers in resolving questions of legal liability and damages. The Working Group will develop best practices drawn from civil litigation arising from data security and privacy violations, legislative governance of data security and privacy, and regulatory enforcement of data security and privacy laws, in order to help organizations take action before and after a data breach to minimize their legal exposure, to inform affected parties of their rights and responsibilities, and to assist in the coordination of regulatory, law enforcement, and judicial responses to data breach and related incidents.
Kate largely focuses her practice on data breach, cybersecurity & privacy, and antitrust litigation, representing consumers, financial institutions, and small businesses in class action litigation.
LGN partner Gregory J. Myers recently joined the Board of the St. Paul-based service agency Neighborhood House, which was formed in 1897 to assist recently arrived Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Today Neighborhood House provides services to more than 15,000 people per year in the areas of food security, housing stability, adult education and literacy, and early childhood and family education.
LGN has had a long relationship supporting Neighborhood House programs.
LGN Partner Kate Baxter-Kauf spoke on a panel on May 25, 2023 for the Southern Wisconsin KnowledgeNet, a program of the International Association of Privacy Professionals entitled The Online Tracking Era: An update on the latest compliance and litigation issues, with privacy expert Alexandra Vesalga, CIPP/US, a Privacy Consultant and Attorney at AV Privacy, moderated by Sarah Sargent, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, CIPM, an attorney at Godfrey & Kahn. The panel explored civil litigation, enforcement actions, and other technical and compliance topics for website and online tracking, for which there have been a rise of civil cases in the last couple of years.