The special litigation committee is a powerful tool, and corporations should not be allowed to resort to it prematurely: an analysis from Joseph Pull and Scott Benson, published in the most recent volume of the University of St. Thomas Law Journal.Read More

An “evergreen” contract is a contract which automatically renews at periodic intervals. Evergreen contracts are useful but can lead to problems if the parties become complacent. Imagine Ingmar & Ingrid, Inc. enters into a contract for one year to receive a weekly delivery[1] from Antony & Cleopatra, LLC.  The contract includes an evergreen provision that...Read More

My previous discussion of the Minnesota Court of Appeals’s opinion in the Lund litigation (here, here, and here) noted that on February 12, 2019, the Lund defendants filed a petition asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to review the decision of the Court of Appeals. On March 27, 2019, the Supreme Court declined to do so. Accordingly,...Read More

In December 2014, Kim Lund, one of four siblings who shared beneficial ownership of Minnesota’s Lund grocery empire, filed a lawsuit against her brother Tres Lund (the CEO of the business entities), the entities themselves, two directors, and a co-trustee of one of Kim’s trusts. In the action Kim sought to divest her Lund business...Read More

In December 2014, Kim Lund, one of four siblings who shared beneficial ownership of Minnesota’s Lund grocery empire, filed a lawsuit against her brother Tres Lund (the CEO of the business entities), the entities themselves, two directors, and a co-trustee of one of Kim’s trusts. In the action Kim sought to divest her Lund business...Read More

In December 2014, Kim Lund, one of four siblings who shared beneficial ownership of Minnesota’s Lund grocery empire, filed a lawsuit against her brother Tres Lund (the CEO of the business entities), the entities themselves, two directors, and a co-trustee of one of Kim’s trusts. In the action Kim sought to divest her Lund business...Read More

(Unenforceable Terms, Expressio Unius, and the Right of Redemption) Minnesota courts enforce contracts.  Someone who signs an agreement cannot later escape it by saying he never read it,[1] and or that it is harsh.[2] A little hyperbolically, Minnesota courts occasionally explain that contracts must be enforced or else “chaos would prevail in our business relations.”[3]...Read More

Stacking together two major life events – a divorce and the sale of a multi-million-dollar business – can be a recipe for major headaches and complex interacting consequences.  In the recent Minnesota Gill case, a business sale during a divorce revealed a potential loophole through which an owner-executive tried to avoid sharing assets with a...Read More

The Minnesota Supreme Court decided two unrelated disputes about the enforcement of employment contracts within the space of thirty days this summer. Both decisions allowed the employee to elude, at least temporarily, the plain language of a contractual obligation. An employee who failed to timely return his employer’s property after leaving the company was allowed...Read More

The Minnesota Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision, recently confirmed that a corporate officer is entitled to indemnification for her attorneys’ fees in defending allegations of corporate misconduct for her personal benefit. The underlying message: if you sue your business partner for taking money from the company, she may nevertheless get her legal fees...Read More