The Quadriga

The story of Alec Smith’s death has crystallized public opinion on insulin pricing, and for all the right reasons. Alex Smith was a young man who was born with diabetes and without the financial means to pay the bill for insulin. Yet insulin remains inexpensive to produce and vastly overpriced by an unregulated pharmaceutical industry.

As a physician, I believe a moral imperative exists to help patients avoid potentially lethal consequences if their supply of insulin—or any other similar life-giving medication—is interrupted. Every Minnesotan has a stake in addressing the growing challenge of unaffordable critical medicines. This is the best time to begin the necessary work to resolve this issue—political…

When it comes to policing the Minnesota legislative process, the current Minnesota Supreme Court has gotten it wrong. Separately in Ninetieth Minnesota State Senate v Dayton, and in Otto v. Wright County the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that there was no state constitutional violation either when the governor line-item vetoed the state legislature’s funding or…

Before Uber and Lyft, the framework for approaching the run-of-the-mill motor vehicle accident (“MVA”) case remained unchanged for decades. Traditionally, MVA cases center around three primary issues: fault, damages, and who pays for the damages. The fault and damages components are allocated amongst the individuals involved in the accident. In the vast majority of cases,…

On March 15, 2019, the Appellate Practice Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association held the annual Appellate Practice Institute in conjunction with Minnesota CLE. A panel consisting of Justice Natalie Hudson, Judge Matthew Johnson, and Judge Peter Reyes discussed tips for appellate practitioners. This article outlines tips that were shared by the appellate jurists.

During the 2017 and 2018 legislative sessions, the Minnesota Legislature debated H.F. 390, a bill that would increase criminal penalties for protesters that block highways, public transit, or airport access. Introduced to deter the disruptive tactics of Black Lives Matter protests in Minnesota, the bill was highly controversial, highlighted by a partisan political divide on…

The Minnesota Supreme Court, in Phone Recovery Services v. Qwest Corporation, 919 N.W.2d 315 (2018), held that fees and surcharges imposed by statute for 911 services, the Telecommunications Access Minnesota (TAM) program, and the Telephone Assistance Plan (TAP) program, were “portions of Minnesota Statutes relating to taxation,” within the meaning of the “tax bar” of…

Over a year ago, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a high-profile series of articles highlighting pervasive abuse, neglect, assault, theft, and other reprehensible actions taking place in Minnesota senior care facilities.1 Prior to this, I had heard accounts from constituents of this taking place, with few options for recourse.