"An appeals court has affirmed an $11 million jury award related to a Minnesota crash that killed three people and resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of a driver.
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Following a contested hearing, a Scott County Judge granted Brent Schafer’s motion to dismiss all drug possession charges filed against his client. The Judge found that the arresting officer did have a legal basis to stop the vehicle Schafer’s client was occupying. The officer activated his red light after stopping behind a vehicle that was lawfully parked in a residential area...
Prosecutor agrees to dismissal of Fifth Degree Domestic Assault charges. Brent SCHAFER successfully negotiated a plea agreement that resulted in dismissal of all charges stemming from an altercation between siblings.
Prosecutor dismisses violation of Domestic No Contact Order. Brent S. SCHAFER recently obtained a dismissal of all charges filed against his client for an alleged violation of a Domestic No Contact Order. SCHAFER successfully argues that the order was technically invalid and unenforceable.
A Dakota County Judge Order the reinstatement of Client’s driving privileges after finding that driver’s right to obtain an additional test in a DWI case had been denied.
According to Minnesota Statute 169A.51 CHEMICAL TESTS FOR INTOXICATION, 7(b), "The person tested has the right to have someone of the person's own choosing administer a chemical test or tests in addition to...
Police were investigating an accident and observed the defendant's vehicle parked on the grass behind a private residence. Police ended up entering an old, dilapidated fish house in the yard, where they found the defendant. The Court finds that the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the fish house, which was within the curtilage of the residence, and the State...
Defendant's vehicle was stopped for an obstructed license plate and the Trooper eventually asked direct questions about drugs and sought to obtain consent to search the vehicle, which consent was not given. The Trooper suspected a drug offense and got a canine to sniff around the vehicle. The canine alerted to drugs at a portion of the vehicle leading to the discovery of a bag containing...
Affirming the defendant’s conviction of refusing to submit to a chemical test, the Court finds that defendant’s statement to the officer that he would not take the test without his attorney present was sufficient to support the verdict. State v. Jason Nelson (Ct. App. Unpublished. 9/17/18)
Affirming a District Court order granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge of DWI, the Court finds no error in the District Court’s finding that the defendant was seized when the trooper activated his emergency lights immediately after the defendant pulled away from the side of the road. State v. Wento (Ct. App. Unpubl.,...
During a traffic stop, the defendant, a passenger, admitted to the officer that he had marijuana. The defendant consented to a pat search, but the officer more thoroughly searched the defendant’s pockets. The Court finds that in spite of justification to conduct a pat frisk, that the search into the defendant’s pockets was not lawful. [Editor’s note: the...
A commercial vehicle inspector was inspecting the defendant’s commercial vehicle at a weigh station and thought, but was unsure whether he smelled the odor of marijuana in the vehicle. The inspector had only smelled marijuana twice during his training 9 years earlier. A narcotics dog was called to the scene and alerted to drugs.
The District Court suppressed the marijuana evidence...
A divided Minnesota Supreme Court today overturned a Court of Appeals ruling that using a drug-sniffing dog outside a person’s apartment without a warrant is a violation of Fourth Amendment rights. It was an apparent 3-to-2 vote.
A divided Minnesota Supreme Court today overturned a Court of Appeals ruling that using a drug-sniffing dog outside a person’s apartment without a warrant is...
Vehicle Search – Backpack
Police searched a motor vehicle for missing items stolen from a convenience store and all of the items that were believed to be missing were recovered. After the items were recovered, police searched a backpack found in the vehicle wherein drugs were found. The Court finds that the police lacked probable cause to continue searching the contents of the car once...
Brent S. Schafer recently received advanced level training, from the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys, on Unconstitutional Fees In DUI Cases. Brent received training on a recent Court of Appeals Decision in Tennessee that administrative fees charged on blood draws are unconstitutional and violate due process.
Many areas of the Country have similar administrative fees on DUI...
Brent S. Schafer, Minnesota Criminal Defense Attorney, has joined Noticed©, an invitation-only service for distinguished professionals. Schafer has been chosen as a Distinguished Lawyer™ based on peer reviews and ratings, dozens of recognition, and accomplishments achieved throughout his career.
Schafer outshines others in his field due to his extensive educational background, numerous...
Today, Bob Hilliard filed a lawsuit on behalf of Rebecca Veibrock, her four children, and Lisa Vansomeren and her two children who suffered at the hands of Hudson, Wisconsin dentist, Dr. Andy Mancini.
The civil lawsuit, filed in Washington County Minnesota Court, details the mistreatment Rebecca Veibrock and Lisa Vansomeren's children received at La Petite Dentistry, including unfinished...
Brent Schafer of Savage, Minnesota was recently granted Membership into the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys after the Association confirmed that he has the skills, knowledge, training, tools, resources, and strategies that are needed to successfully resolve and win DUI cases.
The American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys has compiled information from Judges, Traffic...
The Minnesota Association for Justice recently announced through a press release that they introduced a legislative bill called the Minnesota Family Protection Act, which will protect families by closing an insurance loophole that many of the state’s boat owners are unaware of.
"ST. PAUL, MN – Today at the State Capitol, Republican and Democratic parties came together to address a...
A Pennsylvania man has filed a lawsuit alleging that he contracted a serious infection after a dangerous parasite got splashed into his left eye while waiting in line for the Raging Rapids ride at Kennywood Park, an amusement park in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County. According to the complaint, the amusement park failed to use the right filtration system or chlorinate the water to keep...
A decade worth of legal action over a dog attack in Santa Fe has finally been settled. The original 2010 lawsuit was filed against State Farm by a woman whose dog attacked a meter-reader. The plaintiff filed suit against the insurance company after the man attacked by her dog filed a lawsuit against her. The lawsuit sought financial compensation for the plaintiff to cover legal costs...
Polaris has issued a recall on its side-by-side recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs), due to a crash hazard. According to the recall, "The steering wheel shaft can shift and detach while in use, resulting in a loss of control and crash hazard." About 19,000 of the 2016 and 2017 Polaris General 2- and 4-seat side-by-side recreational off-highway vehicles are included in the recall....
McLennan County, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against the country’s largest opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors. On Tuesday, county officials filed the lawsuit against Purdue, Johnson & Johnson, and a number of other pharmaceutical companies. As a result of the defendants marketing of the drugs, there have been a substantial number of overdose deaths across the county, says...
A man from Maine has been awarded $2 million after he suffered permanent damage to his hand during surgery following an incident in which his hand was crushed by a kayak. The 49-year-old man filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a Bangor hand surgeon and Eastern Maine Medical Center over injuries he suffered during the surgery. As detailed in the complaint, the surgeon failed to...
A New Jersey teenager who suffered brain damage after a hospital stay has been awarded $17 million. The 16-year-old girl from Monmouth County suffered brain damage nine years ago when she was allegedly taken off a ventilator too soon. Named as defendants in the lawsuit Meridian Pediatric Associates and the girl's doctor. The teen was awarded $5 million for pain and suffering, $2 million...
Impeachment – Generic Felony Affirming defendant’s conviction of unlawful possession of a firearm, the Court finds no error in the District Court allowing the State to impeach the defendant with two felony convictions without referencing the nature of the felonies (sanitized convictions) with the same standard being applied to a prosecution witness. State v. Bares-Stewart
Prior False...
A real estate broker is to meet with a judge to say whether he will plead guilty or not guilty in a fatal crash. The defendant was involved in a crash into Sweet Tomatoes pizzeria in West Newton, Massachusetts that killed two customers and injured seven others. The man has been charged with two counts of motor vehicle homicide and one count of operating a motor vehicle to endanger....
Inevitable Discovery
Police had a warrant to search an individual’s home and when they entered the bedroom, the person who was the subject of the warrant and the defendant in this case were present. Methamphetamine
was seen in the open and the defendant’s hands were on top of a purse that he had carried with him. The Court finds that the search of the purse was not authorized...
Residents of Crosby, Texas, have filed a second lawsuit against Arkema over a chemical plant explosion that occurred after flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey on the Texas Coast. Included in the class of residents filing suit over the explosion are a Texas state trooper, Harris County sheriff’s deputy, and sergeant. The lawsuit, filed against the global chemical company after the...
DataMaster Testing
Affirming defendant’s conviction of DWI-alcohol concentration, the Court finds that the District Court is permitted to take judicial notice of the fact that the Commissioner of Public Safety has approved the DataMaster breath testing instrument for use by law enforcement. State v. Norgaard
Urine Testing – Consent
The defendant was asked if he...
An audio recording has been released in a wrongful death lawsuit over the death of a man who was shot in court. The man, 25-year-old Siale Angilau, was facing racketeering charges in the U.S. District courthouse in Salt Lake City in April 2014. Another man, a former member of Salt Lake City’s Tongan Crip Gang, had been testifying for the prosecution about the gang's practices....
Corroboration of Accomplice
Affirming the defendant’s conviction for 1st degree robbery, the Court affirms a District Court finding that although a witness was an accomplice to a drug deal, he was not an accomplice to the actual robbery and therefore there was no legal requirement to corroborate the witness’s testimony. However, the Court finds that there was corroboration of the...
A New Jersey family is filing a lawsuit against the Hasbrouck Heights School District alleging that it is responsible for a student's injury. According to the complaint, the Euclid Elementary School student was injured by a whiteboard at the school. The child's two guardians, who filed the lawsuit, have not commented on the extent of his injuries.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are...
Pat-Search Justified
An officer observed a bag of marijuana protruding from defendant’s pocket and observed that defendant twice attempted to put his hands in his pants while handcuffed. The Court finds that this conduct provided a reasonable, articulable suspicion that defendant was engaging in criminal activity and a reasonable belief that he was armed and dangerous. The pat-search...
A woman from Long Island, New York has filed a lawsuit blaming her veterinarian for the death of her dog. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff's dog died after taking painkillers prescribed by the vet after a routine surgery. The Labrador suffered massive kidney failure from taking a painkiller prescribed by her animal doctor at the Veterinarian Center of Long Island following knee...
Expansion of the Stop - The Court finds that observations of an officer that the petitioner smelled of alcohol combined with the observation that defendant’s eyes were glossy and watery provided a reasonable suspicion justifying expansion of the stop to a DWI investigation. McIntyre v. Commissioner
Restricting Argument – Fuel Cell - The Court finds that any error in the District...
A CRI informed police def was selling meth out of an apartment. The apartment is secured but building management has a lock box outside with key for police to gain entry. Police used that key to get into the apartment with a narcotics detection dog. FIDO gave a positive alert outside def’s apartment door. Police used this info to get a nighttime no knock warrant to search def’s...
Amazon is facing a lawsuit alleging that the company sold faulty eclipse glasses that lead to permanent eye damage. The proposed class action lawsuit filed by a couple in South Carolina alleges that the glasses sold on Amazon.com damaged the plaintiffs' eyes. The couple purchased a three-pack of eclipse glasses on Amazon in early August and the lawsuit states that the couple assumed that...
Private Detention
Affirming defendant's conviction of 3rd degree DWI, the Court finds that where defendant was detained by private security officers and then a police officer approached defendant, there was no unconstitutional seizure because the private actions of the security officers did not constitute a constitutional violation and the police officer had a valid basis to detain by the...
Blood Draw - Exigent Circumstances
A DWI defendant was involved in a fatal car accident. An officer directed a blood test at the hospital without obtaining a warrant, believing there was insufficient time to get a warrant. Defendant was air lifted to another hospital shortly after the blood test sample was obtained. The court finds that there was in fact exigent circumstances justifying...
Brent S. Schafer has been selected to the 2017 Minnesota Super Lawyers list, an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Only 5% of attorneys in Minnesota receive this distinction. Selection to the Super Lawyers list provides third-party validation of the commitment Brent S. Schafer brings to the legal practice and the clients he represents. Hire Brent S....
A North Dakota Oil Field worker recently settled a lawsuit Mr. Schafer filed against a tank manufactured after Schafer’s client was injured when the rung of a ladder on the rear of a tank trailer failed, causing Schafer’s client to suffer a severe injury. The case settled 5 days prior to the scheduled start of trial in ND. The settlement amount is confidential under the terms of...
A Dakota County Judge recently ordered the Department of Public Safety to return the driving privileges to Mr. Schafer’s client after the court found the arresting officer illegally entered Schafer’s client’s garage. The arresting officer entered the client’s garage to investigate the report of a possible drunk driver. The officer neither witnessed Schafer’s client driving...
A Dakota County Judge recently dismissed a prostitution charges that was waged against Mr. Schafer’s client after his client was accused of improperly touching an uncover police officer during a message. The court held that despite numerous request for sexual services by the undercover officer, Schafer’s client “repeatedly refused to perform the requested sexual acts.” The...
Attorney Brent Schafer gained national attention for his work on the high-profile case of Koua Fong Lee v. State of Minnesota, in which Mr. Schafer successfully represented Mr. Lee, who was wrongly convicted of criminal vehicular homicide. The case dealt with Mr. Lee’s late-model Toyota Camry that accelerated uncontrollably as he exited a highway, causing the vehicle to crash into two...
After deliberating for 4 days, the six-woman and six-man jury found Toyota Motor Corp. 60% at fault for the 2006 crash that sent Koua Fong Lee to prison. The jury ordered Toyota Corp to pay $10.9 million in damages for the high-speed crash in St. Paul that cost the lives of three people.
Mr. Lee was released from prison after serving 2 ½ years of an 8 year sentence when attorney Brent...
