Minneapolis Community Dev. Agency v. Lake Calhoun Associates
928 F. 2d 299 (8th Cir. 1991) Breach of Contract;
Counterclaims of best efforts; Anticipatory Repudiation; Breach of fiduciary duty

*I was an associate attorney at Opperman & Paquin, Minneapolis, when this case came in the door in 1988. I was six months pregnant. An Illinois developer wanted to build a high-rise residential development overlooking Lake Calhoun (now “Bde Maka Ska”). The developer, LCA, had faced grueling and time-consuming hurdles attempting to get approvals from the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, including a failed eminent domain effort by the MCDA, and the parties were at impasse when I was retained. The City of Minneapolis, represented by experienced trial lawyer Wayne Popham, sued for breach of contract in Federal District Court in Minneapolis, and trial commenced in November of 1989, before Judge Harry McLaughlin. My daughter was one year old at the time. 
 
My challenge as lead defense counsel was to explain to the jury the complexities of real estate development and the municipal building approval process - and somehow make it interesting. I was aided in my closing argument by an ingenious exhibit featuring over twenty “building blocks” attached with Velcro, to a huge tag board sheet. One-by-one, I tore each block down, as I reviewed MCDA witness testimony about why the project had failed.
 
The jury returned a $2.3 million dollar verdict for my client on its counter-claims, and zero for the plaintiff City of Minneapolis.  Judge McLaughlin took away a big chunk of that win on post-trial motions, and was affirmed by the Eighth Circuit, but LCA was still quite happy with its $500,000 plus award, also affirmed on appeal.  The victory party at my law firm featured one of the paralegals placing my daughter on the copy machine and taking a picture of her tiny derriere.  

Payne v. Norwest Corporation
185 F. 3d 1068 (9th Cir. 1999); 
911 F. Supp. 1299 (D. Mont. 1995); 113 F. 3d 1079 (9th Cir. 1997)
Retaliation under Title VII and the ADEA; Montana Wrongful Discharge (statutory);
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress; Defamation 

*I spent a great deal of time over a four-year period in Billings, Montana defending Norwest (now Wells Fargo) on this age discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.  The case went to the Ninth Circuit two times, both before and after a defense verdict at jury trial on plaintiff’s federal retaliation claims and state wrongful discharge claims.  I remember when local counsel first met me at the Billings airport in a pick-up truck: he was dressed in a natty lawyer-like suit, and he had a rifle in the bed of the pick-up (for off-duty game hunting I realized).

This case taught me the importance of witness preparation and trust.  The banking executives, staff and corporate counsel who had made the always-difficult decision to terminate an employee, had to live through four subsequent years of legal machinations while still being called upon to testify in depositions and at trial as if the employment incident had just happened and was fresh in their minds.  The tenacious plaintiff’s counsel was shocked when the jury verdict was read and I was exhausted but relieved. Back in Minnesota, my daughter (age 10) had broken her arm, and I was anxious to see her again, knowing my Montana victory was not foremost in her mind.

Afremov v. Amplatz
No. 02-17734, 2006 WL 44314
Hennepin County District Court Minneapolis 2006 (sealed)
Minority Shareholder Dispute; Breach of Fiduciary Duty;
Breach of Contract

*I represented the former CEO of a major Minnesota medical device company in his successful bid in a minority shareholder dispute.  My client had retained and fired two different prominent Minneapolis law firms before hiring me. A hearing to determine who would control the small but highly lucrative company - and its invaluable patented devices - was already scheduled before the Hennepin County District Court when I was hired. 
I had to get up to speed on the acrimonious history between the three founding partners, the freeze-out of my client, the actual medical inventions at the heart of the dispute, the case history involving a court-appointed Receiver, and certain judicial sanctions against prior counsel.  At the hearing in late 2004, the Hennepin County judge asked me difficult and penetrating questions with no mercy for my newly-retained status. But she ruled in our favor, my client was reinstated as CEO, and I was able to savor the fact that it had all happened in six months. I took a short vacation to Mexico over New Years, during which time my 16 year old daughter had her first fender-bender in Minnesota as a newly-licensed driver.  

*personal, non-privileged commentary

HOLSTEIN MEDIATION
Rule 114 Qualified Mediator,
Neutral Roster, Minnesota Judicial Branch
www.holsteinmediation.com

Having read my case highlights, you may ask, well what about all those other cases during almost forty years of litigation?  What happened to them? Happily, for a defense lawyer, some were dismissed on summary judgement or partial summary judgment.  But the bulk - the majority - were settled: (cases settled after a favorable jury verdict prior to appeal, cased settled early, cased settled pre-litigation, cases settled on the day of trial (“on the courtroom steps”)).  As much as I tout my trial experience, the real measure of a good lawyer is her settlement acumen - knowing when to settle, how much to settle for, and under what circumstances. I did more of that than anything else these last 39 years, and that’s why I decided to train and commit myself to the professional mediation process, as a mediator.  Hopefully, my pro-settlement bias rubs off on my daughter, who is now age 33 and a lawyer in Chicago.

Education
Certified Mediation Skills Training, Minnesota CLE                                                                                            

University of Minnesota Law School, cum laude

Minnesota Law Review, Note and Comment Editor

University of Minnesota, B.S. English, Speech, Theatre with High Distinction

Awards and Professional Recognition
Minnesota “Super Lawyer” for fourteen years including Top 100 Minnesota Super Lawyers (5% of Minnesota’s 38,000+ attorneys are named to this list).

American Bar Association Fellow (1/3 of 1% of licensed Minnesota attorneys are ABA Fellows)

Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development

Past President, Federal Bar Association, Minnesota, and Past National Vice-President for the Eighth Circuit, Federal Bar Association

Published Writer
Current monthly columnist for Twin Cities Business magazine, column “Working It”
Twin Cities Business Magazine
You can also visit www.lindaholstein.com for more information.