Minneapolis, MN commercial litigation attorney Andrew Parker talks about some memorable cases Parker Daniels Kibort has handled. The attorney represented a client in a preliminary injunction case in Arizona concerning voting machines. The client, Kari Lake, was a candidate at the time and served as a plaintiff, challenging whether voting machines violated constitutional rights due to concerns about their accuracy in vote counting. Both the machine companies and the government entities employing them strongly disputed these claims. However, the case was driven by a significant lack of confidence among many voters in the voting system. Ultimately, the court dismissed the case, and the Ninth Circuit upheld that dismissal. The attorney’s team is currently preparing a petition for the Supreme Court to review the case. The dismissal rested on the legal concept of “standing”—the court determined that the plaintiffs’ alleged injury was too speculative and not concrete enough to proceed.

The attorney also represents Brian Lipschultz in the high-profile Otto Bremer Trust case, one of Minnesota’s largest legal matters. Lipschultz was removed as a trustee by a Ramsey County district court judge, and despite appeals to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, the removal was affirmed. The case was ultimately concluded based on an “abuse of discretion” standard, which the higher courts applied in deferring to the district court’s conclusions.

Another major focus of the attorney’s practice is Lanham Act cases, particularly involving trade dress or trademark disputes. They are currently engaged in a unique case with a company that sells cigars in a tube with built-in humidification, which keeps the cigars fresh for over a year. This company, which supplies golf courses, has been successful for many years. The case alleges that a prospective buyer, who did not win the bid to purchase the company, misused proprietary information obtained through the due diligence process—despite having signed a non-disclosure agreement—to launch a competing single-tube cigar humidification business. The case is ongoing in litigation.