Representative Cases

Daniel P. Doda

Supreme Court of the United States

Sveen v. Melin, 138 S. Ct. 1815 (2018). They successfully represented the children of the decedent before the Supreme Court of the United States, which held that the retroactive application of Minnesota's revocation-on-divorce statute, Minn. Stat. § 524.2-804 that automatically revokes a former spouse as a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy does not violate the Contracts Clause of the United States Constitution. The decision results allowed our clients to receive the decedent's life insurance proceeds rather than the decedent's former spouse.

United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit

Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Melin, 899 F.3d 953 (8th Cir. 2018). Affirmed the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota's grant of summary judgment awarding life insurance policy proceeds to our clients.

United States District Court for the District of Minnesota

Meseck v. Tak Communications, Inc., 2011 WL 1190579 (D. Minn. March 28, 2011). Successfully obtained conditional class certification for our clients, consisting of 107 class members, for failure to pay overtime wages to cable installation technicians under the Fair Labor Standards Act. As a result, the case was settled, resulting in a favorable settlement for our clients.

Minnesota

T&R Flooring, LLC v. O'Byrne, 826 N.W.2d 833 (Minn. Ct. App. 2013). Successfully represented two mechanic lien claimants in dismissing the property owner's interlocutory appeal because it was taken from a non-appealable partial judgment.

Gates v. Macken, 2016 WL 2615873 (Minn. Ct. App., May 9, 2016). Successfully represented husband and wife in an appeal of summary judgment granted in favor of the plaintiff on his claim that the husband and wife were unjustly enriched when proceeds from the sale of land owned by the parties were used to pay off a loan to the husband's plumbing corporation.

The court dismissed the wife from the action and reversed the district court's judgment against the husband because the plaintiff could not establish the factors to pierce the veil of the husband's plumbing corporation.

T&R Flooring, LLC v. O'Byrne, 2015 WL 4528693 (Minn. Ct. App., September 29, 2015). After obtaining summary judgment in the district court for our clients, two mechanic lien claimants, the property owner, appealed. The court affirmed summary judgment in favor of our clients that they had valid enforceable mechanic's liens because they were exempted from giving pre-lien notice under the exemption in Minnesota Statute Section 514.011, Subd. 4a, their liens had priority over the lender, and the property owner's counterclaims for breach of contract and slander of title were properly dismissed.

Tonna Mech., Inc., v Double A, LLC, 2011 WL 2437387 (Minn. Ct. App., June 20, 2011). They represented a mechanic lien claimant in a court trial who obtained a judgment in the district court in an appeal brought by the property owner. The court affirmed the district court judgment in favor of the mechanic lien claimant, holding that the mechanic lien claimant properly billed for its work on a time and material basis and that it was not required to give pre-lien notice because the improved property consisted of commercial property with more than 5,000 total usable square feet of floor space under Section 514.011, Subd. 4c.

District Court File No.: 85-CV-11-128 (2014). Represented contractor in a jury trial and obtained a verdict for damages in favor of our client on its breach of contract claim.

Current Cases

District Court File No.: 55-PR-19-3052 (2019). Representing surviving wife in the decedent husband's probate estate seeking to invalidate the antenuptial agreement entered nearly 30 years ago so surviving wife can receive the spousal elective share of the augmented estate under the Minnesota Uniform Probate Code.

District Court File No.: 79-PR-19-1088 (2019). Representing personal representative in a claim brought by a putative child seeking to access the decedent's DNA to determine heirship under the Minnesota Uniform Probate Code.