Monday, October 11, 2010

Coverage, even reaching the west coast, on a former client's malpractice lawsuit against GOP candidate Tom Emmer.



An excellent post, Ripple in Stillwater, this link.

Duluth coverage, this link.

Seattle PI, this link.

Does anyone know, is this Steven R. Hackbarth any relation to the House Dist. 48A Rep. Hackbarth?

There's also a Steven L. Hackbarth with a Minnesota litigation history, so if you look at online dockets, this link, don't be confused.

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Lead photo published earlier by Strib, below photo from an excellent post at the Awl.


__________UPDATE____________
For anyone wanting cause numbers to search court files, below are online docket pages for the Hackbarth suit against Emmer, and what I believe is the 2009 underlying case where Hackbarth claims Emmer's representation was negligent and/or malpractice - images in that order, the more recent item on top.





As always, click an image to enlarge and read.

__________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Do you suppose you could catch an ambulance using roller blades?

A moot question, having nothing to do with Tom Emmer, so back to the AP - Seattle PI coverage, which reports things having something to do with Emmer, this excerpt:

[...]

Hackbarth, the owner of a roofing company, filed the lawsuit in Wright County three weeks ago, but it didn't receive attention until a partisan blog posted details Thursday night.

Hackbarth argues Emmer put up a shoddy defense in a 2009 civil case that ultimately cost him his contractor license and a $30,000 judgment to a company trying to recover payments for roofing supplies.

Emmer was the lawyer for Hackbarth Enterprise Corp. in a case where Hackbarth was a separately named defendant. [...]

Hackbarth's lawsuit says Emmer didn't file any paperwork in the supply case and came to court unprepared.

Emmer withdrew as Hackbarth's attorney last September, a couple of months after he announced his run for governor.

Within days of being sued, Schwartz quickly filled the court file with documents refuting Hackbarth's claims. Schwartz said he plans to seek sanctions against Hackbarth and Hart for filing what he sees as frivolous claims.

Campaign spokesman Carl Kuhl said Emmer has never before been accused of malpractice in his 20-year legal career.

Here I need reader help. Emmer dropped the Hackbarth representation Sept. 2009. Is this, coincidently, when the Drew Emmer blog was shut down, and when the Tripp Emmer facebook photo sequence scrubbing happened, the removal of photos on a Tripp Emmer facebook page, photos documenting underage drinking and shaming of a comatose young woman with penis drawings; or was the timing of those two efforts to redact history different? Is any reader out there knowing the exact time frame of purging the record? Someone close, such as perhaps a staff scheduler, might know the who, how, when of scrubbing and purging of untoward Emmer family factoids.

_____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Is Tripp Emmer still on the Emmer campaign payroll, in effect a close inner-family member being paid out of campaign contributions - is that continuing or has it been curtailed when Tripp Emmer arrest and other facts surfaced (but only then)? Does anyone from the Emmer campaign read Crabgrass, and know the truths and have the courage, will, and rectitude to speak out?