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Minnesota Court of Appeals Confirms Actual Use, Not Historical Use, is What Matters for Legal Nonconforming Property
Uses of commercial property change over time. As commercial landowners well know, the right to use property as one wishes is subject to and limited by municipalities’ police power in regulating land use. One way Minnesota municipalities regulate permitted uses of land is through zoning. Provided it is exercised lawfully, municipalities generally have the authority to modify land use through changing zoning definitions and rezoning parcels altogether. When this occurs, a use which was previously a permitted use for a parcel can become an unpermitted use for the same parcel.
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Franchisees Are Not Off the Hook Just Because They Invoke Cancellation Language in the Franchise Agreement
A federal district court in Florida made exceedingly clear in an October 2016 decision that even if a franchise agreement is cancelled and rescinded, its non-disclosure and non-competition obligations can still tie the franchisee’s hands. In other words, franchisors may enforce these obligations even when the franchisee never opens the franchise.
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Blight and Abandoned or Unattended Vehicles
Abandoned motor vehicles constitute a hazard to the health and welfare of the people of Minnesota. According to the state of Minnesota, and many local municipalities, abandoned vehicles can harbor noxious diseases, furnish shelter and breeding places for vermin, and present physical dangers to the safety and well-being of children and other citizens. Minnesota law declares abandoned motor vehicles and other scrap metals to be a blight on the landscape and a detriment to the environment. Minn. Stat. § 168B.01. A “blight” is something detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community. In April 2016, the Minnesota Court of Appeals decided a matter concerning a vague municipal blight ordinance, and reversed Renee Anita Vasko’s misdemeanor conviction of violating the same. State v. Vasko, No. A15-1172, 2016 WL 1551666 (Minn. Ct. App. April 18, 2016).
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Do You Know What Your Arbitration Clause Says?
Whether a construction claim should be heard by an arbitrator or litigated in a court of law is a common issue in construction-related disputes. If you operate in the construction industry, chances are your contracts’ arbitration clauses incorporate the AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures, a set of standardized arbitration rules promulgated by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) specifically for construction contracts.
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Court of Appeals Rejects Tenant's Argument in Delivery-of-Premises Case
The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently decided an issue of interest to residential landlords in Minnesota – whether a tenant who paid a security deposit and first month’s rent, but had not moved into the leased premises, was a “residential tenant.” The court of appeals said “no” in Cocchiarella v. Driggs, which means that even though the tenant paid, the tenant cannot force the landlord to deliver possession of the premises under a certain Minnesota statute.
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Showing articles for Inga K. Kingland
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