LITIGATION

If you’re confronted with agricultural litigation, you need someone on your side who knows the law. The Blethen Berens agricultural law team is dedicated to achieving the best possible outcomes for their clients.

Our trial experts have extensive experience in farm and agriculture inheritance disputes, will, estate or trust contests, boundary or easement disputes, contract disputes and family farm divorces or family farm partnership disputes.

You don’t have to handle agricultural litigation alone. When disputes or lawsuits arise regarding farm or agriculture matters, turn to Blethen Berens.

Appellate courts review the decisions of lower courts to determine if the law has been correctly applied. Blethen Berens has a long history of successfully prosecuting and defending appeals before state and federal appellate courts.

Local appellate courts include the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Experienced appellate lawyers work to persuade three or more appellate judges that your view of the law is correct, even if a trial court judge ruled against you. To this end, the lawyers in our appellate law team are highly skilled in identifying key legal issues and analyzing the likelihood of a favorable result on appeal.

The attorneys at Blethen Berens have extensive experience representing business and commercial clients in a wide range of matters before state and federal courts as well as before administrative agencies. We understand that consideration of litigation costs and business interruptions are often as important to our clients as the underlying dispute. Our lawyers are committed to providing sound and efficient work while constantly evaluating opportunities to conclude each dispute in the most cost-effective and favorable manner for our clients. While our lawyers are highly skilled in taking matters through trial, we understand that some disputes may be solved more amicably and at a potentially lower cost. Our attorneys are also experienced in representing clients in alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

Insurance and employment law issues often arise during the course of business or commercial disputes. Blethen Berens is a full-service firm with established insurance and employment law practices, which, coupled with decades of experience in the Mankato area business community, makes our firm uniquely qualified to provide legal counsel on virtually all issues that may arise during business litigation.

Our attorneys have extensive experience in all areas of business and commercial litigation, including:

• Contract disputes

• Warranty disputes

• Indemnification

• Uniform commercial code

• Shareholder disputes

• Disputes among partners or joint ventures

• Misuse of intellectual property

• Non-competition

• Software litigation

Whether you are a construction company or a property owner facing construction litigation, you can count on the experienced attorneys at Blethen Berens to represent you. We pride ourselves on our knowledge of the construction industry, and our attorneys will put their knowledge and experience to work for you in your construction litigation matter. If you’re facing litigation having to do with defective construction, statutory warranties, water intrusion, mold, property damage, contract claims, collections, or other construction issues, call Blethen Berens for a consultation.

We recognize that while disputes with employees can be expensive and use valuable company time and resources, sometimes there is no alternative to a lawsuit. Our experienced trial attorneys represent our clients in employment disputes in state and federal court and before administrative bodies. The firm’s clients include employers in such diverse industries as manufacturing, healthcare, education, banking, hospitality, insurance, agriculture, professional services, and retail. We aggressively defend discrimination, harassment, disability, wrongful discharge, non-competition, and wage and hour claims. If you are an employer facing employment litigation, trust in Blethen Berens to advocate for you.

At Blethen Berens, our attorneys have a resolution mindset. Preventing litigation reduces our clients’ stress and directs money to their pockets versus spending it on attorney’s fees. However, when it comes to an estate or trust, we know that there are times when family dynamics may not allow for an amicable resolution. At Blethen Berens, our litigation attorneys have extensive experience zealously advocating for our clients in court.

Blethen Berens is well known for their litigation practice in southern Minnesota. Our litigation and estate planning attorneys have over 100 years of combined experience handling estate and trust litigation and planning. Our two successful teams are familiar with the intricacies of trust and estate laws, and our clients can depend on our teams to work toward the most advantageous outcome. Let Blethen Berens advocate for you to preserve your assets.

The Blethen Berens family law team has over 50 years of experience and understands the sensitive nature of family law practice. We have extensive experience in working with a wide variety of family law areas such as dissolutions, pre- and postnuptial agreements, adoption, paternity, custody, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony), post-dissolution and other issues related to family law. We also provide family law mediation and other alternative dispute resolution services. The experienced attorneys at Blethen Berens are here for you.

The Blethen Berens insurance law team provides knowledgeable, experienced advocacy to insurance companies and policyholders who find themselves in a dispute involving auto, farm, healthcare, homeowners, and workers’ compensation policies.

With decades of combined service behind them, our lawyers are able to provide aggressive representation while achieving efficient and cost-effective results in even the most complex of insurance disputes.

At Blethen Berens, our personal injury team is proud of our successful record of achieving favorable verdicts and settlements in cases involving medical malpractice, premises liability, automobile and other negligence, farm accidents, animal attacks, products liability and dram shop liability.

The lawyers who make up the personal injury and wrongful death team have a thorough knowledge of and experience in navigating the insurance issues which will arise, including first and third party insurance, health and disability insurance, as well as social security benefits.

Our firm has a long history of personal injury and wrongful death success where our clients have received multi-million dollar results.

Our lawyers have been trusted by national companies to handle their important litigation. We’ve been trusted by many families who have experienced tragedies due to negligence or other wrongful conduct. You can trust us to handle your case with diligence, excellence and professionalism.

The professional liability and malpractice team at Blethen Berens has years of experience representing doctors, dentists, hospitals, medical practice groups, nurses and other health care professionals in medical negligence suits. The lawyers who make up this team count many defense jury verdicts to their credit. Because of their extensive experience, our lawyers are able to analyze the intricate medical issues involved in each case and to put together a comprehensive trial strategy.

In addition to our experience in the medical malpractice arena, our lawyers are well-qualified and experienced in handling cases involving architects, accountants, bankers, lawyers and engineers. Our proven track record of success comes from our ability to effectively implement trial strategy in complex medical and professional cases.

The real estate litigation team at Blethen Berens represents clients in all types of litigation involving real estate property. Whether you’re a landlord, tenant, owner, developer, lender, loan participant, or other party with a real estate issue, you can put your trust in Blethen Berens to work toward the most advantageous outcome for you.

Our real estate attorneys can help you with a wide range of issues, including:

• Mechanic’s liens

• Boundary disputes

• Evictions

• Land use and zoning

• Eminent domain/condemnation

• Restrictive covenants

• Property tax appeals

• Easements

• Title issues

• Purchase agreement disputes

• Financing/mortgage issues

• Environmental matters

• Partitions

• Lease disputes

Blethen Berens will help ease the burden of landlord/tenant relationships by guiding you through any and all issues that might arise. From simply being uncooperative to downright breaking the lease or the law, we will advise you every step of the way. We can help with a multitude of different tenant matters, but common issues might include disturbances, unauthorized pets, or use and possession of illegal substances.