Bar/Professional Activity:

• Co-Chair Membership Committee, Minnesota Association for Justice, 2008

Verdicts and Settlements:

• J.E.B. v Danks --- N.W.2d ----, 2010 WL 2852314 (Minn. 2010). Members of the B. family brought suit against respondent Debra Danks, alleging slander per se, libel, false reporting under Minn.Stat. § 626.556, intrusion upon seclusion, and public disclosure of private facts. In their complaint, appellants claimed that Danks filed a false report with county child protection workers alleging that appellants' son was sexually abusing their daughter and that Danks spread false rumors in their community to the same effect. Holdings: The Supreme Court, Gildea, C.J., held that: (1) immunity for the reporting of child abuse applies where the person, acting in good faith, knows, has reason to believe, or suspects that abuse occurred; (2) when predicate facts are in dispute, the court cannot determine whether immunity applies until the factual disputes are resolved; (3) fact question regarding whether mother's report of abuse was filed in “good faith” precluded summary judgment for mother on grounds of immunity; and (4) statutory immunity for the filing of good faith reports of sexual abuse to the proper officials does not extend to disclosure of potentially defamatory information to third parties., 2010