Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Minneapolis DWI Attorney Blogs on Minnesota DWI: This Week's Featured Minnesota DWI Case

The Minnesota DWI Case Of The Week is Leshoure v. One 2003 GMC Yukon Motor Vehicle (Decided January 17, 2017, Minnesota Court of Appeals, Unpublished) which stands for the proposition that if you are going to act as your own lawyer, you had better know what you are doing.

In Leshoure, the Appellant's son was arrested for DWI while driving his mother's GMC Yukon.  Because this was the son's third DWI in ten years, the State issued a notice of intent to forfeit the vehicle. Appellant Leshoure challenged the forfeiture in conciliation court arguing that the vehicle belonged to her and that she was an innocent owner of the vehicle.


After a conciliation court trial, the conciliation court dismissed Leshoure's challenge to the forfeiture action by ruling that she was not the owner of the vehicle. The district court determined that the state satisfied its burden in overcoming the presumption created by Leshoure's submission of title and insurance paperwork to prove ownership of the vehicle. The conciliation court stayed judgment to give Leshoure time to appeal to a district court.

On January 19, 2016, Leshoure improperly filed her demand for removal with the district court. A deficiency notice was sent to Leshoure ten days after her filing because she failed to serve her pleading document on the state. Leshoure never responded to the deficiency notice, nor did she properly serve the state. The state alleges that it only became aware of Leshoure's appeal when it received a copy of the deficiency notice sent by the district court. The state subsequently filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.  

The district court granted the state's motion to dismiss and on appeal Leshoure argued that the district court was wrong to dismiss her claim for lack of jurisdiction.  The Minnesota Court of Appeals did not think much of her claim, stating:

"Here it is undisputed that the state was not properly served. Leshoure at no point attempted to serve her statement of claims and summons on the state. Even though Leshoure appeared pro se, she is held to the same standards as an attorney. See Minn. R. Gen. Pract. 1.04 ("Whenever these rules require that an act be done by a lawyer, the same duty is required of a party appearing pro se"). Ultimately, when service of process is insufficient and there has been no waiver of service, the district court must dismiss the action. See Uthe v. Baker, 629 N.W.2d 121, 123 (Minn. App. 2001) (citation omitted). Therefore, because the state was never properly served and did not waive service of process, the district court appropriately dismissed Leshoure's removal action for lack of personal jurisdiction."

Moral of the Story:  There is nothing more expensive than a cheap lawyer.



If you or a loved one have been arrested for a Minnesota DWI, or are facing the forfeiture of your vehicle feel free to contact Minneapolis DWI Forfeiture Lawyer, F. T. Sessoms at (612) 344-1505 for answers to all of your Minnesota DWI questions.

In June of 2016 I came up with a new DWI forfeiture defense based upon a challenge to the constitutionality of the Minnesota DWI forfeiture statute.  Since June, I have won back three cars and I have not lost any forfeiture cases since implementing this new DWI forfeiture defense. So if the state is trying to forfeit your vehicle, give me a call. I promise I can help!
Sincerely,
F.T. Sessoms
(612) 344-1505

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