Justice-Denied · Editorial cartoons
Cartoon 1 of 26
The Doctrine Arrives Early
Satire. Dialogue is imagined; the underlying rulings and records are linked below.
Read cartoon text
Panel 1: JUNE 1, 2021
A court clerk reads an appellate opinion beneath a Minnesota Court of Appeals sign.
Court clerk: Minnesota has not recognized the common-interest doctrine.
Panel 2: DECEMBER 21, 2021
Judge Miller fastens a padlock labeled Common Interest around a box of defendants' communications.
Judge Miller: The doctrine applies. Discovery denied.
Panel 3: Panel 3
A litigant looks at a courthouse door secured by the now-personified common-interest padlock.
Litigant: How did an unrecognized doctrine lock the door?
Panel 4: SEPTEMBER 28, 2022
The common-interest padlock stands at the Minnesota Supreme Court holding a recognition certificate.
Common-interest padlock: I started work nine months ago.
Artwork caption: Imagined dialogue. Based on public rulings. 2021 discovery ruling; Supreme Court recognition followed in 2022.
Behind the cartoon
In Craig and Marie Stevenson's civil suit against family members, they sought communications between defendants during discovery, the pretrial exchange of evidence. On June 1, 2021, the Minnesota Court of Appeals stated that the common-interest doctrine was not recognized in Minnesota. Judge Kevin M. Miller's December 21, 2021 order then applied it to shield communications between defendants from discovery. The Supreme Court formally recognized a limited doctrine on September 28, 2022, protecting otherwise privileged communications shared to formulate a joint legal strategy.
