Expungement of Eviction Records
In Housing & Redevelopment Authority of Duluth, MN v. Young, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that district courts have the inherent authority to expunge judicially held eviction records. Young was evicted from an apartment. After his eviction, he became homeless and claimed resulting harm to his mental and physical health. Moreover, while housed, he had received care from a personal-care assistant, which he could no longer have without a home. Instead of seeking expungement of his record under various statutory criteria, he sought expungement under the court’s inherent authority. In holding that the district court had inherent expungement authority,... Read More
Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies Scope of Expungement Statute
The Minnesota Supreme Court has now clarified certain aspects of Minnesota’s expungement law. The issue is whether a criminal felony conviction, not able to be expunged on its own, can nonetheless be expunged if the conviction was deemed to be a misdemeanor under Minnesota law. One side of the argument says the answer is “yes” because the conviction is for a misdemeanor. The other side of the argument says the answer is “no” because the person was originally convicted of a felony. The Minnesota Supreme Court answered this question with a “no” – there is no opportunity for expungement of... Read More
Expungement: Eligibility if Convicted of a Felony
We recently highlighted the process of criminal expungement. As noted in that article, not all crimes are eligible for expungement. A felony-level conviction is eligible only if it is listed in the expungement statute itself. But most petty misdemeanors, misdemeanors, and gross misdemeanors qualify for expungement after a period of time. So what happens if you are convicted of a felony-level crime that is not listed in the expungement statute but, because of a favorable sentence like a stay of imposition, the conviction is deemed a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor after successful completion of probation? Are you eligible for expungement... Read More