Engstrom v. Whitebirch, Inc.

GILDEA, Chief Justice.

This case requires that we interpret the private attorney general statute, Minn. Stat. § 8.31, subd. 3a (2018). This statute provides that "any person injured by a violation of" certain laws the attorney general is tasked with enforcing can bring that person's own civil action. Specifically, we are asked to decide whether appellant Daniel Engstrom's payments to an attorney to investigate what appellant contends were fraudulent demands constitute an "injury" under the statute. The district court and court of appeals dismissed appellant's claim, concluding that he had not…