Tort Law
Recent High School Grads Lawyer Up in High-Society Minneapolis Spat
Posted Oct 13, 2009, 04:05 pm CST
By Martha Neil
At first the Dayton family—yes, the Dayton department store family—tried to resolve the situation informally.
But as a barrage of vandalism, deposits of human waste and the taunting phone calls and notes continued over a period of nearly two years at their exclusive Minneapolis home, they eventually resorted to litigation, reports the New York Times.
Now some of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area's top lawyers have been brought in to defend several recent graduates of the Breck School, at least some of whom also come from legendary local families. They are accused of having participated in a campaign of harassment against the family seemingly sparked by the 2007 transfer of Caleb Dayton, who is now 18, from the Breck School to another highly regarded private institution, the Blake School.
No one, including the Daytons, wanted to be interviewed about the legal action, the newspaper reports, although the family did explain its position to the Times in an e-mail last month:
“In an effort to bring this matter to a rest, we reached out to the families of those whom we understood were involved. Unfortunately, despite repeated efforts to work with the young adults, their parents and the authorities, we still find we are under attack and suffer continued harassment and vandalism.”
Now that the legal system is involved, it appears that the families are likely to try to reach a negotiated settlement, according to the newspaper.
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