Aaron D. Van Oort

Appellate

When huge consequences or important principles are at stake, clients hire Aaron on appeal for his creativity, collaboration and ability to help the clients win. Aaron has argued more than 50 appeals, including arguments in 10 of the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeal, the New York Court of Appeals, the D.C. Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court, and other state appellate courts. He has won victories for clients as both appellee and appellant, including winning reversals of adverse jury verdicts in both federal and state courts. His recent representations include: 

• Rocky Mountain Wild v. Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, 2024 WL 1689253 (10th Cir. Apr. 19, 2024). Representing LMJV as intervenor, won decision reversing district court and affirming U.S. Forest Service grant of road access to private inholding against environmental challenges.
• Brettler v. Allianz Life Ins. Co. of North America, 40 N.Y.3d 450 (2023). Representing Allianz, won decision on certified question holding that, under New York law, life insurance policy term requiring notice to insurer before policy assignment binds the insurer is enforceable.
• Dornay v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., 85 F.4th 570 and 2023 WL 7318487 (9th Cir. 2023). Representing Volkswagen, won decision affirming dismissal on the merits of putative class action asserting claims under Washington Privacy Act.
• Baysal v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., S.I., 78 F.4th 976 (7th Cir. 2023). Representing American Family, won 2-1 decision affirming dismissal of putative data-breach class action for lack of Article III standing.
• Mortier v. LivaNova USA, Inc., 70 F.4th 421 (8th Cir. 2023). Representing LivaNova, won decision affirming summary judgment and holding that LivaNova had honored contractual requirement to use sufficient efforts and care to obtain approval of acquired medical device.
• Smits v. Park Nicollet Health Services, 979 N.W.2d 436 (Minn. 2022). Representing Park Nicollet, successfully obtained Minnesota Supreme Court review and won ruling reversing court of appeals and affirming summary judgment against claims seeking to hold mental health care provider vicariously liable for murders committed by outpatient.
• Thornton v. Tyson Foods, Inc., et al., 28 F.4th 1016 (10th Cir. 2022). Representing the nation’s four largest beef processors, won a 2-1 decision affirming the dismissal of two putative class actions on the grounds that federal law preempted plaintiffs’ state-law deceptive-advertising claims.
• State ex rel. Knudsen v. AT&T Mobility Nat’l Accounts, LLC, 2021 WL 6109577 (Minn. App. 2021). Representing AT&T Mobility, successfully won decision affirming the dismissal of Minnesota False Claims Act claims for lack of any knowingly false representation.
• Mujo v. Jani-King International, Inc., 13 F.4th 204 (2d Cir. 2021). Representing Jani-King, won 2-1 decision affirming summary judgment against putative class action asserting employee misclassification, minimum wage and anti-kickback claims.
• Micheel v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 1 F.4th 614 (8th Cir. 2021). Representing American Family, won reversal of order granting summary judgment to plaintiff and direction to grant summary judgment for American Family, with court agreeing that summary of insurance policy did not create ambiguity in the policy itself.
• LSP Transmission Holdings, LLC v. Sieben, 954 F.3d 1018 (8th Cir. 2020). Representing Xcel Energy, successfully intervened in suit bringing dormant Commerce Clause constitutional challenge against Minnesota’s right-of-first-refusal statute, won dismissal of claim, defended dismissal on appeal, and got plaintiff’s petition for writ of certiorari denied.
• Anderson v. American Family Ins. Co., 800 Fed. Appx. 814 (11th Cir. 2020). Representing American Family, won affirmance of summary judgment against putative class action alleging property damage due to stigma, with court agreeing that none had been proven and a failure to assess for stigma was not an independent claim when no stigma was proven.

Litigation Strategy

When clients face class actions, mass actions or individual cases with high exposure, they hire Aaron to team up with litigators and trial lawyers to create and implement the legal strategy to win the case. Aaron often directs and argues motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, negotiates jury instructions, and leads motion practice at and after trials. Aaron has also defended more than 150 putative class actions and is an editor of the Bolch Judicial Institute’s Guidelines and Best Practices: Implementing 2018 Amendments to Rule 23 Class Action Settlement Provisions (Duke Law School 2018). With Aaron’s representation, clients have compelled arbitration, won dismissal and summary judgment, and defeated class certification. Aaron is also hired as lead settlement counsel in very large class actions to negotiate favorable resolutions, a role in which he enjoys working collaboratively with clients and litigation counsel.

Personal Interests

Aaron is an avid NFL football fan and has spent years building character cheering for the Minnesota Vikings. He enjoys traveling the U.S. looking for great barbecue with his wife and four sons, and training and taking walks with his Great Dane, Huckleberry. Aaron is a member of the Board of Directors of Substance Church.