Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) articles from April 2007

Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) archives from April 2007

First sex trafficking charges filed in the Eastern District of Missouri.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter John Lee Geiler Jr. and Darrill Gray were indicted on federal charges involving the prostitution of a juvenile and distribution of crack cocaine, U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced Friday. "This is the first...

Docket's 'birthing pains' causing jail population boom in St. Louis.
April 3, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Several St. Louis Circuit Court judges are alarmed by how few criminal cases have been processed by the courts since the beginning of the year, a situation blamed in part on the city's new individual docketing system....

Parents sue Parkway School District in St. Louis over teen's suicide.
April 3, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter The parents of a teenage girl who killed herself three years ago are suing the Parkway School District and two of its employees, alleging the employees' detention of their daughter triggered her suicide. The lawsuit...

Correction: Red-light cameras.(Correction notice)
April 3, 2007... Byline: Staff Report Our March 30 story, "St. Louis stalls on issuing Photo Cop tickets," overstated the public availability of video footage from red-light cameras across the United States. While some city police departments grant access...

U.S. Postal Service commemorates Dred Scott decision.
April 4, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The U.S. Postal Service and the Dred Scott Foundation have joined forces to recognize the 150th Anniversary of the Dred Scott decision with commemorative envelopes and postal cancellations. A new...

Wife, daughter sentenced for embezzlement in Lewis County after burning body.
April 4, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Betty Joanne McWilliams, 59, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, on charges of bilking Social Security out of $133,000 after burning her...

Hazelwood man gets 12 years for stealing over $4 million.
April 4, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff James Knight, 58, was sentenced to 151 months in prison on multiple fraud charges for stealing more than $4.4 million dollars from more than 50 victims, U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced...

Scaled-down taxation bill sent to full Senate in Missouri.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck A proposal to prevent the Missouri judiciary from making some decisions that affect taxation or government spending is headed to the Senate floor. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the controversial measure 5-3...

Jefferson City-based Lathrop & Gage chief to take over as chairman.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Lathrop & Gage's long-term chief executive Tom Stewart will step down June 1 to take over as chairman. The job of chairman, until now an honorary title, will become a more active one, said Raymond Beagle Jr., who has...

Commentary: Tort reformists accuse system in 114,000 deaths.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan Murderer. That's right, Mr. or Ms. Trial Attorney, you have helped kill 114,000 people over the past 20 years. Don't believe it? Just ask the Pacific Research Institute or the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. The oh-so...

Missouri Court of Appeals asked to reverse Charles Polk Jr. judgment.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Charles Polk Jr. may be in prison, but judges still are wrestling with the lawsuit filed by one of his alleged fraud victims. It's now up to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District to decide if a $3.6 million...

Still sprinting: Coaching keeps Kansas City lawyer moving.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Cliff Wiley still can run fast. Age has cost him a step or two from his days as an Olympian and world champion runner in the 1970s and 1980s. But the 51-year-old lawyer and high school track coach is still confident...

Use of focus groups help lawyers connect with juries.
April 6, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Years spent working on client cases may be wasted time if lawyers can't find a way to connect with juries. The use of focus groups, however, can help lawyers develop stories that resonate with jurors. That's a mantra...

The Missouri House gives first-round approval.
April 6, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri House has given first-round approval to a resolution that, if passed by the voters, would amount to the first change to existing language of the Missouri Bill of Rights in more than a century. The...

Valley Park anti-immigration bill blocked again by St. Louis County Circuit Court judge.
April 6, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka The presiding judge of St. Louis County Circuit Court issued a sweeping restraining order Thursday against the latest anti-illegal immigration bill to come out of Valley Park. Judge Carolyn Whittington's order echoed...

Metro seeks Cross County audit, fights Missouri's audit.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Metro has been up to its elbows in audits recently, with state Auditor Susan Montee pressing for access to the transit agency's internal documents. A spokeswoman for Montee said Wednesday the auditor is meeting next...

Missouri Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in three St. Louis-related cases.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments in three St. Louis-related cases this week. Eisel et al. v. Midwest BankCentre is on the docket for Wednesday. The appeal challenges St. Louis County Circuit Judge Mark...

Missouri's law schools get mixed review in magazine's rankings.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Like a rite of spring, the U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings hit the newsstands last week. In Missouri, the deans of the four law schools frown on the rankings. Criticism of the rankings came even from...

Missouri Attorney General Nixon sues firm that leases credit card machines.
April 10, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed suit on Monday against a New York City company he says defrauded dozens of Missouri small businesses that leased its credit card swiping machines. The...

Court doubts it can change state appropriation in Missouri.
April 11, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck A Cole County judge said Monday that he has "serious doubts" about his authority to force the state to change an appropriation decision. Nonetheless, he said there is a way to give the plaintiffs affected by that...

Students from St. Louis Univ. School of Law lend a legal hand in N.O.
April 11, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan Spring break took on a whole new meaning for a group of faculty and students from Saint Louis University School of Law last month. Instead of spending wild nights in Cancun or skiing down the slopes of the Rockies,...

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears arguments on South Dakota's informed consent law.
April 12, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Another battle in the abortion war was fought in St. Louis on Wednesday. Lawyers representing Planned Parenthood, a group of pregnancy crisis centers and the state of South Dakota argued before the 8th U.S. Circuit...

Missouri Court of Appeals asked to define blight.
April 12, 2007... Byline: Tom Herrmann A case one litigant defines as a groundbreaking battle over individual property rights likely will turn on how a three-judge appellate panel defines "blight." The attorney for three Clayton property owners who are...

Missouri Court of Appeals upholds $1.5M railroad verdict.
April 12, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report The Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld a $1.5 million verdict for a truck driver injured in 1999, ruling that an error in jury instructions would not have changed the jury's verdict....

Missouri lead-paint case could recast long-standing law.
April 13, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The city of St. Louis' lawyers candidly asked the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday to change a law in the city's favor. Whether the court will agree to do it remains to be seen. The city is seeking to hold paint...

Mo. Senate Budget Committee adds $2.3M to Public Defender's Office, but director remains cautious.
April 13, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Public Defender system is unlikely to get everything it needs for caseload relief this year, but a Senate committee has offered at least some hope. The Senate Budget Committee said Thursday that it would...

Commentary: Missouri Second Injury Fund games ignore history.
April 13, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan Politicians have been playing political football with Missouri's workers' compensation law for many years. Laws are written to favor employers over employees and vice versa, depending on which party is in charge....

School takeover law unclear in St. Louis case.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Tom Herrmann and Donna Walter St. Louis Public Schools face a difficult uphill legal battle if the district's attempt to fight a state takeover reaches a courtroom, according to the executive director of the Council of Great City...

Commentary: Tragedy tempers afterglow of NRA convention.
April 17, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan As I write these lines on Monday morning, reports of the deadliest mass killing spree in U.S. history are being broadcast. At least one gunman has killed as many as 31 people and wounded dozens more on the campus of...

Bar groups to celebrate their fellowship at dinner in Maryland Heights.
April 17, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter On Thursday, lawyers from the Missouri Asian-American Bar Association and the Mound City Bar Association will get together for an evening of fellowship when they celebrate the seventh annual Unity Dinner. By custom,...

Thomas A. Donaldson joins St. Louis office of Husch & Eppenberger.
April 17, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Husch & Eppenberger LLC welcomes Thomas A. Donaldson as an associate attorney in the firm's Business Transactions Practice Group. Donaldson concentrates his practice in real estate law, commercial...

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal elects partners, of counsel in St. Louis office.
April 17, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP has elected two partners and one of counsel in its St. Louis office. Jennifer A. Marler was named a new partner. Her practice concentrates on complex real estate and...

Barbieri joins St. Louis office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.
April 17, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP announced that Mariquita L. Barbieri recently joined the St. Louis office as an associate attorney in its corporate and real estate practice groups. Barbieri received...

Cunningham named partner at Cordell & Cordell in St. Louis.
April 17, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Cordell & Cordell PC, a domestic relations law firm that focuses on fathers facing custody, divorce or paternity matters, has promoted Allison R. Cunningham to partner. Cunningham joined Cordell &...

Missouri Supreme Court orders parole hearings for husband killers.
April 18, 2007... Byline: Tom Herrmann Two women whose life sentences for killing their abusive husbands were commuted by former Gov. Bob Holden in 2004 may soon be walking out of prison after the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the state parole board to...

Missouri Supreme Court rules amending petition doesn't cause new cause.
April 18, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A widow has the right to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit in the city of St. Louis despite her allegations that her husband was exposed to toxic chemicals in St. Louis County, the Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday....

Saint Louis University loses its religion -- for tax purposes.
April 18, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that St. Louis University, despite its public identification as a Jesuit institution, is not "controlled by a religious creed." The decision makes the school eligible for $8...

Decision revives Missouri's 'partial birth' ban.
April 19, 2007... Byline: Greg Stohr, Donna Walter The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a law that makes it a crime to perform partial birth abortions, bolstering the case in support of Missouri's own ban. The justices, voting 5-4, said the 2003 Partial Birth...

Commentary: Missouri State Senate celebrates National Crime Victims' Right week the right way.
April 20, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan Imagine you're a rape victim, just hours after the most traumatic moment in your life. You've gathered the courage to report the attack to the authorities. You've endured the questions, the clinical tests and the...

Lawsuit asks: When must you believe the badge?
April 20, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A Bella Villa police officer threatened Florissant resident Suzette Hendricks and attacked her with a Taser gun during a traffic stop two years ago, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday against both the officer...

Missouri Senate passes a bill that will ease Public Defenders' caseload.
April 20, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Senate has passed a bill aimed at helping ease the caseload of the state's Public Defender's Office, although it's unclear yet by how many cases. The bill, by Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mt. Vernon, clarifies that...

Bankruptcies soar in St. Louis, but still better than most.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Tom Herrmann St. Louis' economy, for good or bad, may explain why the number of bankruptcy filings is increasing more slowly here than in the rest of the nation, according to area bankruptcy attorneys. Bankruptcy filings in eastern...

Police officer, predators get Missouri Supreme Court hearings.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Oral arguments in four St. Louis-area cases will be heard by the state Supreme Court this week. On Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. the court will hear: Douglas L. Daugherty v. The City of Maryland Heights A 62-year-old...

'Uncover the violence'.
April 24, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka

'Uncover the violence'.
April 24, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Geri Redden has read some newspaper columns touting the senselessness of last week's shooting massacre at Virginia Tech and she doesn't buy it. The killings were not senseless and they were not a random act, she said....

St. Louis attorney's case rejected by Supreme Court.
April 24, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider an employment discrimination suit brought by a St. Louis attorney and former nun. Lynette Petruska's lawsuit alleged Gannon University demoted her from her...

Missouri Court of Appeals declares Clayton corner not blighted.
April 25, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka A controversial eminent domain suit has lit off to the state's highest court after an appeals court panel sided with Clayton property owners Tuesday and declared the disputed area is not blighted. The Missouri Court...

Missouri Assn. of Trial Attorneys defends Second Injury Fund.
April 25, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys joined labor, veterans and seniors groups Tuesday in urging the Legislature to leave the Second Injury Fund intact. Members of MATA, AARP, the AFL-CIO, Vietnam Veterans of...

Clayton Police Department offers $50K reward for tip about lawyer's murder.
April 25, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The Clayton Police Department in St. Louis County has announced a $50,000 reward is being offered for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of attorney Ernest...

Two seminars coming to St. Louis for corporate counsel.
April 25, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Two educational events for corporate counsel and law department managers are coming to St. Louis in the next two weeks. Beginning Monday, the national Corporate Counsel University will be held at the...

Commentary: Abandoning the six-minute increment.
April 25, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan The billable hour is the master at most big law firms. Associates and partners are slaves to the six-minute increment. Critics of this billing system say it puts the needs of the law firm before the needs of the...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: April 25, 2007.
April 25, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Carmody MacDonald PC has added two new principals and two associates to the firm. Brian C. Behrens has joined the firm as principal, concentrating his practice in corporate and business law, mergers...

Newsmakers: Sharon Hurt.
April 25, 2007... Byline: Staff report Sharon Hurt has joined Legal Services of Eastern Missouri as a social worker for the Lasting Solutions Project, which helps St. Louis-area adults and children in danger of domestic violence. Prior to joining LSEM, Hurt...

Newsmakers: Scott Rosenblum.
April 25, 2007... Byline: Staff report Scott Rosenblum, a partner in the firm Rosenblum, Schwartz, Rogers & Glass PC, has become a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Rosenblum was inducted as a fellow in March at the group's 2007 Spring...

Trio of Missouri resolutions aimed at altering judge selection.
April 26, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck At a late-session hearing Wednesday, the Missouri House considered a triangle of proposed constitutional revisions that would significantly revamp the way judges are selected in the state. One proposal, by Rep. Jim...

Glass ceilings often prove shatterproof.
April 26, 2007... Byline: Kimberly Atkins Rising to the top at the nation's most powerful law firms is a tough job, especially for minorities and women, according to two new studies focusing on diversity at the nation's top 200 law firms. The surveys show...

Missouri-based law firm's CEO takes a sabbatical.
April 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Lathrop & Gage Chief Executive Tom Stewart's future role at one of Missouri's largest law firms is up in the air after he started a sabbatical that could last up to three months. The firm announced in a Sunday memo to...

Publishers submit brief to 8th Circuit fearing baseball stats lawsuit threatens other data.
April 27, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A group of publishers that compile public information such as government records, judicial opinions and real estate data has weighed in on the dispute between a St. Louis-based fantasy baseball provider and Major...

50 Missouri students spend a day with Macy's corporate attorneys for a Street Law course.
April 27, 2007... Byline: Tom Herrmann When Erin Borosh went to school Tuesday morning, a career in law was one of several options for the junior at Gateway Institute of Technology, primarily "because I like arguing with people." After a day of meeting with...

Missouri's City of Valley Park ordered to drop immigration laws until trial.
April 27, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Lawyers on both sides of the Valley Park illegal immigration debacle met Wednesday to set a trial date for the matter's second round of litigation. St. Louis County Associate Circuit Judge Barbara Ann...

Time has come for someone to define blight.
April 27, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan I remember when Clayton was the queen of the suburbs surrounding St. Louis. Downtown Clayton was a vibrant area filled with swanky office buildings, shops and restaurants. The only time the word blight was used in...

Commentary: Time has come for someone to define the term "blight".
April 27, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan I remember when Clayton was the queen of the suburbs surrounding St. Louis. Downtown Clayton was a vibrant area filled with swanky office buildings, shops and restaurants. The only time the word blight was used in...

Lathrop CEO takes sabbatical.
April 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Lathrop & Gage Chief Executive Tom Stewart's future role at one of Missouri's largest law firms is up in the air after he started a sabbatical that could last up to three months. The firm announced in a Sunday memo to...

Hearsay dispute voids KC police officer's murder conviction.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Trish Mehaffey The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District reversed a first-degree murder conviction of a Columbia police officer, saying that two hearsay statements allegedly made by the victim improperly prejudiced the jury....

Trio of St. Louis women honored for commitment to justice.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Amity and advancement crowned Thursday night's Women's Justice Awards, hosted by the St. Louis Daily Record at the top of the Chase Park Plaza. This year's recipients mingled with colleagues and mentors who were...

Missouri Supreme Court seeks input on Pro Se project.
April 30, 2007... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The Missouri Supreme Court has delayed the starting date of its new guidelines on what court clerks can say when they receive questions from pro se litigants in family court, a press release from the...

It's official!
April 30, 2007... Byline: Staff report Laurie McMillan, right, a graduate of St. Louis University School of Law, hugs her mother, Geri Adamcyk while her father, Donald Adamcyk, studies her newly acquired law license after being sworn in during ceremonies in...