Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) articles from February 2009

Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) archives from February 2009

Crowd turns out in St. Louis for answers about disqualifications.
February 2, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter When Ken Vuylsteke offered to pay the cost of a free lunch for anyone who wanted to come talk about the St. Louis Circuit Court's new motion practice procedure in civil cases, he figured about 20 people would show up....

Bryan Cave CIO in St. Louis to receive IT director award.
February 2, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Connie Hoffman clearly enjoys her job. As Bryan Cave's chief information officer, Hoffman is heavily involved in developing computer- and Web-based programs to help the firm's lawyers deliver better services for their...

Kansas City law firms Polsinelli, Shughart combine.
February 2, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Two Kansas City firms were set to seal the deal on their merger Sunday. Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus and Shughart Thomson & Kilroy are tying the knot to create what will be Missouri's second-largest firm,...

Lengthy trial gets under way in Jackson County Circuit Court.
February 2, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick A Jackson County jury will begin hearing weeks of evidence today in a highly complex fraud case where the plaintiff is seeking to recover tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in damages. Pier to Pier wants...

Two St. Louis firms announce merger.
February 3, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Two St. Louis firms, Gundlach, Lee, Eggmann, Boyle & Roessler and the Brasher Law Firm, have merged to become Boyle Brasher LLC. The new firm now has 30 lawyers in three states with offices in St. Louis,...

8th U.S. Circuit Court upholds district's ban on 'Rebel Pride'.
February 3, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Farmington school district officials did not violate students' free speech rights when it prohibited them from wearing clothing depicting the Confederate flag It's a good decision because it allows public school...

St. Louis County judge upholds tort reform caps.
February 3, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A St. Louis County judge upheld the constitutionality of tort reform caps on noneconomic damages. In July, a St. Louis County jury awarded $2.58 million, including $1 million in noneconomic damages, to James Klotz and...

Missouri Gov. Nixon makes first court appointment.
February 3, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Gov. Jay Nixon made his first judicial appointment on Monday, naming R. Brent Elliott as circuit judge for the 43rd Circuit. Elliott, of Stewartsville, is currently an associate judge in DeKalb County....

St. Louis jury awards $525K in Washington University suit.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A St. Louis jury on Tuesday awarded a famous surgeon $525,000 in his age-discrimination and retaliation claims against Washington University but sided with the university in his breach of contract claim. The jury also...

Jackson County awards $2.5M for injuries in car crash.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District on Tuesday upheld a $1 million jury verdict from 2007, clarifying a novel question of bad-faith tort law along the way. Quinlock Shobe won $500,000 in actual damages and...

Missouri Supreme Court: Criticizing judges could get lawyer suspended.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Kansas City lawyer told the Missouri Supreme Court he acted with intellectual curiosity when he wrote letters to a Jackson County circuit judge challenging her integrity and accusing her of engaging in judicial...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District affirms $1M jury verdict.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck The bad economy apparently made no difference to a Jackson County jury that awarded a woman $2.5 million late last week. The award to Adrienne Garrison Wayman, of Grain Valley, compensates her for injuries she suffered...

Robin Carnahan will run for Senate in Missouri.
February 4, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced Tuesday that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Christopher Kit Bond. Last month, Bond declared that he would not seek...

St. Louis County bond issue axed: Proposal would have paid for new family court building.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The St. Louis County Council has dropped plans for a $120 million bond proposal that would have paid for a new family court building. The move, made at the council's Tuesday night meeting, followed promptings from St....

Washington University plans appeal of $525K verdict.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Washington University plans to appeal a $525,000 verdict issued against it in an age-discrimination claim by a former surgeon and department head. The university's defense attorney, Joe Conran, of Husch Blackwell...

Martinez confirmation bogs down again in Senate in Missouri.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Linda Martinez's path to leading Missouri's Department of Economic Development hit yet another roadblock on Wednesday. Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville, blocked the St. Louis attorney's nomination from coming up for a...

Bridgeton gynecologist seeks to stop abortion protests.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A Bridgeton gynecologist says anti-abortion protesters are harassing his patients, and he wants them to stop. Dr. Allen Palmer and his office, WomensCare Gynecology, named members from the Holy Spirit Catholic Church...

Correction.(Correction notice)
February 5, 2009... The Jan. 28 article "St. Louis County jury issues defense verdict in med-malpractice case" should have indicated that plaintiff attorney Burton Greenberg said Dr. David Brown, not Dr. Susan Mackinnon, had an interest with Dr. Anthony Sudekum in...

New charges brought in Jackson County Circuit Court in alleged fake attack case.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck A federal grand jury added new charges on Wednesday against a woman accused of staging an attack to bolster a civil lawsuit and the man she allegedly hired to carry out the attack. In a federal complaint filed last...

Madison County, Ill. agrees to fund facilities for mentally ill.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Residents of a Madison County, Ill., facility for the physically disabled and mentally ill failed to force the county to keep Shelter Care Home open, but they succeeded in getting county assistance for at least 10...

City of St. Louis settles reverse discrimination suit.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The city of St. Louis agreed to settle a reverse discrimination lawsuit filed more than seven years ago by two white men who had applied to be firefighters. Eric Deeken was awarded $25,000, and Michael Martinez got...

Former Obama aide joins Missouri-based Bryan Cave office in Washington, D.C.
February 6, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Jeff Berman, a former campaign aide to President Barack Obama, joined Bryan Cave's new public policy and governmental affairs practice in the firm's Washington, D.C., office. Berman was the national...

Missouri Senate: Donnelly confirmed; Martinez still on hold.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Two of Gov. Jay Nixon's cabinet appointees faced very different fates on Thursday when their nominations were brought up for a vote in the Missouri Senate. Margaret Donnelly's appointment as the new director of the...

Suits in Jackson County Circuit Court claim danger from seats' collapse.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck It's hard to think of a front-end car crash as safe, but drivers in such accidents at least have the airbag to stop them. In a rear-end crash, all that stands between occupants and harm is the back of the car seat. In a...

Former Jackson County assessor rejoins Stinson.
February 6, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Stinson Morrison Hecker has formed a property tax issues practice group headed by former Jackson County director of assessment Michael O'Flaherty. O'Flaherty is rejoining Stinson Morrison as of...

St. Louis-based Zoltek wins right to sue U.S. contractor.
February 9, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A St. Louis-based manufacturing company has won the right to proceed in its patent infringement lawsuit against a government contractor after being denied its suit against the U.S. government. As far as we know, this...

'Smut shop' fight in Missouri begins anew.
February 9, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum A pair of Republican senators argued last week they can constitutionally put restrictions on adult businesses they say produce harmful consequences on local communities. Sens. Matt Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, and Jack...

SEC sues former bank officer in U.S. District Court in St. Louis for fraud.
February 9, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A week after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges, a former president of First Bank Mortgage is facing a civil suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC suit against Mark T. Turkcan was filed...

Commentary: My brain needs to hit the gym.
February 9, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier Ever open your mouth and spew mush? It's happened to me a couple of times in the past few weeks. While I have had work to do the past few months, it seems since November I've had little but status conferences and...

Carnahan sued in Cole County Circuit Court over stem cell ballot language.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum A group aiming to add funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and abortion services into the state's constitution filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the secretary of state's ballot language. The...

UMB takes over ownership of Renaissance Grand in St. Louis.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Bondholders for the Renaissance Grand Hotel and Suites formally took over ownership of the hotel after no bidders appeared at the foreclosure sale on Monday. UMB Bank, the bondholders' trustee, entered a bid of $98...

Hamburg steps down as principal at Summers Compton Wells in St. Louis.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Steve Hamburg has stepped down as principal in the firm that bore his name. Hamburg, who has a class action and complex litigation practice, now is of counsel, according to a press release issued by Hamburg and the...

Charles Newman, others join Sonnenschein's St. Louis office.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Two more attorneys will be following class action defense lawyer Charles Newman to Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. Newman, formerly of Bryan Cave, started at Sonnenschein's St. Louis office last week along with fellow...

8th U.S. Circuit rules 'right to remain silent' still meaningful.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal prosecutor may not question a defendant in court about her decision not to answer police questions after her arrest, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday. Natasha L. Gentry was arrested for...

Reuben Shelton to speak at Black History Month event in St. Louis.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Reuben Shelton, the first black president of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, is the headliner for the annual Black History Celebration, sponsored by the Lawyers Association of St. Louis and the Mound...

U.S. District Court in St. Louis awards almost $700K for head-on crash.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal judge ordered a drunken driver to pay more than $695,000 to a woman he injured in a nearly head-on collision in O'Fallon. The plaintiff, Sherry Lesch, sued the driver, Louis Gumpenberger, and the U.S....

Challenge to casino measure rejected by Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck A Missouri appeals court denied a legal challenge to November's casino ballot measure -- three months after voters approved it. The ballot item, known as Proposition A, was challenged in court in August 2008. The trial...

ABA to honor St. Louis attorney.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A St. Louis attorney is receiving a national award from the American Bar Association for her outreach efforts to enhance the public's awareness of the need for a fair and impartial judiciary. Doreen Dodson, of The...

Martinez approved after long delay: Missouri attorney will head Department of Economic Development.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Gov. Jay Nixon's pick for director of the Department of Economic Development was approved by the Missouri Senate on Tuesday, but not before a St. Charles County senator delivered a fiery rebuke of the governor....

Missouri Supreme Court orders new hearing over altered plea deal.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The Missouri Supreme Court ordered an evidentiary hearing for a man who argued the state altered his plea agreement. The court decided on Tuesday that the St. Francis County Circuit Ccourt erred when it denied Gary...

Illegal practice of law suits move against auto dealers in Missouri.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A lawsuit filed last week against Don Brown Automotive in St. Louis alleging an illegal practice of law is the most recent in a string of dozens of lawsuits filed in the wake of a 2007 Missouri Supreme Court decision,...

Jackson County Circuit Court tosses guilty plea in abandoned body case.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck A Jackson County judge issued a sharply worded opinion that threw out a man's 22-year criminal sentence and said the county prosecutor's office perpetrated a fraud upon the trial court for withholding evidence in the...

McDonald's wage suit OK'd in U.S. District Court in Missouri.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal judge allowed a group of McDonald's employees to go ahead with their lawsuit to collect McOvertime. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw said the plaintiffs could continue with their class action...

Hearne named new head of law firm of Lathrop & Gage in St. Louis.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Thor Hearne is now heading up the St. Louis office of Lathrop & Gage. Hearne, known for his work as national legal election counsel for President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, takes over from Brent...

U. S. District Court, Western District of Missouri denies officers immunity in excessive force suit.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck A federal judge allowed key allegations to go forward in an excessive force lawsuit against several Kansas City Police Department officers. Judge Ortrie D. Smith on Tuesday denied summary judgment on excessive force...

Missouri-based Bryan Cave Lays off 58 attorneys.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Citing a deteriorating economy, Bryan Cave is laying off 58 attorneys and 76 staff members firmwide and freezing salaries for 2009. The steps followed efforts throughout 2008 to slash expenses in an attempt to avoid...

St. Louis attorney Phillip B. Polster dies at 89.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Longtime intellectual property attorney Philip B. Polster will be remembered for accomplishing much very quietly, his son and law firm partner said. Polster died Monday; he was 89. Polster practiced law for 60 years...

Credibility issues center of woman's asylum case in 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Irene Clemente-Giron wants to live in the United States. Shortly after her visitor's visa expired, the El Salvadoran woman applied for asylum, claiming the police in her native land persecuted her for her religious...

Only 8 Missouri lawyers among Bryan Cave cuts.
February 16, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Eight of the 58 attorneys laid off by Bryan Cave on Thursday had worked in the firm's Missouri offices, according to former Bryan Cave attorneys and lawyers at other firms who received phone calls about possible job...

How a civil lawsuit in Missouri inadvertently exposed 'a fraud upon the court'.
February 16, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck One word. Well into a scathing opinion that threw out the guilty plea of a man accused of abandoning his girlfriend's corpse, Jackson County Judge Edith Messina took a moment to marvel at how what she called a fraud...

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules miranda need not apply.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal appeals court refused to second-guess a district court judge's decision not to suppress statements a criminal defendant made to police before his Miranda rights were read to him. The appellate court also...

Law student in St. Louis fasts for her native Sri Lanka.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Not many Americans are familiar with the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. But Washington University law student Sadena Thevarajah and seven others from People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, or PEARL, have been on a...

K.C. protesters call for immigration reform.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck Kansas City's federal immigration court hasn't yet brought in its first live judge, but it's already been the focal point of a protest. The Immigration Justice Advocacy Movement, a faith-based group in Kansas City,...

Cole County Circuit Court exonerates man for 1992 murder.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Allison Retka An Illinois man convicted of the 1992 murder of a southeast Missouri woman has been exonerated by Cole County Circuit Judge Richard B. Callahan. Joshua Kezer was found guilty of the murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless...

Lawyer says city must pay for violations at Lambert St. Louis International Airport.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Lawyers for a group of current and former Bridgeton residents on Tuesday asked a federal judge to order the city of St. Louis to pay the maximum penalty for violations of the Clean Air Act connected with a runway...

U.S. Magistrate judge for Eastern District of Missouri rules red-light camera suit can proceed.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley In a broad-ranging order earlier this month, a federal judge has allowed for a lawsuit challenging the city of Arnold's use of red-light ticket cameras to proceed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas C. Mummert III, of the...

Voter ID back in Legislature in Missouri.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Missouri Republicans are engaging in another fight to establish a requirement to present photo identification before voting. But the proposal in its current form might not actually impact any Missouri voters for...

Cole County Circuit frees inmate Kezer.
February 19, 2009... Byline: Allison Retka Inmate Joshua Kezer walked out of the Jefferson City Correctional Center on Wednesday, just a day after he was exonerated for the 1992 murder of a southeast Missouri woman, Mischelle Lawless. On Tuesday, Cole County...

Testimony hearsay, defense argues.
February 19, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum An attorney for a St. Charles woman convicted of manufacturing meth argued before the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday that prosecutors inappro-priately used hearsay evidence to help secure her conviction....

House fire wrongful death appears close to settlement in Jackson County Court.
February 19, 2009... Byline: David Knopf Kelly Caine, the father of a girl who died in a December 2006 house fire in Bates County, declined Tuesday to agree to a settlement proposed before a hearing at the Jackson County Court Annex in Independence. Caine...

Plaintiffs in deadly crash seek new trial in Missouri Supreme Court.
February 19, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck Almost six years after a fiery crash on Interstate 70 killed a state trooper and severely injured another driver, lawyers for the victims asked the Missouri Supreme Court to let them take another crack at the maker of...

Missouri Appellate Judicial Commission announces interview rescheduling.
February 19, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The Appellate Judicial Commission has suspended the process to fill Judge Booker T. Shaw's vacancy on the Eastern District Court of Appeals until at least late summer because of scheduling conflicts with...

Who employs municipal judges a thorny issue for appeals court in Missouri.
February 20, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck Municipal judges in Kansas City are part of the state's 16th Judicial Circuit, but their paychecks come from the city. They are selected through a system very similar to Missouri's Nonpartisan Court Plan, but the Kansas...

8th Circuit rules bank robbery wasn't a 'necessity'.
February 20, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Faced with the choice of living in prison or on the streets, James Richard Cook says he had to choose prison. Then he tried to use that choice to stay out of prison. A federal judge, however, refused to allow Cook's...

Republican Congressman Roy Blunt to run for Senate in Missouri.
February 20, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Republican Congressman Roy Blunt announced on Thursday that he will seek the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Christopher Kit Bond. Bond announced in January that he would not seek a fifth Senate...

Class actions sought in suit against St. Louis-based Monsanto.
February 20, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A group of residents from Sauget, Ill. have filed suit against Monsanto, and its subsidiaries alleging that for years the company dumped toxic, carcinogenic chemicals that poisoned their town. The suit asked for two...

Missouri Court of Appeals upholds workers' comp injury definition.
February 20, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Missouri appeals court issued a decision this week likely to please the state's Republican-led Legislature. On Tuesday, the appellate court in St. Louis said a Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission employee...

Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City allows looser condemnation rules.
February 23, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Missouri appeals court may have made it easier to condemn private property for redevelopment. In a decision handed down last week, the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City said the condemnation of property that...

St. Charles County Circuit Court denies time served in fatal DUI.
February 23, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Michael Teer was almost a free man. Last month, a deeply divided Missouri Supreme Court ordered that he be sentenced to four years in the county jail for a 1994 drunken driving accident that killed four people and...

Wal-Mart wage lawsuit in Missouri reaches $90M settlement.
February 23, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck After nearly eight years of legal wrangling, Wal-Mart and attorneys for a class action wage lawsuit in Missouri have reached a $90 million settlement. Under the terms of the preliminarily approved agreement, which...

Eastern District Appellate Court in Missouri rules gamblers are consumers.
February 23, 2009... Byline: Sarah Wienke Seven Ameristar Casino patrons are celebrating what they've termed a complete victory over the St. Charles casino after the Eastern District Appellate Court ruled in their favor. This decision says that a gambler is...

Commentary: Cabin fever hits hardest in February.
February 23, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier The subtle monotony of February and wintertime is starting to get on everyone's nerves. It's very different from the smiling faces you see those first few brisk days or snowy mornings at the end of fall while you walk...

Appellate attorney Cherrick sets up shop in Missouri.
February 23, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Jordan Cherrick, the former leader of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale's appellate practice, has resurfaced in the practice of law after quietly exiting Greensfelder about a year ago. Cherrick incorporated The Law Office of...

U.S. Supreme Court refuses free speech case.
February 24, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Brian Hodak's fight against city hall is finished. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would not review the appeal sought by Hodak, whose wife is the former owner of C. Blake's Bar & Grill in St. Peters, in a...

Attorneys in Missouri mixed over mortgage modification.
February 24, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley As part of his plan aimed at preventing home foreclosures, President Barack Obama last week announced his support for legislation that would allow for bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgages, hopefully allowing...

AG appoints retired St. Louis judge to head new division.
February 24, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Attorney General Chris Koster has appointed St. Louis County Senior Judge Barbara Crancer as chief counsel of the newly created Division of Civil, Disability and Workers' Rights. Crancer served as an associate circuit...

Split workers' comp decision in Missouri Supreme Court favors employees.
February 25, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck and Allison Retka Workers whose injuries are no longer addressed by the workers' compensation system have the right to sue their employers for recovery, a splintered Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The decision,...

Missouri Supreme Court rules lethal injection protocol not subject to rulemaking.
February 25, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A divided Missouri Supreme Court has removed a hurdle to resuming executions in the state. In a 4-3 decision issued Tuesday, the high court said the Department of Corrections protocol establishing how executions are to...

Bill in Missouri encourages 'truth in sentencing'.
February 25, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee seemed amenable to legislation prompting convicted felons to serve 85 percent of their sentences, even as a defense lawyers' organization and a civil liberties group...

Lawsuit filed in St. Louis City Circuit Court in towing scandal.
February 25, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and a local towing company conspired to steal a 2005 TrailBlazer that had been stolen from a St. Louis woman, the woman and her son allege in a lawsuit filed Monday in the...

Correction.(Correction notice)
February 25, 2009... In the Jan. 23 article, "Lethal injection challenge reheard by Missouri Supreme Court," plaintiff John C. Middleton's name was misspelled. We regret the error.

Missouri Senate approves fathering court proposal.
February 26, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The Missouri Senate passed legislation Tuesday that could pave the way for Fathering Courts that handle child support cases to crop up across the state. Sen. Jeff Smith's bill would allow circuit courts to establish...

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates civil rights suit against Jackson County jail.
February 26, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A man who says Jackson County jail officials kicked and choked him gets another shot to pursue his claims against most of the officials. On Wednesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the record presents...

Family sues in St. Louis County Circuit Court over body mix-up at funeral home.
February 26, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Dealing with the death of a loved one can be difficult for anyone -- mourning while still trying to make arrangements and plans for a burial. Any way to alleviate the stress of planning can help. So the Schnabel...