Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) articles from January 2008

Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) archives from January 2008

Outdated and unenforceable, Missouri provision still remains.
January 1, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Like several other states, Missouri for years provided women an automatic exemption from jury duty based solely on gender. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled nearly 30 years ago that a Missouri law making that exception was...

St. Louis Family Court refocuses truancy efforts.
January 1, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese St. Louis Family Court officials are refocusing their efforts at fighting truancy by targeting younger children. The court's truancy project has the basic goal of getting absent children to attend school regularly. In...

Law firms turn to nonlawyer scientists.
January 2, 2008... Byline: Julia M. Johnson and Allison Retka Law firms are finding themselves in greater need of technical expertise than ever, and they're turning to nonlawyer scientists for help. With starting salaries for associate attorneys on the rise,...

St. Louis circuit court judge to consider defendant's right to speedy trial.
January 3, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese More than 18 months after being arrested on vehicle tampering charges, a man who has repeatedly asked for a speedy trial got a court hearing Wednesday but no immediate resolution. Tracy McKee, 43, of St. Louis, went...

'I've lost nothing' says Kansas City attorney working part-time for past seven years.
January 3, 2008... Byline: Betsy Lee After Lori Buck gave birth to her daughter, Avery, she knew something had to change. "Almost immediately, I realized I wanted to spend more time with her," said Buck, an attorney with Blackwell Sanders. "So I approached...

Long-term defendant from St. Louis heads home to mother.
January 4, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A judge on Thursday allowed a man to stay with his mother while awaiting trial as the judge considered whether there even will be a trial. Tracy McKee, 43, of St. Louis, has made repeated requests for a speedy trial...

Husch Blackwell Sanders chosen as Missouri law firm's name.
January 4, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Husch & Eppenberger won a literal coin toss to put the law firm's first name in front of Blackwell Sanders when the two firms merge. The combined firm will be known as Husch Blackwell Sanders, the firms announced...

Missouri lawyers weigh study on heart deaths from delayed responses.
January 4, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Plaintiffs' attorneys are taking note of a report from a Kansas City researcher who found that hospitals don't necessarily offer the best chance of survival for heart attack sufferers. Limited staffs, a shortage of...

Court critic forms new group with possible plans to sue The Missouri Bar.
January 7, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A leading critic of the Missouri Plan is taking his fight to another level. Attorney Bill Placke, president of the Federalist Society in St. Louis, is leaving the position to focus more on changing how the state...

New plans floated for modifying Missouri Plan.
January 7, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Missouri voters could give elected officials a bigger stake in how state and some circuit judges are chosen, under legislation prefiled on Friday. Rep. Jim Lembke's proposal, a modified version of the current process,...

Long-term St. Louis defendant will face charges.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A St. Louis man incarcerated for about 19 months on vehicle-tampering charges must still face trial, a judge ruled Monday. Circuit Judge John Riley in his ruling called the delay in the man's case "unfortunate," but...

Missouri Secretary of State Carnahan to appeal ballot wording.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Even as supporters start gathering signatures, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan plans to appeal a judge's ruling tossing summary language for a ballot measure limiting use of affirmative action in government. A Cole...

St. Louis County judge blasts payday lenders for contract clause.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka The hard-to-read fine print of a payday loan contract has paralyzed the legal rights of Missouri consumers, a St. Louis County judge has ruled. About 400,000 Missourians signed loan contracts with the payday lender...

Settlement over Kirksville plane crash nearing approval.
January 8, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff In a closed hearing before U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton on Friday, lawyers for American Airlines discussed final details on a settlement on a 2004 plane crash in Kirksville. Because the terms of...

Voter ID spurs political clashes in Missouri.
January 9, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka The Show-Me State stopped asking voters to show their photo IDs in 2006. But if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a similar Indiana or Georgia requirement, Missouri lawmakers may push the issue harder. The federal high...

Cole County Circuit rules cities need not pay police overtime.
January 9, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Fire and police departments can safely follow their old schedules thanks to a judge's ruling that the year-old minimum wage law does not apply to them. For the second time in as many days, Cole County Circuit Judge...

U.S. District Court judge rules Iron County schools can't allow Bible distribution.
January 9, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A federal judge barred a southeastern Missouri school district from allowing Bibles to be distributed to elementary students. The purpose of allowing the Bible distribution is to promote Christianity and had the...

St. Louis police settle discrimination suit for $95,000.
January 10, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Three women who sued the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department over gender discrimination dropped their case last week in exchange for a $95,000 settlement. Officers Gena Duckworth, Tamatha Fisher and Sandra Delaney...

St. Louis-area lawyers on the move because of two-year shutdown of Highway 40 for major construction.
January 10, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Attorneys Stephen Schultz and Carl Lang moved closer to their firms' offices. Mark Rudder moved his office closer to his home. The three made their real estate decisions partly because of the two-year shutdown of all...

Courts respond differently to new Missouri law.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A new state law that closes parts of certain court records has St. Louis and state court officials struggling with how to comply. The law requires courts to close certain information that could identify a victim of...

Booted student sues law school.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A former law student has sued Southern Illinois University Carbondale, claiming the school discriminated against her by re-enrolling others with worse grades, but not her. Lisa D. Rittenhouse was one of six law...

Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, pleads guilty to bribery.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka State Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, must resign from the Missouri House as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over his involvement in a credit card fraud scheme. The lawmaker appeared before U.S....

Suit: Cigarette makers targeted poor blacks in St. Louis.
January 14, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A pending lawsuit blaming tobacco companies for the dangers of smoking offers a rare twist: It claims the companies' advertising targeted poor black neighborhoods in St. Louis. The lawsuit is by a man who started...

Bowman's troubles the latest for Missouri lawmakers.
January 14, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka The most difficult concession state Rep. John Bowman made to federal prosecutors was something they apparently had to have -- his resignation. The St. Louis Democrat will tender that by Jan. 31, a condition that means...

Federal courts ramp up for resentencing.
January 15, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Harold Simmons is ready to spread his wings. Sentenced in 2006 to 37 months in prison for possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine, he asked a federal judge in St. Louis last week to resentence him to 30...

Tickets available for Scalia lecture in Warrensburg.
January 15, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia will give a lecture March 4 at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. Free tickets are available now for faculty, staff, students and...

Missouri Supreme Court rules man must prove retardation to overcome death sentence.
January 16, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Criminal defendants who allege mental retardation to avoid the death penalty must prove the disability, the Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday. The court's 4-3 ruling affirmed the death sentences of Ernest Lee...

Missouri Supreme Court tosses conviction in casino case.
January 16, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A divided Missouri Supreme Court has tossed out a man's conviction for violating a Missouri gambling law, saying his conduct did not fall under the law he was charged with breaking. Eric Winfrey admitted while pleading...

Missouri Supreme Court seeks comments on child support guidelines.
January 16, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The Missouri Supreme Court is asking lawyers and others to comment on the state's child support guidelines. State and federal law requires a review every four years, a task undertaken by the court's...

Money flows for judicial showdown in Missouri.
January 17, 2008... Byline: James Goodwin A group that aims to keep sitting judges from becoming sitting ducks raised more than $70,000 last quarter to aid in their defense. Meanwhile, another group involved in the successful effort to oust a Cole County...

Missouri governor's budget holds the line for courts, public defenders.
January 17, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Slight increases, but no dramatic new hires or initiatives, are in line for the state's courts and public defenders, if Gov. Matt Blunt's budget plan ultimately wins approval. The state's public defenders have said for...

Gwen Byrd, director of CLE at Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, dies.
January 17, 2008... Byline: Daily Record staff Gwen Byrd, director of continuing legal education at the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. She joined the organization in 1991 and worked her way up...

Property rights advocates flank Arnold dentist at Missouri Supreme Court.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka A single line in the state constitution was the only issue in dispute Thursday as the Supreme Court considered the condemnation of an Arnold dentist's clinic. That was all property-rights advocates needed. They...

Federal panel considers class action against Bank of America.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Trust clients are trying to get a class action lawsuit against Bank of America back in court after it was tossed by a federal judge. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments...

St. Genevieve taxpayer challenges now-repealed weapons law.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka A Ste. Genevieve County taxpayer wants the Supreme Court to declare that a 2003 conceal and carry weapons act was an unconstitutional unfunded mandate from the state government. The high court did just that in a 2004...

Former St. Louis Blues hocky player Rob Ramage appeals sentence.
January 18, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report Former St. Louis Blues hockey player Rob Ramage was sentenced Thursday by a Canadian judge to four years in prison for the 2003 crash that killed passenger Keith Magnuson, a friend of Ramage and a...

Ladue School District re-enrolls student.
January 18, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report The Ladue School District has agreed to re-enroll a 17-year-old student who was bounced for allegedly living outside the district. In a document filed Tuesday with the St. Louis-based federal...

Hearings on campaign donations will remain closed.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Hearings for politicians who argue they should get to keep excess campaign donations will remain closed, after a circuit judge's ruling last week. The decision upheld the Missouri Ethics Commission's policy. State Rep....

CitiMortgage seeks legal relief.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter CitiMortgage Inc. hopes to find in court some protection from the thrashing it received in the housing market. And the mortgage-loan servicer has chosen as its possible sanctuary the St. Louis County Circuit Court. The...

CitiMortgage seeks legal relief in CitiMortgage seeks legal relief in St. Louis County Circuit Court.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter CitiMortgage Inc. hopes to find in court some protection from the thrashing it received in the housing market. And the mortgage-loan servicer has chosen as its possible sanctuary the St. Louis County Circuit Court. The...

Suit filed over failed deal.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The owner of the downtown St. Louis building that houses Lewis, Rice & Fingersh's headquarters is suing for more than $16 million over a soured deal to sell the structure. Sharon Sklarov is seeking the money because...

Lawyers hired at two St. Louis firms.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff Sedey Harper, a St. Louis employment law firm, has added two members, associate John D. Lynn and attorney Robert G. Johnson as of counsel. Lynn is an appellate attorney who has argued employment cases in federal...

Suit filed over failed real estate deal.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The owner of the building that houses Lewis, Rice & Fingersh's downtown St. Louis office is suing for more than $16 million over a soured deal to sell the structure. Sharon Sklarov is seeking the money because...

Suit filed over failed real estate deal.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The owner of the building that houses Lewis, Rice & Fingersh's downtown St. Louis office is suing for more than $16 million over a soured deal to sell the structure. Sharon Sklarov is seeking the money because...

Suit filed over failed real estate deal in St. Louis.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The owner of the building that houses Lewis, Rice & Fingersh's downtown St. Louis office is suing for more than $16 million over a soured deal to sell the structure. Sharon Sklarov is seeking the money because...

U.S. Supreme Court backs Washington University in St. Louis.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff The U.S. Supreme Court sided today with Washington University in a case filed by a former researcher who left and wanted to take with him cancer tissues he had collected while there. Without comment, the justices...

Missouri governor declines to seek re-election.
January 23, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese In a surprise announcement via a news release and a YouTube video, Gov. Matt Blunt said Tuesday that he's not running for re-election. Blunt said he has achieved what he set out to accomplish when he was elected in 2004...

Metro in Missouri to pay $6M, instead of $27M, in attorneys' fees.
January 23, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Metro agreed in a settlement with the fired builders of its light-rail extension to Shrewsbury to pay just $6 million in attorneys' fees. The Cross County Collaborative, which in November won a case filed by the...

State of Missouri cannot restrict prisoner access to abortions, court rules.
January 23, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out a Missouri policy against transporting female inmates to receive an abortion except to protect a mother's health. The ruling came exactly 35 years after the U.S. Supreme...

Open season: With Missouri's governor moving on, supporters push forward with court plan effort.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Supporters of a plan to overhaul the way Missouri selects judges for its highest courts are pressing ahead even as a major critic of the current system steps aside. Bill Placke, a lawyer and president of the Federalist...

Seven attorneys exiting Doster Mickes James Ullom Benson & Guest to start a new firm.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Education attorney Tom Mickes is exiting Doster Mickes James Ullom Benson & Guest with six other attorneys to start a new firm. The attorneys, whose practices also include labor and employment and commercial...

Judges in Missouri continue clearing speedy trial requests.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter After 18 months in jail, Michael Leicht finally got his day in court. Facing felony charges for stealing a copper downspout, the 48-year-old waived his right to a jury trial on Wednesday and stood before St. Louis...

Commentary: New laws no solution to assisted-living problems.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Justin P. Hauke It's disturbing to think of nursing home abuse. Many of us have elderly family members or friends living in assisted-living facilities and naturally turn to government regulation to protect them. But before passing...

Suit against state of Missouri takeover of St. Louis schools dismissed.
January 24, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report A lawsuit filed against the state takeover of St. Louis public schools was thrown out Wednesday. Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan dismissed the case, which members of the elected school...

Missouri Supreme Court won't revisit lawyer's reversed conviction.
January 24, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report A last-ditch effort by state prosecutors to uphold the conviction of a former Kansas City lawyer on murder charges has failed. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a court's...

St. Louis judge asks Missouri Supreme Court to intercede in docketing disagreement.
January 25, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker has lodged a complaint with the Missouri Supreme Court over recent changes to the city circuit's docketing system. His petition, titled "Application to Enforce Approved Local...

Littler Mendelson law firm opens office in Creve Coeur.
January 25, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Littler Mendelson just got a little bigger. The San Francisco-based labor and employment law firm announced Thursday that it has opened an office in Creve Coeur, the firm's 44th nationwide. The firm already had an...

Panel named for St. Louis Circuit Judge Joan Burger's bench.
January 25, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report An associate circuit judge, a family court commissioner or an attorney in private practice could succeed St. Louis Circuit Judge Joan Burger, who retired this month. Gov. Matt Blunt has 60 days to...

St. Louis County associate judge gets promotion.
January 25, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff Judge Ellen Levy Siwak is moving up in the courthouse, from associate circuit judge to circuit judge for the 21st Circuit, which covers St. Louis County. Gov. Matt Blunt announced late last week that he selected...

Trial to begin in St. Louis Circuit Court over fireworks death.
January 28, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Trial is set to begin today in St. Louis Circuit Court for a woman who sued after her son was killed in a fireworks explosion more than four and a half years ago. The explosion in Bonita Springs, Fla., killed five...

St. Louis County associate judge gets promotion.
January 28, 2008... Byline: Daily Record staff Judge Ellen Levy Siwak is moving up in the courthouse, from associate circuit judge to circuit judge for the 21st Circuit, which covers St. Louis County. Gov. Matt Blunt announced late last week that he selected...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: January 28, 2008.
January 28, 2008... Byline: The Daily Record Staff Eight attorneys were named members at Husch & Eppenberger at the start of the new year. Anne E. Bruneel practices in the land use development and financing practice group. She handles real estate transactions...

St. Charles County man files second anti-abortion petition.
January 28, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff An entity calling itself the Stop Forced Abortions Alliance wants to change state law to make it easier for former patients to sue doctors who perform abortions. David C. Reardon, the St. Charles County man...

Presiding judge of the St. Louis Circuit Court defends centralized docketing.
January 29, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The presiding judge of the St. Louis Circuit Court asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to allow the circuit to run on a centralized docket system through the end of the year. The issue originally made its way to...

Former Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District appellate court clerk dies.
January 29, 2008... Byline: James Goodwin Deirdre O'Meara Smith, the former clerk of the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District, died Jan. 26 in South Carolina, where she lived. She was 61 and had been suffering from liver disease. Smith, an attorney who...

St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Crancer to retire, applicants sought to fill vacancy.
January 29, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Associate Circuit Judge Barbara Ann Crancer will retire from the St. Louis County Circuit Court on April 1. The 21st Judicial Circuit Commission is accepting applications to fill the position. By law,...

Crancer to retire, applicants sought to fill vacancy.
January 29, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report Associate Circuit Judge Barbara Ann Crancer will retire from the St. Louis County Circuit Court on April 1. The 21st Judicial Circuit Commission is accepting applications to fill the position. By...

St. Louis company to pay $3.6M in environmental cleanup costs.
January 30, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Three companies are paying the federal government close to $8 million for cleaning up an old industrial recycling site north of downtown St. Louis. Solutia Inc. agreed this week to pay $3.6 million of that amount for...

Trial gets under way for Missouri man who pressed for speedy resolution.
January 30, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese After sitting in St. Louis city jail for a year and a half, the trial has finally begun for a man accused of attempting to steal a car radio. Tracy McKee regularly pleaded for his right to a speedy trial, and the state...

St. Louis County bar association to swear in new officers.
January 30, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report Patrick Niall Mehan is to become president of the St. Louis County Bar Association on Friday during the bar's Annual Dinner in Clayton. Mehan, an attorney with Jones, Haywood, Bick, Kistner &...

Missouri probate courts differ on Medicaid cases.
January 31, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Probate courts in Ste. Genevieve and Jackson counties have ruled differently on two Medicaid cases with similar circumstances. It could require the Missouri Supreme Court or state lawmakers to clear up any...

Short trial in Missouri follows long wait.
January 31, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A St. Louis jury found a man guilty of felony vehicle tampering 19 months after his arrest and only after the Supreme Court ordered the trial to begin. For a case that took more than a year and a half to have its day in...

Letter to the editor.(Letter to the editor)
January 31, 2008... Editor: I had the privilege of serving with Deirdre Smith at the Court of Appeals from 1991 until her retirement in 1997 (Former Eastern District appellate court clerk dies, Jan. 29). During my term as chief judge, from 1996 to 1997, I came to...

Letter to the editor.(Letter to the editor)
January 31, 2008... Editor: More than 719,000 Missourians have no health insurance. Most of these uninsured Missourians are working adults without employer-sponsored health plans who cannot afford health insurance in the marketplace. Hospitals are acutely aware...