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

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

An end to the paper chase? St. Louis Circuit Clerk Favazza wants it now.
June 2, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Even as the Missouri court system prepares to seek bids for a statewide electronic filing system, St. Louis Circuit Clerk Mariano Favazza wants his court to strike out on its own. Favazza has been working with companies...

Interstate trucking attorneys urged to deal with juror biases upfront.
June 2, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter When you're an interstate trucking attorney, you will see your share of high-dollar wrongful death cases. If a case goes to trial, then jury selection becomes crucial to success, and plaintiffs' lawyers would be wise...

Missouri Supreme Court denies write of habeas corpus to man jailed over divorce debt.
June 2, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Whether a person can be lawfully jailed for failing to pay a property division stemming from a divorce didn't get any clearer last week. The Missouri Supreme Court denied a writ of habeas corpus for a man who was...

Commentary: A tepid tie can sometimes feel like a win.
June 2, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier Ever had a crash course in bankruptcy law? I did over the past week, and while it's not as bad as I thought, all it has meant for me is an amazing influx of work for dwindling returns. It's an odd situation that has...

Blunt administration suspends Nixon trust account.
June 2, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Gov. Matt Blunt's administration suspended Attorney General Jay Nixon's use of a government account Thursday. The Office of Administration began investigating the attorney general's use of money gained as part of a...

Mo. Dept. of Insurance appoints special counsel to investigate pre-paid funeral services sellers.
June 2, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The Missouri Department of Insurance appointed Platte City lawyer Miller Leonard to serve as special counsel to investigate the financial downfall of National Prearranged Services and Lincoln Memorial...

Man asked St. Louis Circuit Court to toss long-delayed $1.5M judgment.
June 3, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A man who found out a $1.5 million judgment had been entered against him and his business years after the case was heard wants the court to throw it out and start over. Russell Vitt asked the St. Louis Circuit Court to...

St. Louis judge throws out most of priest sex abuse lawsuit.
June 4, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Finding that to do otherwise would violate the separation between church and state, a St. Louis judge has thrown out most of a lawsuit against the area's Catholic Archdiocese alleging a priest abused a young girl in the...

KC legal 'giant' John Dods dies.
June 4, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey After a half century of working in the Kansas City legal arena, prominent attorney John C. Dods III died Monday. He was 74. Dods had practiced at Shook, Hardy & Bacon since 1958, specializing in business and...

Missouri Department of Corrections seeing fewer repeat customers.
June 5, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese The Missouri Department of Corrections has implemented a more holistic approach to dealing with inmates preparing to return to society, and officials say the numbers prove it's working. The department in 2002 became the...

Smoking ban in Kansas City delayed.
June 5, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick The voter-approved smoking ban in Kansas City is on hold until a Jackson County judge hears more evidence on claims that it is unconstitutional. Judge John O'Malley on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order...

St. Louis Circuit Judge Calvin will be of counsel at Spencer Fane.
June 5, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole and Kelly Wiese St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Calvin is heading to the business litigation firm of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne after he leaves the bench this summer. Calvin, 57, announced last week that he was leaving...

Eviction service seeks policy changes.
June 6, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office is diverting business from a moving company in retaliation for the owner's help uncovering a bribery scandal that led to the conviction of four deputies, a federal lawsuit alleges....

Suit to be filed today over delays in granting citizenship.
June 6, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese About three-dozen Muslim immigrants plan to file suit today in federal court alleging the U.S. government has illegally delayed their applications to become citizens. Similar lawsuits have been popping up around the...

Commentary: Make the best of an unfavorable trend.
June 6, 2008... Byline: Christine Ann Hughes Last month, a Kansas City law firm laid off over 100 employees nationwide. It appeared that support staff received the brunt, with one local paper reporting 41 secretaries were included in the layoff and...

Strengthening your professional 'muscle'.
June 6, 2008... Byline: Nancy Byerly Jones Are you doing all the right things to maintain a healthy firm? What about the care and maintenance of your firm's intangible, essential core -- its heartbeat -- its reason for being? I call this crucial center...

Rear-end collision results in $5M settlement in Missouri.
June 9, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A national transportation company agreed to pay $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. Matt Engen, driving a 2007 Volvo tractor-trailer for W.W. Transport Inc. on Highway 36 in Macon County, failed to notice...

Commentary: Obama has a chance, if the country lets him.
June 9, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier I am excited and scared. While I try not to make this a column about politics, with Sen. Barack Obama securing the Democratic nomination to be President of the United State of America last week, politics has been...

Permuter named associate judge in St. Louis County.
June 10, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Private attorney Lawrence J. Permuter has been tapped to become a judge. Gov. Matt Blunt announced late last week that he has selected Permuter, 61, to be an associate circuit judge for the 21st Circuit,...

Commentary: Standing up for traditional marriage.
June 10, 2008... Byline: Gov. Matt Blunt Missourians made their voices heard in 2004 by defining marriage as between one man and one woman in our state's constitution. I believe, as do the majority of Missourians, that marriage is between one man and one...

Commentary: What if your life was on fire?
June 10, 2008... Byline: Robert L. Brenna Jr. The fact that life is so fragile often escapes us. There is a great line in a Paul Simon song that says,...someone could walk into this room and say your life is on fire. It's all over the evening news, all...

Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. will step down so Limbaugh Jr. can take seat.
June 11, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter When newly appointed federal judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. joins the bench, his father will have to leave the court for good. A federal law prohibits relatives from serving on the same court. Neither of us were aware...

Sentence for bomb comment reversed by Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.
June 11, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick An appellate panel on Tuesday determined there was not enough evidence to prosecute a Nodaway County teenager who made a remark about blowing up his school. The unanimous ruling from the Missouri Court of Appeals...

Missouri Supreme Court says hunters can't blame landowners for accidents.
June 11, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka When Missouri landowners give people free access to their land, they are immune to any suits filed over injuries or deaths on the property, the state Supreme Court decided Wednesday. For Hermann farmers Carlton and...

Missouri Supreme Court: Cities can be sued over police actions.
June 11, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese While individual police officers are immune from being sued for their conduct during a police chase, their government employer can still be held liable, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The Supreme Court...

Missouri Supreme Court sets precedent for inverse takings.
June 11, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey The state's high court has opened the door for damage recovery from an undue delay between a blight designation and condemnation. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a summary judgment in favor of Gladstone...

Dog-bite suit in Jackson County nets $7.55M award.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A Jackson County judge awarded $7.25 million to a man who was viciously mauled by several pit bulls in 2006, finding the owners of the rental property where the dogs were kept were liable. Associate Circuit Judge...

Missouri Supreme Court rules class decertified in quarry blast suit.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley Homeowners who live near the Fred Weber quarry in O'Fallon, Mo., do not qualify as a class in a lawsuit against the quarry, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In a unanimous ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court...

War of words begins over Limbaugh vacancy on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Despite new rules designed to open up the selection process, groups critical of Missouri's nonpartisan court plan are gearing up for a fight over who will succeed Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on the state Supreme...

Mural owner asks to have suit against the city of St. Louis reinstated.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The lawyer for a man protesting the use of eminent domain asked a federal appellate panel to reinstate a lawsuit his client filed against the city of St. Louis and its Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority....

Judge in Missouri upholds ruling of discrimination.
June 12, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A trial court judge on Wednesday upheld a verdict for Melissa Howard on her claims of race discrimination during the municipal court judicial selection process. Judge Gerald McBeth denied post-trial requests,...

Family's Eastern District of Missouri lawsuit leads to review of national lead standard.
June 13, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Leslie and Jack Warden sued the Environmental Protection Agency four years ago to get the federal government to consider tougher standards for lead in the air. The fruits of that lawsuit were playing out in a modest...

Missouri's Eastern District Court of Appeals considers candidate's residency.
June 13, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese State appeals court judges have expressed skepticism about a Senate candidate's argument that a lower judge had no authority to rule against her. The Eastern District Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in a...

Gov. Blunt appoints attorney as St. Louis County election chair.
June 13, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report Gov. Matt Blunt has appointed a St. Louis attorney as the chairman of the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners. John Fox Arnold is returning to the commission after having previously...

St. Louis Circuit judge orders telemarketer to pay $450,000 for No Call List violations.
June 13, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report A fundraising telemarketer that continued to make solicitations to Missourians even after being told by consumers to stop will pay $450,000 to the state of Missouri under a consent judgment....

McFadden sentenced to death by St. Louis County Circuit judge.
June 13, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report Once again, Vincent McFadden has received the death sentence. McFadden was retried in April of this year in the 2003 fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend's sister. A jury trial again resulted in a...

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch sued over offer.
June 13, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Anheuser-Busch Cos. was sued Thursday by a shareholder who claims the directors are breaching their fiduciary duty by considering InBev's takeover offer. It's the second suit over the possible deal and a third one may...

Nuclear plant proposal may 'keep a lot of lawyers busy'.
June 16, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Groups opposed to nuclear power are keeping a close eye on AmerenUE's preliminary plans to build a second nuclear power plant in Callaway County. The Missouri-based utility expects to file a combined construction and...

Happy feet: St. Louis charity provides shoes for needy children.
June 16, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley The law firm Boggs, Avellino, Lach & Boggs first became associated with shoes a few years ago when Beth Boggs, the firm's managing partner and her husband, Darin, were out shopping. We were at Shoe Carnival in 2005,...

Missouri Supreme Court decision chides state board for protecting its own.
June 16, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Supreme Court last week took a professional licensing board to task for putting the financial interests of those it licenses above the interests of the public. The case pitted a Kansas City-area engineer...

Commentary: The law does not stop for child-birth.
June 16, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier My daughter arrived exactly one day early this week. A delicate flower at 10 pounds, 7 ounces, and 22 inches. A seemingly full head of dark hair and her mother's beautiful blue eyes. And during the marathon of labor, I...

St. Charles bars sue over food requirement.
June 16, 2008... Byline: Sarah Wienke A judge is expected to rule this week on whether St. Charles can enforce an amendment to its liquor licensing laws that the owners of two historic Main Street bars say will put them out of business. Hearings on the...

Trip and fall nets settlement, despite mistrial in Jackson County.
June 16, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick After deliberating for a number of hours over two days, a Jackson County jury decided it was hung and unable to reach a verdict. Nonetheless, a woman was still able to secure a $250,000 settlement in her trip and...

Med-mal case in Missouri challenges doc's privacy.
June 17, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A state appeals court has been asked to decide just how far privacy reaches with medical information. A medical malpractice lawsuit is pending in St. Louis County Circuit Court, where a man alleges his doctor botched a...

Officers elected to Lawyers Association of St. Louis.
June 17, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff William S. Thomas has assumed the presidency of The Lawyers Association of St. Louis. The officers were elected during an association picnic and softball game at Tilles Park on May 9. Thomas is the...

Missouri courts split over attorney calls in DUIs.
June 18, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis separated itself from its Kansas City counterpart in a decision dealing with the time an alleged drunken driver has to contact an attorney. The Court of Appeals said Tuesday...

McDaniel receives senior lawyer award from Bar Assn. of Metropolitan St. Louis.
June 18, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Attorney James E. McDaniel is this year's winner of the William L. Weiss award from the bar group for St. Louis attorneys. The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis board of governors honored...

St. Louis election officials scramble, waiting for court.
June 18, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Absentee ballots must be available by Tuesday, yet St. Louis election officials haven't sent theirs to the printer yet. They're stuck waiting for a court decision. The issue arises because Robin Wright-Jones, a St....

Missouri Court of Appeal denies medical privacy claim.
June 19, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff In a victory for injured plaintiffs, a state appeals court has found a doctor's medical records can be obtained as part of a medical malpractice lawsuit. Plaintiff John Campbell's attorney sought...

St. Louis Circuit Court: Another lawsuit filed over Anheuser-Busch deal.
June 19, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff A third lawsuit has now been filed over InBev's offer to acquire St. Louis brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos. The suit, filed Monday in St. Louis Circuit Court, makes similar claims to one filed June 4. It also...

Missouri Court of Appeals says Johnson still off August ballot.
June 19, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Rep. Connie Johnson's shot at making the August primary ballot dimmed Wednesday, when a state appeals court ruled that she was not qualified. Rep. Robin Wright-Jones, another St. Louis Democrat, had sued, alleging...

Missouri Western District Court of Appeals continues to shoot down retroactive sex-offender records.
June 19, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey An appellate court ruling Tuesday further establishes that law enforcement officials can't disseminate, or even retain, records and photos obtained in unlawful sex offender registrations. Tuesday's ruling piggybacks...

Court in Missouri grants lawyer fees for two appeals.
June 19, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Court-appointed lawyers working on appeals in parental termination cases have the right to get paid for the work they do at each stage of the appeal, according to an appeals court ruling this week. The decision means...

Millions available on unclaimed property list in Missouri.
June 19, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley With food and gas prices up, many are looking for ways to stretch their dollar or earn extra cash. But according to the State Treasurer's Office, one in 10 Missourians won't have to go far to find extra money. They...

Lack of agreement leads to judgment for GKN Aerospace in County Circuit Court.
June 19, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley A St. Louis attorney has won a $778,576 summary judgment in St. Louis County for an aerospace manufacturer that was not paid for its recycled scrap and junk metal. Daniel C. Cox, of Thompson Coburn, argued on behalf of...

Missouri Legal Briefs: June 20, 2008.
June 20, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Three men on Missouri's death row this week were allowed to join a federal lawsuit challenging the medical qualifications of their would-be executioners. Also this week, attorneys for the inmates renewed their request...

Lawyer sued over political ads.
June 20, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick An independent political group headed by a Kansas City attorney is under fire for a television ad attacking gubernatorial candidate Sarah Steelman. A lawsuit filed in Independence on Wednesday alleged Americans for...

Correction.(Correction notice)
June 20, 2008... Byline: Staff report A June 17 article about an appeal filed by State Rep. Connie Johnson should have noted that her attorney, Rufus Tate, filed a motion to expedite the case. It was granted by the appeals court on June 2. We regret the...

Solicitations are offers of credit, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides.
June 20, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A federal appeals court put an end to lawsuits claiming companies violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act by sending direct mail solicitations for loans. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decisions of...

Immigration Law Project at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri: Helping immigrants find their way.
June 23, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley The staff of the Immigration Law Project at the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri would all agree that their work with immigrants is very rewarding. I've practiced law for a very long time, and I've found immigration...

Missouri's public defender caseload reductions to begin.
June 23, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The Missouri State Public Defender System is prepared to reduce caseloads at the end of summer. The defender offices in Ava and Cole County will be the first to cut caseloads, according to Peter Sterling, general...

Missouri administrative judge says occupational diseases might not be in law.
June 23, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck A Missouri administrative judge has cast doubt on a long-standing principle of workers' compensation law -- that occupational diseases are covered. John Hickey, one of the three members of the Labor and Industrial...

Commentary: Now I know what multitasking is about.
June 23, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood... All right, with the new baby at home and a multitude of balls in the air, I think I now know what multitasking entails. I thought I did...

St. Louis-based Husch Blackwell to add Chicago IP firm.
June 24, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Husch Blackwell Sanders is planning to add a Chicago firm that would double its intellectual property practice group and bring revenue to about $300 million. A merger with Welsh & Katz is expected to be completed in...

8th Circuit wrong to change sentence, U.S. Supreme Court says.
June 24, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a win for prosecutors and defense counsel alike Monday when it said a federal appeals court may not order a defendant's sentence increased without either an appeal or a cross appeal...

Kansas county faces merit system change.
June 24, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck Missouri isn't the only state facing challenges to its system of selecting judges by merit. Several retired Kansas judges and legal officials held a press conference Monday to decry a proposal to move Johnson County,...

8th Circuit wrong to change sentence, Supreme Court says.
June 24, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a win for prosecutors and defense counsel alike Monday when it said a federal appeals court may not order a defendant's sentence increased without either an appeal or a cross appeal...

Physician groups fail to overturn midwifery law in Missouri.
June 25, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that physician associations have no standing to challenge the constitutional validity of a law allowing the practice of midwifery in Missouri. In a 5-2 decision, the Missouri Supreme...

Correction.(Correction notice)
June 25, 2008... In the June 23 issue, the article "Helping immigrants find their way" misstated the income level at which Legal Services of Eastern Missouri will offer representation. The threshold is 125 percent of the federal poverty level. We regret the...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District upholds eminent domain for biotech center.
June 25, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A state appeals court has paved the way for a redevelopment company to continue building a life sciences business park in St. Louis' Midtown. On Tuesday, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District said a St. Louis...

Missouri Supreme Court grants DNA test for inmate after 23 years behind bars.
June 25, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick Huntley Ruff claims he's served more than two decades behind bars for a rape he didn't commit. But now with some help from Ellen Suni, dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Ruff finally has a...

Retired judges to speed up St. Louis criminal cases.
June 25, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese St. Louis Circuit Court has made several changes this year to get older criminal cases moving more efficiently. Now the court is taking another step, turn-ing to retired judges to help with the caseload. Presiding Judge...

Missouri lawyers urged to target Plan foe in election bid.
June 25, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A leader in a St. Louis law firm wants to keep Rep. Jim Lembke from reaching the Missouri Senate. Paul Passanante said he will send a letter this week to about 2,400 lawyers, announcing he has created a campaign...

Missouri Supreme Court: Decisions narrow credibility attacks.
June 26, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey If you're a criminal defense attorney, it just got a little harder to impeach an alleged victim. The Missouri Supreme Court this week narrowed the admissibility of prior false allegations from an alleged victim that...

Missouri Supreme Court rejects 'novel' theory in contractor case.
June 26, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The Missouri Supreme Court refused a plaintiff's invitation to recognize the host employer theory of liability. Describing the plaintiff's theory as novel, the court said it wasn't willing to hold a landowner liable...

Funeral insurance providers targeted in two Missouri lawsuits.
June 26, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Two recent Missouri lawsuits are targeting sellers and handlers of pre-need funeral plans, claiming various businesses have defrauded funeral homes across the country. Last week, a Cape Girardeau law firm filed a class...

Walton loses appeal on ballot status in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
June 26, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Rep. Juanita Walton is - still - off the ballot in the race to become the Democrat's candidate for senator of the 13th District. On Wednesday afternoon, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals summarily affirmed Senior...

Missouri Supreme Court's Schoemehl ruling is fixed; Now what happens?
June 27, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck It only took a year and a half and two legislative sessions to accomplish, but a controversial Missouri Supreme Court ruling is now history. Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday signed a bill that abrogates the court's ruling in...

Supreme Court hands out July 30 execution date.
June 30, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese John Middleton could soon become the first person in nearly three years to be executed in Missouri. The Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date of July 30 for Middleton. He was convicted of two counts of...

Missouri Supreme Court hands out July 30 execution date.
June 30, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese John Middleton could soon become the first person in nearly three years to be executed in Missouri. The Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date of July 30 for Middleton. He was convicted of two counts of...

Home, business foreclosures suspended due to flooding in Missouri.
June 30, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley The flooding of northeast Missouri and parts of St. Charles County has had a surprising effect on foreclosures: they've decreased. Since the flooding, FEMA has begun declaring parts of Missouri disaster areas. Missouri...

Home, business foreclosures suspended due to flooding.
June 30, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley The flooding of northeast Missouri and parts of St. Charles County has had a surprising effect on foreclosures: they've decreased. Since the flooding, FEMA has begun declaring parts of Missouri disaster areas. Missouri...

Missouri's Appellate Judicial Commission to meet Aug. 21 on Limbaugh successor.
June 30, 2008... Byline: Business Record Staff The state's Appellate Judicial Commission is seeking candidates to replace Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., following his appointment to the federal bench. Limbaugh, a 16-year member of...

Commentary: Ruling may be wrong, but the system works.
June 30, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier All right, so I was clearly wrong about the Second Amendment. I guess I shouldn't say wrong. I mean it could have gone either way. I should just say I was at odds with Justice Kennedy's opinion on the matter as his...