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

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

A pitch for judicial review: Will the Supreme Court swing?
March 1, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter As professional baseball players practice in Florida and Arizona, team owners and the players union are taking on fantasy baseball in Washington, D.C. They asked the U.S. Supreme Court last week to consider whether the...

A pitch for judicial review: Will the Supreme Court swing?
March 1, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter As professional baseball players practice in Florida and Arizona, team owners and the players union are taking on fantasy baseball in Washington, D.C. They asked the U.S. Supreme Court last week to consider whether the...

Supreme Court opens up judicial nominating commissions.
March 1, 2008... Byline: Staff Report The Missouri Supreme Court amended court rules on Friday to provide greater openness into how the state's judicial commissions nominate for vacancies. The amended rules also require the creation of judicial...

The Missouri Bar diversity measure brings three to table.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey, Kelly Wiese and James Goodwin The Missouri Bar announced Friday three new members of the Board of Governors whose presence is intended to diversify the board. More than 3,700 attorneys across the state voted to elect...

A pitch for judicial review: Will the Supreme Court swing?
March 3, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The Missouri Bar announced Friday three new members of the Board of Governors whose presence is intended to diversify the board. More than 3,700 attorneys across the state voted to elect one new board member from the...

Man who pushed for speedy trial in St. Louis Circuit Court gets another chance.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A man who spent a year and a half in jail pushing for his trial will get a new start in life. Tracy McKee was sentenced Friday after being convicted about a month ago of felony vehicle tampering. Prosecutor Charlie...

Missouri Supreme Court opens up judicial nominating commissions.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff Report The Missouri Supreme Court amended court rules on Friday to provide greater openness into how the state's judicial commissions nominate for vacancies. The amended rules also require the creation of...

Husch & Eppenberger, Blackwell Sanders set to close merger deal.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff Report The combination of Husch & Eppenberger and Blackwell Sanders was to become official on Friday. The firms intended to close their merger deal by the end of the day, according to Husch Chairman Joe Conran....

St. Louis law firms announce staffing changes: March 3, 2008.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Daily Record Staff Report Partner David Jay Krauss, of The Stolar Partnership in St. Louis, has been elected to the law firm's executive committee. The five-person committee, chaired by Harvey A. Harris, determines firm policy and...

Sentencing changes guidelines by U.S. Sentencing Comm. over crack disparity take effect.
March 4, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Harold Simmons is flying the coop. Originally sentenced to 37 months in prison for possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine, Simmons is one of thousands of inmates leaving federal prison after receiving...

Federal judge rules detainee in Mo. does not have First Amendment right to publish newsletter.
March 4, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A detainee at the Missouri Sexual Offender Treatment Center in Farmington does not have the First Amendment right to publish a newsletter, a federal judge said recently. William Bradford, a resident at the facility,...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: March 4, 2008.
March 4, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Jordan Cherrick, leader of Greensfelder Hemker & Gale's appellate practice, quietly exited the firm last week. His name had vanished from the firm's Web directory by Thursday, the first day of a...

Newsmakers.
March 4, 2008... Byline: Staff Report Jordan Cherrick, leader of Greensfelder Hemker & Gale's appellate practice, quietly exited the firm last week. His name had vanished from the firm's Web directory by Thursday, the first day of a three-and-a-half day...

Railroad worker wins $1M in St. Louis County.
March 5, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka In one of the first personal injury suits lodged against a railroad company since the state overhauled its tort laws, a southern Missouri man won a $1.05 million jury verdict in St. Louis County. Myles Bentley, 34,...

Should prosecutor try a former client?
March 5, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A county prosecutor should be barred from pursuing charges against a woman he once represented as a criminal defense attorney, the woman's lawyer said before the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday. But the prosecutor,...

Missouri Supreme Court considers civil confinement of sex offenders.
March 5, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A man confined as a sexually violent predator wants the Missouri Supreme Court to let him go, saying he never should have been locked away in the first place. Jackie Holtcamp, whose case the high court heard on...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District considers speedy trial issue.
March 7, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A man found guilty by a St. Louis jury of stealing an elderly woman's purse outside a church wants his conviction tossed out because he wasn't brought to trial quickly enough. A panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals...

Change in Missouri law should mean earlier pension, ex-judge says.
March 7, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A former state administrative judge should have started receiving pension payments when he turned 62 despite how the law read when he left the bench, his lawyer argued before the Missouri Supreme Court. But the...

Years after St. John's Mercy Medical Center nurses strike, dispute lingers.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A six-week strike by nurses at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur ended in 2005, but their union and the hospital are still arguing over whether they should receive unemployment benefits. Last week, the...

St. Louis teachers file ethics complaint about political donor.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Daily Record staff Four public school teachers have filed an ethics complaint alleging a man is skirting campaign finance laws by setting up 100 political action committees to spread his money around. One of the teachers, Jim Ward,...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: March 10, 2008.
March 10, 2008... Byline: The Daily Record Staff Michael J. Zpevak, a corporate attorney with more than 30 years of experience representing telecommunications clients, has joined the law firm of Gallop, Johnson & Neuman in St. Louis. As a partner, Zpevak...

Lawmakers in Missouri react quickly to drunken driving case.
March 11, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese The Supreme Court has ruled that some drunken driving crimes in municipal courts don't count when trying to enhance penalties for repeat criminals. And Missouri legislators are already taking steps to fix the ambiguity...

St. Peters hotel to pay $35K to settle EEOC complaint.
March 11, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff A former front desk clerk at Ramada St. Peters will receive at least $35,000 as part of a settlement with the hotel's parent companies. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued SASAK Corp. and...

Mo. Supreme Court's committee to hear testimony about child-support guidelines.
March 11, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff The Missouri Supreme Court's Family Court Committee will hear public testimony about the child-support guidelines next week. The hearings will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. on March 21. Child-support...

Missouri proposal on how to select its high court judges gathers steam at state capitol.
March 12, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese As the debate rages on about how Missouri selects judges for its highest courts, one proposal has taken a step forward in the legislative process. The House's Special Committee on General Laws voted Tuesday to forward a...

8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals OKs evidence gained in disputed search.
March 12, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Roy Hudspeth didn't want the Missouri State Highway Patrol to search his home computer for child pornography. But his wife agreed to the search. On Tuesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the trial judge...

St. Louis Law Firms Announce Staffing Changes: March 12, 2008.
March 12, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Claire Schenk, a former assistant U.S. attorney, has joined the St. Louis office of Thompson Coburn. She is a partner in the firm's business litigation practice group. Schenk will concentrate her...

The deposition from Heck: Lawyer and client sanctioned for abusive testimony.
March 12, 2008... Byline: Mitch Margo All trial attorneys have their deposition war stories. We've all dealt with the uncooperative witness and the obnoxious lawyer. Evasive answers can be annoying. Irrelevant questions can prolong a tedious day. Be...

Federal jury orders automaker to pay $200,000 in discrimination suit.
March 13, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter DaimlerChrysler must pay $200,000 to an employee who was fired from its Fenton plant after he filed charges of discrimination against the company. A federal jury awarded the money to automotive electrician Terak...

Attorneys sue drugmaker Bayer in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
March 13, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A drug used to reduce blood loss during heart surgery has been linked to kidney failure, and personal injury lawyers are taking notice. On Monday, lawyers from Clayton-based Carey & Danis sued drugmaker Bayer in U.S....

Two charged in St. Louis County counselor's murder.
March 13, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report Two men were charged Wednesday in the killing of Luke Meiners, an attorney in the St. Louis County Counselor's office whose body was discovered Tuesday in Illinois. Cleophus King, 40, and Ronald...

Judge Baker stepping down from St. Louis court.
March 13, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report St. Louis Circuit Judge Evelyn Baker is stepping down from the bench at the end of the month. Baker, who will turn 60 on March 29, said the job isn't fun anymore, so she's ready to move on to...

Facing foreclosure, St. Louis homeowner goes on the offense.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Pat Harris was approved for a home loan even though he makes less than $11,000 a year. Now the 60-year-old is trying to stave off foreclosure with a court action of his own. The St. Louis resident has filed suit...

Kansas City federal judge defends his questioning of immigrant witnesses.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A Kansas City federal judge has defended himself against allegations made by an area attorney that he has "deep-seated antagonism" toward illegal aliens. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Larsen issued a 20-page opinion...

Employees sue Town & Country-based Charter over car tasks.
March 18, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit against Charter Communications has been certified as a national collective action. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Madison, Wis., seeks unpaid wages and overtime pay...

Lawmakers in Missouri mull changes for public defenders, judges.
March 18, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Missouri's public defenders could have a clear-cut way to rein in their bulging caseloads if a Senate bill goes on to become law. Missouri's public defender system has spent the past year looking for ways to lighten the...

Senior judge named to Mo. Highways and Transportation Commission.
March 18, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff A senior judge in St. Charles has been appointed to one of the most powerful positions in state government -- highway commissioner. Grace Nichols, 70, a Democrat and senior circuit judge, gets the nod to...

Letter to the editor: Voters should decide whether the Missouri Plan should be changed.(Letter to the editor)
March 18, 2008... To the Editor: In the March 12 story, Proposed changes to Missouri Plan gather steam at Capitol, Woody Cozad, a lobbyist for The Missouri Bar, suggested that the Missouri Plan should not be updated because Missourians consented to it in 1940...

Money may be missing from Pagedale court, state audit finds.
March 20, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter More than $1,000 -- perhaps more than $30,000 -- could be missing from Pagedale's municipal court, according to a report issued by the state auditor's office. An audit by the office found that $1,088 in court funds...

Women lawyers to be honored at St. Louis Daily Record annual awards banquet.
March 20, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report The achievements of 18 female lawyers will be recognized next month at the St. Louis Daily Record's 10th annual Women's Justice Awards banquet. U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton will receive...

Missouri's high court rejects concealed-carry challenge.
March 20, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report The Missouri Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a challenge to the state's concealed carry law. It argued that permits for concealed firearms violate the Missouri's Hancock Amendment. Ste....

U.S. Supreme Court ruling may negate local death sentence.
March 25, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter A U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Louisiana death-penalty case could affect a man sentenced to death 15 years ago in St. Louis County. St. Louis County Circuit Judge William Corrigan sentenced Herbert Smulls to death...

Missouri Attorney General Nixon seeks order to halt spring rise.
March 25, 2008... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' planned "spring rise" on the Missouri River. In a press release Monday, Nixon said...

Missouri expected to feel 'the pulse'/Judge refuses to block man-made river rise.
March 26, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A judge denied a last-minute attempt by Missouri officials to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from plans to release water into the Missouri River, leaving state officials to brace and hope their fears of further...

Judge refuses to block man-made river rise in Missouri.
March 26, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A judge denied a last-minute attempt by Missouri officials to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from plans to release water into the Missouri River, leaving state officials to brace and hope their fears of further...

Legislature may let defenders refuse cases, boost drug court budget a bit.
March 28, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese The state's drug courts would see a slight boost in funding if the House's budget plan holds. The judiciary budget is among several bills of interest to the legal community that have taken significant steps forward at...

Missouri legislature may let defenders refuse cases, boost drug court budget a bit.
March 28, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese The state's drug courts would see a slight boost in funding if the House's budget plan holds. The judiciary budget is among several bills of interest to the legal community that have taken significant steps forward at...

Muslim woman paid $65,000 after complaint over head scarf.
March 28, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A Muslim woman who claimed she lost her job for refusing to go without her head scarf is being paid $65,000 by her old company, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says. Mariam Soultan worked for Client...

Terry Blair found guilty of murder.
March 28, 2008... Byline: Staff report Despite misgivings about the way Kansas City police handled the case, a Jackson County judge on Thursday found accused serial killer Terry Blair guilty of six counts of murder. Blair, 46, faces life in prison without...

Panel selected for 21st Circuit judicial opening.
March 28, 2008... Byline: The Daily Record Staff The St. Louis County Judicial Commission announced on Thursday a panel of three nominees to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Barbara Ann Crancer. The three...

Back surgery case leads to $2.5M award by St. Louis jury.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A man who sued his surgeon after unsuccessful -- and, he claims, unnecessary -- back surgery has won more than $2.3 million from a St. Louis County jury. His wife was awarded another $175,000. Keith Haley, 40, of...

Two partners jump from Missouri's Senniger to Bryan Cave.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Former managing partner Ed Hejlek and new partner Richard Schuth are exiting boutique intellectual property firm Senniger Powers. After more than 24 years at Senniger, Hejlek leaves April 1 for Bryan Cave. Schuth, who...