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

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

Watch what you eat: Pair of St. Louis County lawsuits offer object lesson.
March 2, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Customers typically assume that if they pay more for their food, they'll receive better, higher-quality service. But as two lawsuits filed this month in St. Louis County illustrate, instances of food mishaps can happen...

Public defender proposal moves forward in Missouri Senate.
March 2, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Amid concerns that an escalating workload is hindering public defenders' ability to represent clients, the Missouri Senate took a big step toward sending legislation altering the system to the House. Sen. Jack...

Jury verdict against Matthew Davis affirmed by Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.
March 2, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District on Friday affirmed a $500,000 civil verdict against a man whose underlying criminal charge was thrown out earlier this month. Matthew Davis pleaded guilty in May 2005 to...

Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal to close North Carolina office.
March 2, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal is closing its Charlotte, N.C., office about two years after opening it with a group of 18 attorneys. After consideration of local marketplace realities, the declining demand for legal...

St. Louis legal community gives at Justice for All Ball.
March 3, 2009... Byline: The Daily Record Staff They're still totaling up the take from the Justice for All Ball. But, given the economy, organizers of what is perennially one of the St. Louis legal community's biggest charity event are happy. Dan Glazier,...

Tattoo photo ruled not taboo by 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
March 3, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter It's not a strip search if you don't have to strip. On Monday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Bella Villa police chief didn't violate the Fourth Amendment rights of an Overland woman when he...

Missouri House committee considers Nonpartisan Court Plan reform proposal.
March 4, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum For the past few years, opponents have ramped up efforts to change the composition of the state's Nonpartisan Court Plan. Some have argued that the process is too secretive and provides too much power to trial...

St. Louis County attorney Robert Sigoloff remembered for generosity, willingness to help.
March 4, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Robert Sigoloff, a lawyer in west St. Louis County, will be remembered as a man who was always willing to help his fellow lawyers. Sigoloff died Feb. 28. He was 68. Jacqueline Busch Hunt, of The Hunt Law Firm, where...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District strips DWI conviction from sentence in fatal wreck.
March 4, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck An appeals court on Tuesday reversed the driving-while-intoxicated charge against a driver who killed a Kansas City teen in November 2006. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District said there was plenty of evidence...

St. Louis legal community to hold 'court crawl'.
March 4, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The concept of a pub crawl is familiar to many, but the idea of a court crawl may be entirely new. The event to be held at 4 p.m. March 12 will have area lawyers traveling from the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse to...

Missouri plaintiffs' lawyers welcome Wyeth decision.
March 5, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter and Scott Lauck In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court made plaintiffs' lawyers happy Wednesday with its 6-3 decision allowing individuals to bring state claims against drugmakers. Dirk Vandever, a plaintiffs' attorney...

Group urges selection commission not to 'recycle' Missouri judicial candidates.
March 5, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck How many times is too many to be nominated for a spot on a Missouri appellate court? A group that criticizes the state's method of selecting judges issued a statement Wednesday, calling for the Appellate Judicial...

Meyerkord to receive Award of Honor from Lawyers Association of St. Louis.
March 5, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Lawyer Stephen F. Meyerkord, the perfect opponent, will receive the Award of Honor, the highest award given by the Lawyers Association of St. Louis. He was dubbed the perfect opponent not because he's easy to defeat;...

American Heritage hit with foreclosures in six Jefferson County subdivisions.
March 6, 2009... Byline: Will Connaghan Foreclosure proceedings have begun against 262 lots owned by American Heritage Homes in six Jefferson County subdivisions. The sales are set for March 23. Area homebuilder Flower & Fendler last year bought some of...

Southern Illinois jury awards $60 million verdict in equipment-leasing scam.
March 6, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A jury in Southern Illinois awarded a $60 million verdict to a not-for-profit community health care clinic in a fraud case alleging a nationwide equipment-leasing scam. St. Louis-based Lewis, Rice & Fingersh...

Wal-Mart wants company to share settlement expense, files suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court.
March 6, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Wal-Mart has sued a pharmaceutical management system company for its role in a settlement that Wal-Mart reached with a family whose son was born with spina bifida. The current suit, filed Tuesday in St. Louis County...

Porn conviction upheld by federal appeals court despite instruction error.
March 6, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal appeals court upheld a conviction for possessing child pornography even though the jury instruction used at trial differed from the grand jury indictment. Despite the error in the instruction, there was...

Missouri Court of Appeals gives Michael Teer time served for fatal DUI.
March 9, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Michael Teer is a free man. He walked out of the St. Charles County Jail last Thursday after the Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis ordered that he be discharged. Teer killed four people and injured another in an...

Bankruptcy filings increase by almost one-third in 2008.
March 9, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Nationwide bankruptcy filings rose 31 percent in 2008 over the previous calendar year, according to information released last week by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Filings in the Eastern District of...

Lake tragedy in Jefferson County results in $2.3M settlement.
March 9, 2009... Byline: Cathy Kingsley Plaintiffs in the case involving a lake tragedy in Jefferson County were awarded $2.3 million by a jury that deliberated for 12 hours. Nicholas Harbison, 16, died, and Morgan Milfeld and Timothy Fitzpatrick, both 15...

Commentary: Obama should stop overcharging.
March 9, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier Do you ever wonder if the ladies and gentleman inhabiting the halls of the U.S. Justice Department want to just throw in the towel on some of the cases from the previous regime? I mean, obviously the left is going to...

Missouri tenants deserve notice, rights groups say.
March 10, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Advocates for fair housing called on the Missouri General Assembly to pass legislation to give tenants notice of foreclosure proceedings against their landlords. Legislation introduced in the state Senate by Sen....

Stem cell order sparks debate on Missouri measure.
March 10, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum President Barack Obama's decision to lift funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research sparked a war of words between opposing sides of a proposal targeting state funding for the practice. Before Obama...

Error doesn't cancel foreclosure sale, Missouri Appeals Court rules.
March 10, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A creditor is not entitled to have a foreclosure sale set aside after it made a mistake during a foreclosure sale, a Missouri Appeals Court said last week. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District ruled that...

Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City overrules year-old precedent.
March 10, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter It's an appellate court's prerogative to change its mind. And that's just what the Court of Appeals in Kansas City did last week in a decision allowing juvenile officers to begin termination proceedings against parents...

Missouri appeals court finds blight standards have not changed.
March 11, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Missouri appeals court removed an obstacle to the redevelopment of the Ice House District in the city of St. Louis on Tuesday. It upheld the Board of Aldermen's finding that the area just south of downtown is...

Missouri Court of Appeals denies attempt to remove thousands of plaintiffs from class action suit.
March 11, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District on Tuesday denied an attempt to remove thousands of plaintiffs from a $36.3 million class action lawsuit settled in 2007. The appeals court said a Jackson County Circuit...

Committee choice could decide fate of Missouri public defender bill.
March 12, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The seemingly routine procedure of referring a bill to committee could have a sizable impact on the fate of legislation altering the state's public defender system. Most notably, Sen. Jack Goodman's bill codifies an...

Exxon ruling may stem punitive damage ratios, says Univ. of Calif.-Irvine law professor.
March 12, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The days of large punitive-damage awards may be coming to an end. Erwin Chemerinsky, law professor and founding dean of the University of California-Irvine School of Law, said the U.S. Supreme Court moved litigants...

Addition of plaintiff before suit could be transferred weighed by Missouri Supreme Court.
March 12, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum A judge's discretion to change the venue of a lawsuit in a Louisiana train accident was at issue Wednesday before the Missouri Supreme Court. In June 2007, a train owned by the Kansas City Southern Railroad Co....

Legal malpractice trial in St. Louis County Circuit Court begins against attorney with SPvG.
March 12, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A legal malpractice case against Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard playing out in St. Louis County Circuit Court this week will examine what duty an attorney has to inform a client about the need to contact all relevant...

Kansas City law firm battles insurers over two large settlements.
March 12, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck The jury's or judge's verdict is rarely the end of the story, as a pair of lawsuits recently filed by Davis, Ketchmark & McCreight show. In one lawsuit, filed Feb. 17, the Kansas City plaintiffs' firm sued The Bar Plan...

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan sues Stifel Nicolaus.
March 13, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan filed a lawsuit against investment firm Stifel Nicolaus & Co. to force the company to repay investors who lost more than $180 million in the auction-rate securities market....

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District hears defenders' arguments.
March 13, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck Missouri's public defenders are used to arguing to the appellate courts on behalf of clients. On Thursday, they used their powers of persuasion on behalf of the public defender system itself. Attorneys for the Missouri...

Husch Blackwell, with offices in Missouri, lets go 17 attorneys.
March 13, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Husch Blackwell Sanders let go 17 attorneys and 45 staff members firmwide Thursday, citing performance and consolidation. The cuts are not being made for economic reasons, Co-Chairman David Fenley said in a phone...

Carnahan sues Stifel Nicolaus.
March 13, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan filed a lawsuit against investment firm Stifel Nicolaus & Co. to force the company to repay investors who lost more than $180 million in the auction-rate securities market....

8th Circuit upholds 18-month sentence enhancement.
March 13, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Jamaican national who more than once entered the United States illegally gets to stay in this country a while longer -- in federal prison. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed the sentence...

Panel named for Missouri Court of Appeals Western District vacancy.
March 13, 2009... Byline: The Daily Record Staff The Appellate Judicial Commission on Friday named the first of three panels of candidates for openings on the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District. The panel consists of Judge Jacqueline A. Cook,...

8th Circuit upholds verdict for Kansas City-based UMB Financial.
March 16, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal appeals court upheld a jury verdict finding Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corp.'s decision not to hire a quadriplegic man for its customer-service call center was based on a misunderstanding and was not...

St. Peters held liable for selling quarry land.
March 16, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Twenty years ago, when the Quarry Holding Company sold land to the St. Peters for $1 it expected to make a lot more. A judge ruled last week that the city breached its contract when it did not pay the quarry a...

Jackson County jury awards $500K; arbitration claim lingers.
March 16, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck A $500,000 jury verdict returned recently in Jackson County might not be the last word in the case, pending the outcome of an appeal claiming some of the underlying issues should have been arbitrated first. The verdict,...

Missouri Attorney General's office names Sunshine Law director.
March 16, 2009... Byline: The Daily Record Staff The Missouri Attorney General's Office has hired a former actor turned legislative assistant to teach government officials how to comply with the Sunshine Law. Tom Durkin, the office's public education...

Commentary: There's a business buried on my desk.
March 16, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier Where is my desk? A pile of piles, a stray highlighter, a cute penholder that looks like two books, an old coffee cup with a cute kid on it, a water bottle half full -- or is it half empty? I may be overrun by paper...

First panel sent to governor for Missouri Court of Appeals Western District vacancy.
March 17, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The Appellate Judicial Commission on Friday named the first of three panels of candidates for openings on the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District. The panel consists of Judge Jacqueline A. Cook, Cynthia L. Reams...

Wash. U. moves on to mock trial finals; U of Missouri-KC wins Spirit award.
March 17, 2009... Byline: St. Louis Daily Record Staff Report The Jackson County Courthouse played host last weekend to the Opening Round Championships of the American Mock Trial Association. More than 180 undergraduate students from 19 schools across the...

Missouri Department of Social Services needs to adopt rules, Missouri Supreme Court says.
March 18, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The Missouri Supreme Court said a denial of a couple's adoption subsidy by the state Department of Social Services' Family Support Division is not valid because the division's decision was not based on formal rules and...

Missouri Supreme Court rejects challenge from sex offender.
March 18, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The Missouri Supreme Court rejected a challenge from a sex offender who incurred a prison sentence when he did not register a change of address notice within 10 days. The Supreme Court previously ruled that it was...

St. Louis County jury clears law firm in legal malpractice suit.
March 18, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A St. Louis County jury has cleared Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard and one of its attorneys, Rodney Sharp, of all wrongdoing in a legal malpractice suit against them. Physician Hamid Hosseini had filed suit against...

Missouri Supreme Court upholds officer's firing for excessive force.
March 18, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners had the authority to fire a police officer who beat and spit on a drunken driver who was already subdued, a unanimous Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday. The officer,...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District says man wasn't competent for trial.
March 18, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A man convicted of incestuous sex crimes could get a new trial -- if the Missouri Supreme Court agrees with a state appellate court that the defendant is mentally retarded and unable to assist in his own defense. The...

Missouri appeals court affirms $1M verdict in defamation case.
March 19, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Missouri appeals court upheld a $1 million verdict against Allstate Indemnity Co. in a lawsuit claiming the insurer defamed a homeowner in a denial letter. The insured, John Johnson, owned the Salem, Mo., home for...

Symposium to examine St. Louis-area civil rights cases.
March 19, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Starting with the infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857, a large number of significant civil rights cases have arisen out of St. Louis. To draw attention to those decisions, the St. Louis County Historical Society is...

IRS ramping up collection efforts, tax attorneys say.
March 19, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The current tax season is tougher than most for Americans. With unemployment and home foreclosures at record highs, more can't afford to pay -- and won't pay -- their taxes. This could prove to be a problem as local...

Independence lawyer wins Iowa 'popcorn' lung case.
March 19, 2009... Byline: Staff report A federal jury in Iowa has awarded $7.5 million to a man who worked at a microwave popcorn plant and developed a lung disease caused by a chemical in the artificial butter flavor. The plaintiff, 69-year-old Ronald...