Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) articles from August 2006

Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) archives from August 2006

MO-based Bryan Cave, Cleveland-based Squire Sanders call off merger.
August 1, 2006... Byline: Heather Cole Bryan Cave and Cleveland-based Squire Sanders & Dempsey have called off their merger talks. Bryan Cave and Squire Sanders spokespeople said on Monday that the two firms had been in discussions but weren't any more....

Wrongful death lawsuit against doctor settles shortly before trial.
August 1, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Penny Rogers was only 45 when she died from a pulmonary embolism in April 2001. Her husband, Richard, thought Penny's doctor failed to recognize the warning signs. And in 2003 he filed a wrongful death lawsuit...

New Jersey Committee on Attorney Advertising ruling bans use of Super Lawyer title.
August 1, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones (This article was originally published in Minnesota Lawyer, Minneapolis, another Dolan Media publication.) The New Jersey Committee on Attorney Advertising, a body created by the state's Supreme Court,...

Oklahoma City University School of Law begins study-abroad program with China.
August 1, 2006... Byline: Journal Record Staff (This article was originally published in The Journal Record, Oklahoma City, another Dolan Media publication.) The Oklahoma City University School of Law has launched a study-abroad program with a law...

Commentary: Make change at your firm or board : Break the circle.
August 1, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken This week's Wirken Quote is: "The most important thing to do is to break the circle." When I first heard this week's quote, I must admit I was totally blown away. The comment had come from one of the most...

Law puts smokers in Jackson County Courthouse outside during deliberations.
August 2, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Outside the Jackson County Courthouse groups of individuals occasionally gather on the building's southeast corner for a cigarette break. Those groups often consist of jurors, who are marked by white...

World Relief immigration legal clinic offers aid to Maryland's foreign-born population.
August 2, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication). Winstona Cole's clients were distraught. The Sudanese brothers had lived as refugees in Maryland for a...

Jackson County jury finds grocery owners not responsible for assault.
August 2, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale A Jackson County jury determined that a grocery store's owners were not responsible for the injuries a man suffered during an assault in the parking lot. John Linthicum sustained facial fractures, a closed...

Hot lines find the right help all around Maryland.
August 2, 2006... Byline: Joe Surkiewicz (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication). When a Social Security recipient got a call from a collection agency trying to get him to pay off an old...

Jury in St. Louis awards $13 million in case's second trial.
August 3, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright Seven years and two trials after a Joplin couple died in 1999 from carbon monoxide poisoning, the couple's survivors finally received closure with $13 million awarded by a St. Louis jury. Thursday's verdict...

As lawyers discover Lawbby.com, they wonder about site's future.
August 3, 2006... Byline: Amy Johnson Conner Lawbby.com - a sort of MySpace for the legal profession - has caused a fair amount of head scratching since it was launched three months ago. Designed as a social network for attorneys to post personal and...

Teenager, gun manufacturer settle case for $357,500 in St. Louis District Court.
August 3, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter A teenage boy injured when a hunting rifle accidentally discharged settled his lawsuit against the firearm manufacturer for $357,500 and court costs. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry approved the settlement on...

Family wins $1.5 million for missed melanoma.
August 3, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper A Virginia Beach, Va., Circuit Court jury on July 21 awarded a family $1.5 million because a doctor failed to diagnose cancer. Paul Vaughan, a stay-at-home dad in Virginia Beach, had a raw spot that wouldn't heal in...

St. Louis-area couple suing cardiologist for son's death.
August 3, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka A Belleville, Ill., couple faced a St. Louis cardiologist Monday in a wrongful death trial in St. Louis County Circuit Court over the death of their son. Robert Hicks Jr. died in November 2001 of a pulmonary...

Correction.(Correction notice)
August 3, 2006... Byline: KC Daily Record Staff In Thursday's edition the article "Jury finds grocery owners not responsible for assault" should have listed the defendant as General Store No. 2 doing business as Marsh's Sun Fresh Market.

Commentary: Prepare your own vision statement.
August 3, 2006... Byline: Christine Ann Hughes Solomon wrote, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," Proverbs 29:18. The wisdom in those words is still held in value today as corporations prepare vision statements as part of their corporate...

Fear of discipline can chill potential medical experts.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A medical malpractice lawsuit sits on Steve Sanders' desk. And he knows of a great witness that would help his case. The problem is the witness refuses to talk. "It's frustrating," said Sanders, a Northland...

St. Louis judge issues TRO against online matchmaking service.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). Not even the sultry voice of Carmen Electra could disguise the thinking of 140 St. Louis-area phone subscribers...

Supreme Judicial Court rules commercial landlord not liable for injuries from defective stairway.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Eric Berkman (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication). A commercial landlord did not owe a duty of care to a tenant's employee who was injured when he...

Missouri accident victim's family gets $507K in mediation of case.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). The family of a man killed in a car accident in Warren County has settled for $507,000 its lawsuit against the...

Gun bias questions not needed in robbery case, rules MD Court of Appeals.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication). A gun-wielding Prince George's County, Md., bank robber was not entitled to question potential jurors...

MD COA rules husband may pursue divorce while residing under same roof with wife.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Ann Parks (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication). A husband who sued his wife for limited divorce based on constructive desertion is entitled to pursue that...

S.C Supreme Court rules defendant not served when papers posted on front door of residence.
August 4, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom (This article was originally published in South Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Columbia, S.C., another Dolan Media publication). Service of process on a South Carolina woman was ineffective - even though the process...

New York judge dismisses claim that seeks repairs from police arrest damage.
August 5, 2006... Byline: Kevin Habberfield In the case of Jesus M. Ubiles v. Monroe County, N.Y., Sheriff's Department, Rochester City Court Judge Ellen Yacknin dismissed the plaintiff's claims seeking repairs to his automobile, damaged during the arrest...

New York judge dismisses claim that seeks repairs from police arrest damage.
August 5, 2006... Byline: Kevin Habberfield

Wisconsin state bar leader questions exam equity.
August 5, 2006... Byline: Jack Zemlicka Graduate from the University of Wisconsin or Marquette University Law Schools, or pass Wisconsin's bar exam. Any of those achievements will ensure admission into the State Bar of Wisconsin. But the new state bar...

4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules FBI agent won't get qualified immunity.
August 5, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week declined to extend qualified immunity to a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who shot a man he mistakenly thought was a suspect in a bank robbery. Agent...

Drug company alleges conspiracy, seeks $1.7 billion.
August 5, 2006... Byline: Jeremy Harrell Long Island drug supplier RxUSA is seeking a $1.7 billion cure from pharmaceutical companies and distributors. The company filed suit on July 14 in federal court alleging the country's largest pharmaceutical...

Court of Appeals allows infliction of emotional distress as viable tort.
August 5, 2006... Byline: David Ziemer Negligent infliction of emotional distress is a viable tort in Wisconsin, the state's Court of Appeals held on July 25. Steven Camp is a 4-year-old, and Anthony Machones is a 13-year-old with Asperger's syndrome....

U.S. Western District Court tosses Chapter 75 suit over seizure drug's 'off-label' promotion.
August 5, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry A federal judge has tossed out claims that two drug companies' illegal promotion of "off-label" use for a prescription medicine caused a man's near-fatal illness. The plaintiff's allegations, if proven, would have...

U.S. court: Suit over review of medical notes must be tried.
August 6, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry A hiker whose leg injury became infected two weeks after a physician's assistant stitched it can go to trial on medical-malpractice claims against the doctor who "signed off" on the assistant's treatment notes. The...

Plaintiffs' lawyers assert train case has gone off-track.
August 6, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones When a train derailed near Minot, N.D., on Jan. 18, 2002, five overturned tanker cars released almost 221,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia into the night air as local residents lay sleeping. The accident...

How to ... choose a payroll services provider.
August 6, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Many companies think it pays to have someone else handle their payroll. Managing payroll, after all, can be time-consuming, especially if you have a high employee-turnover rate, if your employees are paid...

Judge orders opposing lawyers sit down, eat and work through pre-trial issues.
August 7, 2006... Byline: Bill Coates Opposing lawyers in a three-year-old lawsuit were ordered by the court to go stuff themselves - at a good restaurant. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Pendleton Gaines mandated the meal in a minute entry filed...

Probable cause still rules for cell location data.
August 7, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber A Maryland judge's denial last month of a government request to track a fugitive via his cell phone signals is the latest skirmish in a growing battle over when officials may use the practice. It appears that,...

Four-story fall inspires push for 'Laela's Law'.
August 7, 2006... Byline: Bill Clements Minnesota would become the first state to mandate the use of stronger, security-type window screens for some new developments under a bill that is expected to be introduced next year. State Sen. Linda Berglin is...

Commentary: We all fall down - and laugh at ourselves.
August 7, 2006... Byline: Craig Napier I recently caught an injury practicing law. Missed a step, caught my weight the wrong way, and ouch! Suddenly, my knee wouldn't hold any weight, and the shots of pain rolling up and down the back of my leg clearly...

Lawsuits go after Missouri music downloading.
August 8, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick The recording industry continued its crackdown last week on individuals who illegally download copyrighted music. Two western Missouri residents were among six in the state who were sued by the Recording...

Discrimination suit against American Airlines returns to Missouri court.
August 8, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication.) An employment discrimination case returns to county Judge Barbara Wallace's courtroom this week following an...

Idaho attorneys offer new type of service.
August 8, 2006... Byline: Brad Carlson (This article was originally published in Idaho Business Review, Boise, Idaho, another Dolan Media publication.) For a small firm, adding a lawyer represents a major commitment that includes hiring additional...

Maryland court: Cocaine while pregnant not reckless endangerment.
August 8, 2006... Byline: Ann Parks (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication.) Women who use cocaine while pregnant cannot be prosecuted under the Maryland's reckless endangerment statute...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejects three-month sentence for $5 million fraud.
August 8, 2006... Byline: Jason M. Scally (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication.) A lab executive's three-month sentence for fraud was too lenient when sentencing guidelines...

Commentary: Save your health: Get out of the way.
August 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken This week's Wirken Quote is: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." Every time I tried out this quote, I must admit I shutter just a little bit because the person who this quote comes from is not necessarily one of...

The stakes are high (tech).
August 9, 2006... Byline: Bridget Heos Say you're in court. During a crucial argument, you suddenly can't talk. Your mouth muscles are like lead. The judge and jury are waiting and... nothing. Sounds like a nightmare doesn't it? With technology in...

St. Louis County software company settles class-action securities suit for $3.15M.
August 9, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). A federal judge on Friday approved the $3.15 million settlement of a class-action securities lawsuit against...

St. Louis County jury clears cardiologist in wrongful death case.
August 9, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). A St. Louis cardiologist was not negligent when he did not order emergency tests for an Illinois man who died...

Kansas City attorney to represent the families involved in three deadly aircraft crashes this year.
August 10, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A Kansas City attorney with a history of success in aviation lawsuits has been hired to represent the families involved in three deadly aircraft crashes this year. Gary C. Robb filed two wrongful death suits...

Jackson County judge's wife dies in wreck.
August 10, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick The wife of Jackson County Judge Vernon Scoville III died Tuesday night in a car accident on Interstate 70. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Diane Scoville was two miles east of Adams Dairy...

Fantasy sports Web site wins in federal court.
August 10, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication.) A St. Louis-based fantasy baseball provider won in federal court Tuesday, when a judge said selling names and...

Jefferson Davis home in Biloxi tied up in lawsuit.
August 10, 2006... Byline: Garry Boulard (This article was originally published in the Daily Journal of Commerce, New Orleans, another Dolan Media publication.) Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast, officials with the Biloxi,...

Mistrial, awards end three county trials.
August 11, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A personal injury case in Independence was declared a mistrial Wednesday morning after the wife of Judge Vernon Scoville III died in a car accident the night before. Scoville presided over the first day of the...

Sex-offender bill settles debate over felon-in-possession detention.
August 11, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky Federal prosecutors around the country are hailing a new law that will allow them to seek pretrial detention for defendants in felon-in-possession cases. A little-heralded provision of the Adam Walsh Child...

American Airlines counters discrimination claim.
August 11, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka American Airlines defended its termination of former employee Lamonte Young this week, asserting a supervisor did not fire Young because he is black. In fact, defense attorney Jerry Carmody said, the supervisor...

After lawyer disclosed talks, silent witness no longer in contempt.
August 12, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale A prosecution witness who refused to testify in a criminal trial in Baltimore should not have been found in contempt of court because the trial judge based her ruling, in part, on privileged information...

After lawyer disclosed talks, silent witness no longer in contempt.
August 12, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale

Appeals court upholds conviction for selling rocklike substance.
August 12, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber A man charged with selling fake drugs as the real thing was properly convicted even though the substance was only tested for - and shown not to be - one kind of illegal drug, the state's top court has held. Donald...

U.S. magistrate judge rules government must disclose informant's identity.
August 12, 2006... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz A defendant in a narcotics case could compel the disclosure of a confidential informant's identity and the production of related exculpatory evidence, a U.S. magistrate judge has advised. The defendant...

Seventh Circuit rules advancement can be sought in state-level court.
August 12, 2006... Byline: David Ziemer An employee seeking to compel his employer to advance his attorney fees can do so in Delaware court, even though the lawsuit is pending in federal court, the 7th Circuit held on July 25. After Jacob Citrin...

Court of Appeals ruling finds coupon dispenser qualifies as illegal gaming.
August 13, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale A coupon dispenser in an Ocean City, Md., restaurant qualified as an illegal gaming device because the discounts offered were incidental to games of chance, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Ad-Tab coupons...

Proposed changes in R.I. to ease rules on attorney representation.
August 13, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer Lawyers call it "poisoning the well." It occurs when a party in a dispute - such as a divorce case - consults so many prospective attorneys that many of the potential firms that could be hired by the opposing side...

How to ... choose a business hotel.
August 13, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Even if you do not use a hotel often, it's a good idea to develop a relationship with one. This not only may make you eligible for volume discounts on room rates, but if the hotel appreciates your repeat...

Overland Park company settles suit.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka A New York investor settled with the owners of two air cargo centers in St. Louis and Kansas City on Tuesday, halting an in-progress jury trial on the case in St. Louis County Circuit Court this week. Attorneys...

Challenge to Oklahoma, federal marriage bans survives recent ruling.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Marie Price A federal lawsuit filed in 2004 by four women challenging the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act and the Oklahoma ban on gay marriage is moving ahead after a recent ruling in the U.S. District Court of the Northern...

Court clerk can't intervene in gay marriage case.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale Eight state legislators and a court clerk lacked the right to intervene with their own private counsel in a Baltimore City Circuit Court case that ultimately struck down Maryland's one-man, one-woman definition...

St. Louis attorney files suit over representation fees.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter St. Louis attorney John J. Allan is suing the federal government for payment of attorney fees arising out of his representation of a construction company in a dispute related to the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse...

Commentary: When truth is evasive, ignorance will do.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Craig Napier I have heard it many times: "Clients never lie to you." Always noting a sarcastic tinge in the back of a lawyer's throat as the more experienced lawyers in earshot halfheartedly laughed as another bad clich=ee...

Winning essay recalls life-changing phone call.
August 15, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick It was an essay that wrote itself for the most part. Sean O'Brien's 600-word "Finding Redemption - How Picking Up the Phone Can Change a Lawyer's Life" detailed the last time he spoke to his friend Doyle...

St. Louis jury clears American Airlines in discrimination case.
August 15, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). American Airlines did not fire ex-employee Lamonte Young because he was black, a St. Louis County jury decided...

Oregon features what developers call 'first courthouse of the 21st century'.
August 15, 2006... Byline: Dan Carter (This article was originally published in Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland, Ore., another Dolan Media publication). An expansive, soaring, glass-and-steel structure on the banks of the Wilamette River in downtown...

MD Court of Appeals reverses another attempted murder verdict.
August 15, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication). The Maryland Court of Appeals has reversed the attempted murder convictions of a man who shot and injured...

Commentary: Make clients remember your message.
August 15, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken This week's Wirken Quote is: "The Blue Pen Rule." I have been fascinated by words and the concepts that words can convey for a long time. I didn't realize how interested I was in words until I became an English major...

Vioxx liability cases moved to U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
August 16, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). Five product liability lawsuits against drug maker Merck & Co. were removed to the U.S. District Court in St....

Jackson County Family Court orders teens to remain in detention.
August 16, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Two teens charged with murdering a Grain Valley woman were ordered Tuesday to remain in detention. Taylor Marquez and Edward George, both 16 and charged in the murder of Marquez's mother, had brief and separate...

Jackson County Circuit Court rules in favor of cab company in suit.
August 16, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A woman injured in a 2001 traffic accident lost her lawsuit against the cab company that was transporting her at the time of the crash. Pamela Thomas sued Metro Transport and its driver, William Hudson, under a...

The 'Anonymous Lawyer'.
August 16, 2006... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson (This article was originally published in Lawyers USA, Boston, another Dolan Media publication). It's the 21st Century version of being discovered. In March 2004, a new blog was launched from the...

Kansas City law firm founder Richard C. Miller dies at 50.(Obituary)
August 17, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Richard C. Miller, a lawyer of 25 years and a founder of the law firm Monsees, Miller, Mayer, Presley & Amick, died Tuesday from complications from a brain tumor. He was 50. Miller was diagnosed with cancer Aug....

Attorneys identify real estate change.
August 17, 2006... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher (This article was originally published in Lawyers USA, Boston, another Dolan Media publication). If you're a real estate lawyer, how you're faring this year depends on where you practice and what area of...

Seventh Circuit Court issues landmark ex post facto decision.
August 17, 2006... Byline: David Ziemer (This article was originally published in Wisconsin Law Journal, Milwaukee, another Dolan Media publication). Because federal sentencing guidelines are now only advisory, a change that increases the guidelines...

New Yorkers tackle court reporter shortage.
August 17, 2006... Byline: Adina Genn (This article was originally published in Long Island Business News, another Dolan Media publication). Skilled talent is hard to find. Just ask Harriet Brenner and her business partner Ellen Birch, owners of...

Model court: Jackson County helps others help dads.
August 18, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A Jackson County court that helps men become better fathers has become a model for others across the country. The fathering court program, headed by Commissioner Robert Schieber in Division 43, addresses...

Employee sues in Circuit Court of St. Louis County for firing after opposing illegal act.
August 18, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication.) A former employee has sued a cardiovascular center in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, claiming supervisors...

St. Louis man seeks removal from state offender registry.
August 18, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication.) A man has asked the Circuit Court of St. Louis County to enter a judgment saying he is no longer required to...

Software engineer wins $5.1 million from Listserv in federal court.
August 18, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication.) A software engineer won a $5.1 million verdict in federal court in Greenbelt last week against...

Rare move by MN Court of Appeals keeps Japanese child with mother.
August 18, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones (This article was originally published in Minnesota Lawyer, Minneapolis, another Dolan Media publication.) The Minnesota Court of Appeals earlier this month issued a highly unusual emergency writ restraining...