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

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

Commentary: Notaries, different yet equal?
February 1, 2006... Byline: Christine Ann Hughes Recently one of the secretaries where I work asked me, "How do you become a Notary?" I told her to go to the Missouri Secretary of State's website (www.sos.mo.gov) and search for "notary." She did that and...

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules federal bank fraud statute does not apply to title companies.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, St. Louis, Mo., another Dolan Media publication). The federal bank fraud statute applies only when the victim is a bank. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

Litigation mounting over Guidant Corp.'s heart devices.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA., another Dolan Media publication). The first trial over Guidant Corp.'s flawed heart devices is slated to start next month in Texas. The...

U.S. Supreme Court rules disabled prisoners can sue under ADA.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA., another Dolan Media publication). Counties and states can be sued for damages by disabled prisoners under Title II of the Americans...

SLAPPing back: SLAPP countersuits are on the rise.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson In the legal world, even the word "SLAPP" is a term of art. SLAPP, or "strategic lawsuit against public participation," is the acronym used for cases filed with the intent of silencing defendants who are...

Commentary: "English-only" complaints on the rise.
February 2, 2006... Byline: John O. Cunningham As more and more employers hire workers who don't speak English or speak it only as a second language, workplace conflicts and consequent complaints about discrimination have dramatically increased. Some...

Boy hit by car found mostly at fault.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff A fourteen-year old boy and his parents were awarded $150,000 in damages against a school bus company after a jury trial in the City of St. Louis. On Nov. 25, 2002, Robert Zumwalt, aged 11 at the...

Commentary: A few swing keys to focus on.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Joe Rahnis This time of year, a lot of golfers begin to think about what they are going to do differently this year to improve their golf game. Too often golfers think this means completely retooling their swings to maximize...

Kansas City law firms announce staffing changes.
February 2, 2006... Byline: KC Daily Record Staff Bryant T. Lamer joined Spencer Fane Britt & Browne in the firm's Kansas City office. Lamer practices in the firm's litigation and dispute resolution group. Prior to joining the firm, Lamer practiced for five...

Overland Park, Kans. based-Ash Grove Cement Co. seals deal to increase supply to Pacific Northwest.
February 3, 2006... Byline: Libby Tucker (This article was originally published in the Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland, Ore., another Dolan Media publication.) The Pacific Northwest can expect a big boost to its cement supply this fall. Ash Grove...

Construction firms face 'minefields' on out-of-state projects.
February 3, 2006... Byline: Brian Johnson (This article was originally published in Finance and Commerce, Minneapolis, Minn., another Dolan Media publication.) Venturing into other states can be a good way to expand one's business, but construction...

Construction accident yields $32M verdict from Connecticut jury.
February 3, 2006... Byline: Natalie White (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, another Dolan Media publication.) In a precedent setting case, a Connecticut jury found an international construction company 100 percent liable for...

Commentary: The FAIR Act - too little, too late in helping asbestos victims.
February 3, 2006... Byline: Jeff Cooper This article was originally published in Missouri Lawyers Weekly, another Dolan Media publication. Asbestos is the most lethal substance ever widely used in the workplace. Between 1940 and 1979 over 27.5 million...

High court's orders leave lawyers, judges scrambling.
February 4, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber As Clarence Hill lay strapped to a gurney in Florida last week, intravenous lines connected and fatal chemicals ready to flow, the nation's highest court agreed to hear his case on how inmates may challenge lethal...

Supporting staff can be the key to building a law firm dream team.
February 4, 2006... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher Lawyers put a lot of time and effort into marketing, technology and other areas of their practice, but often give short shrift to the people who keep their firms running - their secretaries, assistants and...

Non-firm attorneys made up to $250K in '05.
February 4, 2006... Byline: Kennedy Smith Attorneys who didn't work at law firms earned a median annual salary of $100,000 in 2005, according to a recently released survey from the Illinois-based law firm Abbott, Langer & Associates Inc. The average 2005...

Commentary: Execs should learn from Ford's key mistakes.
February 4, 2006... Byline: Stuart Levine Like a lot of people, I find it easier to analyze someone else's challenges than my own. It's just easier to be objective when your own actions aren't in question. What's happening at Ford offers the perfect...

Western District Court of Appeals defines statutory employer relationship.
February 5, 2006... Byline: Denise G. Callahan The Western District Court of Appeals helped clarify what constitutes a statutory employer relationship in the context of personal injury lawsuits. The appellate division reversed and remanded the trial...

Experts offer tips for how lawyers can avoid fee disputes.
February 5, 2006... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh The best career advice Boston attorney Janet Kenton-Walker got some 20-odd years ago as a new attorney involved fees and shoes. A mentor told her that the most important discussion a lawyer has with a client is...

Legal dilemmas following hurricanes examined during midyear meeting.
February 5, 2006... Byline: KC Daily Record Staff New legal dilemmas brought on by hurricanes Katrina and Rita - ranging from government response to disasters, racial and ethnic equity for victims, and structural and environmental ramifications - are among...

Commentary: Use of real estate appraisals in business valuation.
February 5, 2006... Byline: Joel B. Charkatz Unlike owning shares of General Motors, Microsoft or Dell, the value of a closely held business at any particular point in time can't be determined by simply opening up the pages of that day's Wall Street Journal....

COA finds lack of evidence in child support award.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Denise G. Callahan The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District sent a child support dispute back to the trail court and ordered the court to look at issues it failed to address. A 2004 Platte County Circuit Court...

Attorneys General reach agreement on Internet cigarette sales.
February 6, 2006... Byline: NY Daily Record Staff Philip Morris has agreed to incorporate protocols aimed at combating the illegal sale of the company's cigarettes over the Internet and through the mails. The protocols are being adopted voluntarily by Philip...

Bankruptcy trustee may set aside preferential transfers to state agencies.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff A proceeding by a bankruptcy trustee to set aside preferential transfers by a debtor to state agencies is not barred by sovereign immunity, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. The debtor, a bookstore, did...

Study finds younger attorneys value personal time over longer hours.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Erin Suess For generations, attorneys willing to sacrifice their personal time advanced within their law firms, while lawyers who focused more on a work-life balance lagged behind. But all that is beginning to change as the face of...

Commentary: Two and a half market myths.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Allan Roth I wanted to wait a month or so to let all the gurus tell you what happened last year so I could set the record straight on myths that were created. Myth No. 1: 2005 was a bad year for the stock market. You've...

Commentary: Authors or heirs may be able to terminate transfer of copyright ownership.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Jim Astrachan This column is not sexy or funny, but it's really important if you represent older authors or the families of deceased authors. And even if you don't now, you may one day and when you do, you will need to know that...

U.S. Supreme Court rules Bivens suit not subject to FTCA judgment bar.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication.) A refusal to apply the Federal Tort Claims Act's judgment bar to a businesswoman's Bivens suit...

Commentary: Explain the bill with a cover letter.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken We are now talking about the last five areas that make up every business in the world, this fifth are is "collecting." The four other areas that make up every business in the world are: "Clients" or "customers";...

Federal dockets swelling with immigration appeals.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh (This article was originally published in Missouri Lawyers Weekly, St. Louis, MO, another Dolan Media publication.) An increasing number of immigration cases are being litigated at the circuit level - and many...

Conflict, Law and Media Center established at University of Missouri-Columbia.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Jill McDonnell (This article was originally published in Missouri Lawyers Weekly, St. Louis, MO, another Dolan Media publication.) For lawyers and journalists, understanding and managing conflict and its outcomes play a key...

Targeting the Health Savings Account market.
February 7, 2006... Byline: David Reich Hale (This article was originally published in Long Island Business News, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., another Dolan Media publication.) President George W. Bush claims to have found the cure to much of what ails the health...

Commentary: Leading the listener.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Paul Mark Sandler (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Md., another Dolan Media publication.) Anyone who has ever raised children knows that you prefer they adopt your rule rather than simply...

Commentary: MySpace.com: personal space, with risk.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Larry Fiorino (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Md., another Dolan Media publication.) With approximately 43 million users, MySpace.com represents one of the fastest growing online...

Study finds asbestos litigation costs on the rise for defendants.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, St. Louis, Mo., another Dolan Media publication. As the U.S. Senate takes up debate on a proposed asbestos relief fund, it may want to consider numbers...

Asset protection practices pick up in wake of new bankruptcy law.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Reni Gertner (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, another Dolan Media publication.) In the months since the new bankruptcy reform act became law, more physicians and other high net-worth professionals...

SBA launches online tool for women entrepreneurs.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Reni Gertner The U.S. Small Business Administration launched MY BIZ for Women, an online tool for finding business research and assistance for women entrepreneurs. The site, http://www.SBA.gov/ women, includes information on...

iMarketing: the latest techology in law firm marketing.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Tony Wright (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, another Dolan Media publication.) Just five years ago, if your firm didn't have a website you risked lagging behind your competitors as they...

9th Circuit rules police not liable under Sect. 1983 for mistaken parole search.
February 9, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff Police were immune from suit for a parole search of an apartment where they had an objectively reasonable, albeit mistaken, belief that the parolee still resided at that address, the en banc 9th Circuit has...

Assignment of survivor benefits invalid under ERISA.
February 9, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff A wife was entitled to survivor benefits under her husband's pension plans even though he had assigned them to his children from a former marriage under the terms of a divorce agreement, the 9th Circuit has...

How to decide whether and what to outsource.
February 9, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Just about anything can be outsourced. Human resource functions, computer services, accounting, sales, even your entire staff. But why hand it off to someone else? According to a survey by the Outsourcing...

Valentine's Day ideas don't come easy.
February 9, 2006... Byline: Jerry Shottenkirk If a buck really counts for something, we have almost 14 billion chances in which to get it right on Valentine's Day. In the 1800s, when Miss Esther Howland sent out the first recorded Valentine's Day cards,...

Commentary: Recent ruling reflects rigid retirement risk.
February 9, 2006... Byline: Marshall Tanick The largest occurrence of retirement in the workplace is on the precipice as the baby boomer generation is curtailing or withdrawing from employment. There are some 72 million of them, born between 1946 and...

Kansas City group seeks amendment to limit eminent domain.
February 10, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A Kansas City group committed to protecting property owners from eminent domain has submitted a ballot initiative to prevent government takings. Missourians in Charge, a group founded in response to the U.S...

MO Supreme Court finds earlier paternity ruling sufficient in nonsupport case.
February 10, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright A mother and her child do not have to hand over their DNA to buttress the state's criminal nonsupport charges against the legally declared father, the Missouri Supreme Court said last week. The court's decision...

OSHA unveils 2007 budget.
February 10, 2006... Byline: Sean Ryan President Bush's proposed 2007 Occupational Safety and Health Administration budget has the same goals as last year's: eliminate a training grant program, maintain enforcement and increase outreach. "I'm especially...

Realtors fearful as banks move into real estate development.
February 10, 2006... Byline: Jen DeGregorio Some real estate professionals have been raising eyebrows over recent federal decisions permitting banks to develop major real estate projects. Bank of America last year requested approval from the federal...

Full-service consulting firms ease process for developers.
February 10, 2006... Byline: Brian E. Siverling Too often, developers call on a host of separate sub-consultants and designers to shepherd them through the plan, design and approval process. Developers are likely to deal with a band of subcontractors that...

Student athlete's family settles suit against sports facility.
February 11, 2006... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The family of a 14-year-old student athlete settled its lawsuit against the girl's coach, her school and the gym where she was injured during basketball practice. The terms of the settlement were...

ABA Task Force on Hurricane Katrina pinpoints disaster response problems.
February 11, 2006... Byline: KC Daily Record Staff The devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina did not occur because laws were inadequate, found a report released Thursday by the American Bar Association. Rather, the responsibility lies with the failure...

Web site shines spotlight on eminent domain.
February 11, 2006... Byline: Bill Clements Need information about the use of eminent domain in the United States - or advice on how to fight its abuse? The Institute of Justice has just the Web site for you. The site comes compliments of the Castle...

Commentary: Beware of lax letters of intent.
February 11, 2006... Byline: Paul Mark Sandler Letters of intent are generally non-binding, but parties should never presume that this is true in every situation. Given that letters of intent have sometimes been found to create enforceable contracts, lawyers...

Definition of 'at the beginning' splits Appeals Court.
February 12, 2006... Byline: Denise G. Callahan An en banc panel of the Western District Court of Appeals became deeply divided while interpreting a document deadline in the child support statutes. The crux of Brenda D. Owsley f/k/a Brittain v. Clayton J....

How to choose a forensic accounting firm.
February 12, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Forensic accounting has come into the spotlight in recent years, in the wake of the shocking scandals at Enron and other large corporations, and the need to investigate money trails of terrorists. But for the most...

Date your boss, boost your career.
February 12, 2006... Byline: Kirby Lee Davis At first glance, the CareerBuilder.com headline sounded incredible: "25 percent of men say dating the boss helped boost the economy." While that was a misread, the actual headline proved only slightly less...

Commentary: Rules for hiring family members.
February 12, 2006... Byline: Gary Williams Many self-employed people want to hire family members to work for them. But as with many things in life, there's a right way and a wrong to do this. Doing it right can promote family togetherness. But it can also...

Missouri farm boy Lon Walters establishing himself as respected Kansas City attorney.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Lon Walters is wearing blue jeans. His blue, button-up shirt is untucked. And he hasn't shaved. Walters prefers the comfort of a casual look. It's a rare day that he's in a suit, he says as he sits back, relaxed...

Three bills would expand OSHA standards.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Adina Genn Business groups are praising three bills designed to expand workplace safety regulations, which they claim are currently burdensome, unclear and punitive. But labor groups say the bills would leave workers less...

Love in the numbers: Get your sweety a financial assessment.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Brian Brus Gazing deeply into her eyes, the CPA murmured to his love, "You have an exquisite asset-to-liability ratio." With a sigh, she fell into his arms. "Oh, sweetheart, you balance my books like no other man" The...

Plaintiffs strike out with battery suit against Cardinals.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff A St. Louis City jury sided with the St. Louis Cardinals against a woman who claimed security at a baseball game in 2002 punched her with her 7-year-old son on her lap. The plaintiffs, Michelle...

Commentary: AOL and Yahoo to charge for spam-filter bypass, Goodmail.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Larry Fiorino Companies that want to ensure that their e-mails are being received by AOL and Yahoo e-mail users will have a new service available to them soon. AOL and Yahoo say that spam and worries about online scams have...

Commentary: Is your budget a boring task master or an exciting master plan?
February 13, 2006... Byline: Satish B. Parekh Every New Year comes with accounting nightmares of looking back and looking ahead. The centerpiece of this drama is the battle of the operating budget. By definition, an operating budget is a "list of all...

Medicaid changes to turn estate planning on its head.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication.) Buried in the 750-page federal budget law is a bombshell for lawyers who practice elder law and estate...

Rep. Tom Dempsey says Missouri's definition of blight will tighten.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Mike Trask (This article was originally published in the St. Charles County Business Record, St. Charles, Mo., another Dolan Media publication.) State legislators this year will narrow the law's definition of property blight,...

8th Circuit rules debt collector not liable under Fair Debt Act.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication.) A debt collector who was not notified that a medical bill was disputed for 18 months cannot be...

Commentary: Communicate, communicate, communicate.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken We have been talking about the last five areas that make up every business in the world, this fifth are is "collecting." The four other areas that make up every business in the world are: "Clients" or "customers";...

Commentary: 8th Circuit considers a couple of contract cases.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Marshall Tanick (This article was originally published in Minnesota Lawyer, Minneapolis, Minn., another Dolan Media publication.) The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rarely hears contract cases. Generally, litigation...

The ties that bind: Prenuptial agreements not just for the wealthy.
February 15, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, St. Louis, Mo., another Dolan Media publication.) Valentine's Day brings in a rush for the florists, confectioners and card makers, but it can also make...

$185M settlement mandates public access to drug trials.
February 15, 2006... Byline: Natalie White (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, another Dolan Media publication.) In a massive settlement that includes groundbreaking disclosure rules for clinical trial information, one of the...

Lawsuits against gun manufacturers under fire from federal budget rider.
February 15, 2006... Byline: Nora A. Jones (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, another Dolan Media publication.) A provision barring the use of federal gun trace data in civil lawsuits could derail a number of lawsuits against gun...

Commentary: Saving needn't mean pinching your pennies.
February 15, 2006... Byline: Dena Frenkel (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Md., another Dolan Media publication.) Following are seven tips to help you save money by smart banking, 401(k)'s, taxes, mortgages and...

Prescription drug labeling rule asserts federal preemption.
February 16, 2006... Byline: Reni Gertner The new prescription drug labeling rule from the Food and Drug Administration asserts that if a label meets the agency's requirements, state law failure-to-warn suits over the drug's risks are preempted - but...

Employers, workers struggle with pregnancy discrimination.
February 16, 2006... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson Pregnancy discrimination is a continuing problem for women in the workplace, according to both employment attorneys and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's statistics. The reasons for this...

There is no recovery for emotional distress under FMLA.
February 16, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff Emotional distress damages are not recoverable under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the 8th Circuit has ruled. The plaintiff worked as an administrative analyst at a city fire department. She applied...

Commentary: Lessons I've learned about fraud.
February 16, 2006... Byline: Tracy Coenen For almost 12 years, I've been performing a variety of investigations. They have ranged from petty theft and street crimes, to tax fraud and big-time white collar crime. I've learned many things from both the...

Company awarded $189,000 in TIF dispute.
February 16, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A jury ruled in favor of a Kansas City company in its lawsuit against a realty company that withheld a TIF payment. KNC Realty Inc. must pay $189,000 to Belger Cartage Service Inc., which relocated to Troost...

Injured tree trimmer awarded $3.8 million.
February 16, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A Butler, Mo., man injured while trimming trees four years ago was awarded $3.8 million by a Jackson County jury. The jury determined that MTI Insulated Products Inc. of Westminster, Co., and Drake-Scruggs...

The five biggest marketing mistakes law firms make.
February 18, 2006... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher Each year, law firms start out with the best of marketing intentions. But too often, they're tripped up by common mistakes. Whether it's wasting money on the wrong marketing events or hamstringing their...

7th Circuit rules speakerphone 'appearance' by lawyer violates Sixth Amendment.
February 18, 2006... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff A criminal defendant's right to counsel was violated where his lawyer "appeared" at a plea hearing via speakerphone, the 7th Circuit has ruled. The defendant had been charged with first degree...

ABA nominates new leadership.
February 18, 2006... Byline: KC Daily Record Staff The American Bar Association announced that Seattle lawyer William H. Neukom, chair of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP in Seattle, has been nominated to become president-elect of the American Bar Association. The...

Commentary: Warrantless electronic surveillance under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
February 18, 2006... Byline: Christopher J. Hunter The Senate Judiciary Committee opened a hearing Feb. 6 inquiring into reports of electronic surveillance allegedly done in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. Sections 1801 et...

Landlord not liable for accidental shooting of child.
February 19, 2006... Byline: Joy Simmons A landlord was not liable for the accidental shooting death of a nine-year-old child, an appellate court ruled, finding that the landlord did not owe a duty to protect the child from dangerous conditions on the property...

7th Circuit says legal theories need not be stated in discrimination complaint.
February 19, 2006... Byline: David Ziemer The Seventh Circuit held on Feb. 10 that, to state a claim for relief, a complaint alleging employment discrimination need not allege facts corresponding to each element of a prima facie case. Christopher Kolupa...

How to choose a public relations firm.
February 19, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Before you shop for a public relations agency, ask yourself why you need one in the first place. Do you want the agency's help with a one-time project or for long-term strategic planning? Are you looking to...