Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) articles from January 2009

Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) archives from January 2009

Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association president seeks 'portal' for underserved.
January 1, 2009... Byline: David Knopf The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association's 5,000 members can expect a year of activism from its new president, Rebbecca Lake Wood. Wood, who as Jackson County's public administrator represents the county's mentally...

In case you missed it: Some worthy legal events of 2008.
January 2, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck Every year sees more notable legal stories than can fit into a Top 10 list. Here are some of the other worthy events of 2008 -- some of which will still be creating news in 2009 and beyond. New federal judges ...

Acting administrator named to Kansas City Municipal Court.
January 2, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Anthony L. Miller is the acting court administrator for the Kansas City Municipal Court, starting today. Miller replaces Bernard Schneider, who retired after more than 26 years with the court. City Manager Wayne...

Missouri appeals court upholds DWI conviction despite unlawful arrest.
January 2, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A Missouri appeals court upheld a Cape Girardeau man's conviction for drunken driving and assaulting a police officer despite finding that his arrest was unlawful. The Eastern District appellate court said police did...

Betonsports founder seeks release from pretrial detention.
January 2, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Betonsports founder Gary Kaplan is looking for a Get Out of Jail Free card from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- at least until he can be tried on federal racketeering, conspiracy and fraud charges. On Tuesday,...

Correction.(Correction notice)
January 2, 2009... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record The Dec. 22 article Undisclosed test results offer thorny problem erroneously reported that plaintiff Linda Budrovich said she was told she would be contacted if a scan had detected any masses. She...

Commentary: SCOTUSWiki.com is awesome.
January 5, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier It's rare that I will endorse anything with this column, but I think I have to share a find with Daily Record readers. SCOTUSWiki.com is awesome. The SCOTUS stands for Supreme Court of the United States, and evidently...

Hot or not? What Missouri lawyers expect to be up, down legal areas in 2009.
January 5, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter 2009 is expected to be a tough year for law firms. The economic turbulence brought on by the credit crisis caused corporations to tighten their belts, leading to less work for lawyers in such traditional corporate...

Missouri law firms to increase focus on value, strategy.
January 5, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter One all-too-familiar story in 2008 was of law firms reducing their ranks to cut expenses. Since the year-old economic recession began last December, law firms reliant on traditional corporate practices have...

Attorney objects to settlement of Missouri governor's e-mail lawsuit.
January 5, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese An attorney for special investigators is officially objecting to settlement of the state lawsuit against Gov. Matt Blunt's office over public records. What effect that objection will have remains unclear. A hearing on...

Gov. Blunt picks 3 for judicial commissions.
January 5, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck and Kelly Wiese Gov. Matt Blunt, never the biggest fan of the Nonpartisan Court Plan, made three appointments on Friday that will ensure he has an influence on the process for the next few years. In two of the cases,...

Students sue college in Missouri for fraud.
January 6, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A lawsuit has been filed against Sanford Brown College, alleging that the institution fraudulently misrepresented its educational offerings. The five-plaintiff lawsuit is the second one filed in St. Louis County, but...

Fight against Kansas City's smoking ban suffers setback.
January 6, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Kansas City's smoking ban has again withstood challenges that seek to strike it down. Two judges on Monday denied motions filed by a pair of bartenders fighting citations they received from the city's health...

Drugmakers not liable for meth production, societal ills, rules 8th Circuit.
January 6, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Drugmakers who manufacture cold medicine containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine cannot be held liable for the societal ills that accompany the production and use of methamphetamine, a federal appeals court said...

Acquittal hearing nears for 'cyber-bullying mom'.
January 6, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The so-called cyber-bullying mom could learn her fate as early as this week. A hearing on Lori Drew's motion for acquittal is scheduled for Thursday morning, and Judge George H. Wu has told the lawyers involved in the...

Cole County Circuit judge signs off on e-mail settlement in dispute over Missouri government records.
January 6, 2009... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record A circuit judge signed off Monday on a settlement reached between court-appointed attorneys and those for Gov. Matt Blunt in a long-running dispute over government records. An attorney for special...

Company sues Missouri over e-filing plan.
January 7, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick A legal-news provider is suing to prevent a proposed state-wide electronic case filing system from being managed by a private contractor. In the federal lawsuit filed on Monday, California-based Courthouse News...

Bryan Cave lawyer to run Missouri Department of Economic Development.
January 7, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese Gov.-elect Jay Nixon has tapped Bryan Cave partner Linda Martinez to run the state Department of Economic Development. Martinez's legal practice has focused on development and related incentives at the local, state and...

Legal malpractice suit filed against Missouri law firm over prenup.
January 7, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The Kaiser Law Firm is facing a legal malpractice suit filed by a man who alleges the firm's negligence and carelessness in drafting his prenuptial agreement cost him over $500,000 in his subsequent divorce. Ken...

Assistant U.S. attorney to be picked for Missouri judgeship.
January 7, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Joel May will be Gov. Matt Blunt's final judicial appointment. Blunt, who leaves office on Monday, selected May, an assistant U.S. attorney, for the Jackson County Circuit bench late Tuesday afternoon, according to...

Changes coming to 16th Circuit.
January 8, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Joel May will be Gov. Matt Blunt's final judicial appointment. Blunt, who leaves office on Monday, selected May, an assistant U.S. attorney, for the Jackson County Circuit bench late Tuesday afternoon. He formally...

Donnelly to lead Missouri state health agency: Other lawyers tapped for AG's office.
January 8, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese Outgoing state Rep. Margaret Donnelly has been chosen as the next director of the state health department. Donnelly narrowly lost the Democratic primary for attorney general to Chris Koster. On Wednesday, Gov.-elect...

Missouri Supreme Court hears signed ball controversy.
January 8, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The state's disciplinary counsel is asking the Missouri Supreme Court for a stiffer penalty for a St. Charles County attorney who lied to federal investigators about his role in an unusual case involving a client...

Missouri Supreme Court: Death penalty appeal focuses on juror selection, retention.
January 8, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The way jurors were selected and retained was the focus of a death penalty appeal Wednesday at the Missouri Supreme Court for a Kirkwood man who shot and killed a police officer. Kevin Johnson was sentenced to death...

St. Louis attorneys sued for malpractice over $27M case.
January 8, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Coin Acceptors Inc., a St. Louis-based company ordered to pay nearly $27 million in a patent infringement case, filed a legal malpractice lawsuit against two St. Louis law firms and the two lawyers who handled the...

U.S. Sen. Bond of Missouri to retire: Speculation begins as to his replacement in 2010.
January 9, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese and Jason Rosenbaum U.S. Sen. Kit Bond will not seek re-election when his seat is up again in 2010. Bond, a Republican, was first elected a senator in 1986 and has been re-elected three times. Bond shared the news in a...

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Wolff asks Obama to rethink sentencing rules.
January 9, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Missouri Supreme Court Judge Michael A. Wolff and the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court have asked President-elect Barack Obama to work toward a major change in state and federal sentencing practices. The...

'Cookie' Thornton's family in Missouri remains mired in lawsuits.
January 9, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The legal troubles that apparently led Charles Lee Cookie Thornton to go on a shooting rampage at Kirkwood City Hall last year continue for his family. Thornton was killed by police officers on Feb. 7 after he shot and...

Fate of Missouri woman convicted of fraud for MySpace hoax still up in the air.
January 9, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Lawyers for the O'Fallon woman convicted of misdemeanor computer fraud for a MySpace hoax that led to the suicide of a 13-year-old girl asked a Los Angeles federal judge Thursday to overturn her convictions. On...

Class action lawsuit filed in St. Louis County Court alleges extra dosage in medication.
January 9, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A class action suit against Ethex Corp. was filed on Wednesday in St. Louis County Court, alleging that the company's pharmaceutical tablets contained a larger dose than listed on the label. Howard Fox, the named...

Westboro group sues St. Joseph: City's funeral protest ban mirrors state law.
January 12, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of the founder of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., sued the city of St. Joseph last week over a city ordinance barring protests around funerals and funeral processions....

A day off for Missouri court staff for governor's inauguration? Not this year.
January 12, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley While many of the state's court staff might have hoped to have the day off for Gov.-elect Jay Nixon's swearing-in, only those lucky enough to be working in Jefferson City are not in their offices today. It has been...

Renowned surgeon takes Washington University to trial in St. Louis Circuit Court.
January 12, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A world-renowned surgeon's age discrimination lawsuit against Washington University is set to go to trial Tuesday in St. Louis Circuit Court. Dr. Joel Cooper, who is credited with successfully performing the first lung...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: January 12, 2009.
January 12, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick An unusual series of events that ended with a woman's death in Texas has two Kansas City bars, an airline and others facing a lawsuit in Jackson County. The family of a Florida woman claimed several defendants let a...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: January 12, 2009.
January 12, 2009... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Shaw leaves appeals court for Thompson Coburn Eastern District Judge Booker Shaw is joining the exodus from the Court of Appeals. After 25 years as a judge, Shaw will retire in February to become...

Commentary: Nobody likes jail cuisine, but still...
January 12, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier Last Wednesday afternoon a sheriff in a small Alabama town went to jail. He didn't go there for breaking Alabama law. Instead, Sheriff Greg Bartlett was placed in his own jail after prisoners there testified in a...

Kansas City immigration court hopes to trim backlog.
January 13, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Though it's been open for about three months, a new immigration court in Kansas City won't get its first judge until March. But once veteran Jackson County Circuit Judge John O'Malley joins the U.S. Immigration...

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Missouri Public Service Commission case.
January 13, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The U.S. Supreme Court won't review a dispute between the Missouri Public Service Commission and Southwestern Bell Telephone over the authority of the commission to enforce a provision of the Telecommunications Act of...

Arbitration agreement covers former supervisor, rules federal appeals court in Missouri.
January 13, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A former H&R Block supervisor facing an employment discrimination lawsuit has the right to arbitrate the claims filed against him, a federal appeals court said Monday. Jodi Finnie, a black female, was hired as a...

Arbitration clauses can't stop wrongful death suits, rules Missouri Supreme Court.
January 14, 2009... Byline: Allison Retka The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday strengthened the legal claims of the surviving children of residents who die in nursing homes. In two separate opinions, the high court ruled that the children of two residents...

Missouri Supreme Court rules law changes violate ADA.
January 14, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese A woman with both physical and mental disabilities is due services under a state program, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, finding a 2005 change in the eligibility standard violates federal anti-discrimination laws. A...

Striking nurses entitled to unemployment benefits, rules Missouri Supreme Court.
January 14, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A six-week strike by nurses at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur ended in 2005, but the nurses just learned they won't have to pay back the unemployment benefits they received during the strike. The...

City not immune in suit over boy's death, rules Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.
January 14, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick The dismissal of a wrongful death suit over a boy's drowning near a Kansas City school was reversed by an appellate court on Tuesday. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District ruled the parents of Christopher...

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon says no to threshold for public defender cases.
January 14, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday reacted negatively to a legislative proposal allowing the state's Public Defender Commission to establish a maximum case threshold. In his first news conference since he was sworn in as...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District resignations now official.
January 15, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District on Wednesday formally announced the resignations of three of its judges. Judges Paul Spinden and Ron Holliger leave the court this week, and Judge Joseph Dandurand will...

Kansas City, Jackson County to team up on jail: Inmates could be temporarily housed at courthouse.
January 15, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck Twenty-five years after they were mothballed, four floors of the Jackson County Courthouse might again house inmates, if only temporarily. Jackson County and Kansas City officials said Wednesday that they plan to...

Constructive discharge not a Mo. Human Rights Act claim, rules Mo. Supreme Court.
January 15, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Lawyers for a man who sued the Missouri Athletic Club for Missouri Human Right Act violations are entitled to $22,000 in attorney fees -- not the $170,000 they sought -- because the plaintiff didn't win on those...

Juvenile court offices denied use of county retirement fund by Missouri Supreme Court.
January 15, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The Missouri Supreme Court rejected a bid by a group of juvenile court officers in Jefferson County to enter into a retirement fund for county employees. Several juvenile court officers challenged a state statute...

8th Circuit rejects 'unusually lenient sentence'.
January 15, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Ten years in prison is not enough for a woman who restrained her 9-year-old daughter to allow a child predator to molest her, a federal appeals court said Wednesday. It marked the third time the 8th U.S. Circuit Court...

Commentary: Keep those organizational skills sharp.
January 15, 2009... Byline: Christine Hughes A perusal of current want ads will suggest that strong computer skills is a priority when it comes to qualifications for a legal secretary. But organizational skills are still mentioned more than once when...

Ex-St. Louis Ram sues to force NFL to pay benefits: Says team failed to disclose kidney disease.
January 16, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A former St. Louis Rams defensive tackle is suing the National Football League's player retirement plan for failing to pay disability benefits and accusing the team of knowingly aggravating his kidney disease by giving...

St. Louis Spirits owners sue NBA over TV revenues.
January 16, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter The National Basketball Association and four old expansion teams are violating the terms of a 32-year-old agreement by not paying the owners of the St. Louis Spirits the television revenues the club is entitled to,...

Discrimination trial against Washington University begins in St. Louis Circuit Court.
January 16, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Opening arguments began Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court in an age-discrimination case by the Father of the Lung Transplant against Washington University. Dr. Joel Cooper, who is credited with successfully...

Technology to play role in Stephen Nixon's presiding judgeship of the 16th Circuit.
January 19, 2009... Byline: David Knopf Peggy Stevens McGraw, former presiding judge of the 16th Circuit, knows the nature of work that will occupy Stephen Nixon, her successor. I sign a lot of things, McGraw said, making light of the position's...

Stats reveal fewer trials; need for more judges in Jackson County, Missouri.
January 19, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick In what has become a trend over the past several years, Jackson County Circuit judges are spending less time presiding over trials. But that doesn't mean there isn't enough work to go around, as those same numbers...

Commentary: Who's flying the economy's plane?
January 19, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier I am hoping the plane that crashed into the Hudson River last week will be a good metaphor for our economy. The engines die. The whole thing is going to go down whether we like it or not, and a calm, patient, Cool Hand...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: January 20, 2009.
January 20, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick An Overland Park gun shop faces more lawsuits for allegedly selling items used in a deadly shooting at the Ward Parkway Center in 2007. The Bullet Hole, which was first sued in December by a mother whose son was...

Doctor testifies about his leaving Washington University in Saint Louis.
January 20, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley A world renowned lung surgeon continued his testimony Friday in his age discrimination case against Washington University and his former supervisor, claiming the university took away control of his division and reduced...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District: Wrongful firing case remanded for new trial.
January 21, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A woman who won a $125,000 verdict against her former employer for retaliatory discharge will have to go back to court to prove her cooperation with a federal investigation into the company's overtime practices was the...

When 'shammy' goes on trial, dictionaries fail: Mo. Court of Appeals W. District vacates conviction.
January 21, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Clearly William Heather wasn't referring to the super absorbent reusable cleaning cloth when he left hostile messages on a woman's phone more than two years ago. What isn't clear is exactly what Heather meant when...

St. Louis inflatable buildings company broadens litigation over Russian sports domes.
January 21, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole A St. Louis inflatable buildings company that won a nearly $17 million arbitration award against a client now is targeting a competitor over a contract for sports domes in Russia. Arizon filed a lawsuit Jan. 5 in...

Historic Kansas City hotel sues over obscene sheetrock.
January 22, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick A historic Kansas City hotel is blaming a local construction company for graphic markings that have appeared in a number of rooms over the past several years. Since the Hotel Phillips opened in 2001, according to a...

Missouri Supreme Court to hear case of unusual vehicle loss.
January 22, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese The Missouri Supreme Court is set to consider which types of damages are allowed when an unusual company vehicle is involved in a wreck. The court today will hear oral arguments in the case of Gateway Foam Insulators....

Racial discrimination suit revived by 8th Circuit.
January 22, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal appeals court said five St. Louis County employees can pursue their racial discrimination lawsuit against the county. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday the federal trial court was wrong to...

During testimony in St. Louis Circuit Court, lung surgeon admits to operational deficits.
January 22, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Dr. Joel Cooper, the famous lung surgeon who is suing Washington University, admitted on cross-examination to making transfers of foundation funds to offset an operational deficit in his division. My running of the...

Missouri Supreme Court rehears lethal injection challenge.
January 23, 2009... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The Missouri Supreme Court reheard a case on Thursday challenging protocols involved in executing inmates convicted of capital offenses. After a federal judge halted executions in 2006, the Department of Corrections...

Whose decision counts? Kansas City Police Board or hearing officer?
January 23, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick The Kansas City Police Board of Commissioners says the decision to fire a police officer ultimately rests with its members. But an officer terminated by the commissioners for alleged use of excessive force contends...

Missouri property rights group renews efforts to curb eminent domain.
January 23, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter Missouri Citizens for Property Rights has received the go-ahead from Secretary of State Robin Carnahan to begin circulating petitions for amendments that would eliminate the use of eminent domain for private...

Missouri Senate bill would ban red-light cameras.
January 23, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley As part of the continued efforts against red-light cameras, state Sen. Jim Lembke introduced a bill Wednesday to prohibit cities from using the cameras to enforce traffic violations. The St. Louis County Republican...

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster names heads of litigation, ag divisions.
January 23, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Attorney General Chris Koster recruited two long-time litigators to take top positions in his office. St. Louis attorney Joel Poole will serve as chief counsel of the litigation division, and Jack McManus, a member...

Accountant, former Kansas attorney sentenced for wire fraud by U.S. District judge.
January 23, 2009... Byline: The Daily Record Staff Report A disbarred Kansas attorney received a prison sentence on Thursday for a scheme to steal from a business client. Christopher Lucas, who ran his own tax-preparation and accounting firm, admitted last...

A bit too eager to win: Criminal complaint could derail a pending civil lawsuit in Kansas City.
January 26, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck It's always nice to win a civil lawsuit. But the measures two women in Kansas City allegedly took to tip the balance in their favor are now the subject of a federal criminal investigation. In an affidavit released last...

Videoconferencing makes debut in 16th Circuit.
January 26, 2009... Byline: David Knopf The Jackson County Circuit Court's new Polycom video-conferencing system passed its maiden voyage with flying colors, judges in Kansas City and Independence say. The system enabled around 10 members of the circuit...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: January 26, 2009.
January 26, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick Credit score damage costs bank $171K A small but wrongly applied credit card fee dinged a man's credit score so badly that it cost him tens of thousands of dollars when he bought a house. Now the bank that...

Husch Blackwell combines offices in Clayton.
January 26, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Husch Blackwell Sanders' combination of its St. Louis offices will be swift. The firm will move 184 attorneys and staff from its downtown St. Louis office to 210,000 square feet in The Plaza in Clayton office building...

Commentary: Juvenile courts need our time.
January 26, 2009... Byline: Craig Napier I got into this whole lawyer thing after a stint as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in Greene County, Ohio. I was also covering the courts and county government for the Xenia Daily Gazette there and got to know the...

Lake of gas yields $19.5M settlement: Missouri firms aid in Illinois case.
January 27, 2009... Byline: Heather Cole Five Missouri plaintiffs' firms, including two in Kansas City, and an Illinois firm nailed down a $19.5 million settlement in a class action lawsuit over an underground gasoline lake in Hartford, Ill. Madison County,...

Guardian ad litem fees limited in some cases, rules Mo. Court of Appeals, Eastern District.
January 27, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley Money can be a concern for anyone intending to go to court, but an appeals court decision lessens that worry for anyone seeking an order of protection for their child. Most times when we're filing an adult or a child...

Longer sentence not justified by defendant's misconduct, rules 8th Circuit.
January 27, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter A federal judge in St. Louis didn't have the right to double the sentence imposed on the owner of a payroll services company, despite what the judge characterized as fraud on the court. On Monday, the 8th U.S. Circuit...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District rules man can get Schoemehl benefits.
January 28, 2009... Byline: Scott Lauck A state appeals court said a man can receive his wife's disability benefits for the rest of his life, despite the state Legislature's explicit rejection of a Missouri Supreme Court decision allowing such payments. The...

Jackson County jury awards husband $530K over staple left in wife.
January 28, 2009... Byline: Charles Emerick A doctor accused of not removing a staple that prevented the flow of urine from a woman's kidney was ordered to pay more than $530,000 by a Jackson County jury. The verdict, returned Monday afternoon, was awarded to...

Legal document company accused of practicing law: Suit filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court.
January 28, 2009... Byline: Kelly Wiese Two clients of a legal document preparation company are now suing it, claiming We The People is practicing law without a license. St. Louis attorney Neil Smith, of the Smith Law Firm, filed suit last week in St. Louis...

Missouri Supreme Court divides over prior offender status.
January 28, 2009... Byline: Donna Walter State law requires prosecutors to plead and prove a defendant is a prior offender before the case is submitted to the jury, a deeply divided Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday. For Michael Teer, the decision means 16...

Missouri Supreme Court suspends lawyer over signed baseball controversy.
January 28, 2009... Byline: Angela Riley The Missouri Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended the license of a St. Charles County attorney who allegedly offered an autographed baseball to prosecutors in an attempt to reduce his client's sentence. On...