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

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

Online options bring employee handbooks up to technology.
July 1, 2006... Byline: Claude Solnik New Astoria Federal Savings employees have long received hard copies of the company handbook at their orientation session. Soon, riding the technological wave, Astoria will offer the must-read manuals on desktops as...

Online options bring employee handbooks up to technology.
July 1, 2006... Byline: Claude Solnik

Hiring bias lawsuit survives challenge from sheriff's office.
July 1, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber A black woman may continue with her federal race and gender discrimination lawsuit against the Charles County (Md.) Sheriff's Office, a magistrate judge has ruled. In an unpublished opinion released last week, U.S....

Oklahoma's '11th Commandment' takes blow.
July 1, 2006... Byline: Janice Francis-Smith Though Republican leaders have been trying to get their candidates to be nice to one another during the primary season, things are heating up between the contenders for some of Oklahoma's high-profile offices....

Lawyers: Insanity defense is 'difficult road'.
July 2, 2006... Byline: David Frank When lawyers for Esteban Carpio announced that they would pursue an insanity defense in front of a jury in their client's first-degree murder trial, attorneys in Rhode Island questioned the wisdom of that decision from...

Lawyers: Insanity defense is 'difficult road'.
July 2, 2006... Byline: David Frank

How to ... recruit the best talent.
July 2, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Recruiting the best talent requires a multipronged approach. In addition to going out and finding qualified applicants, you should inspire them to come find you, too. Branding your company as a great place to...

Game makers file suit against Oklahoma.
July 2, 2006... Byline: Jerry Shottenkirk The computer and video game industry last month filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma regarding the video game law that was put into place three weeks ago. Gov. Brad Henry signed legislation that restricts video...

Oral modification of 'option contract' enforceable.
July 2, 2006... Byline: David Frank A buyer in a real-estate transaction was entitled to enforce a written "option contract" in which the parties had orally agreed to extend the deadline for performance, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled. The...

Class action suit against Bausch & Lomb makes way to Kansas City.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick The maker of a contact lens solution faces a class action suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The complaint filed by Michael A. Schneider of Kansas City claims that Bausch...

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District elects Victor C. Howard chief judge.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Judge Victor C. Howard begins his two-year term today as chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District. Howard was recently elected by the court's panel of 11 judges. He replaced Edwin Smith as...

New York Court of Appeals opts to remove judge after she helped defendant avoid arrest.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Helen Nguyen In a case in which a judge helped a defendant avoid being arrested, a New York Court of Appeals ordered that the judge be removed from office. The state's highest court concluded Laura D. Blackburne, a justice of...

U.S. Supreme Court to hear CO2 case backed by Baltimore.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley could benefit from last week's decision by the Supreme Court to hear a case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from motor...

NYC firm wins World Trade Center insurer defense.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Jeremy Harrell The destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001 has produced a tangle of disputes over who owes money for what, and at the center of the complex insurance litigation is Long Island's largest law firm, Rivkin...

Massachusetts Court: Suspect's wife must testify at grand jury.
July 4, 2006... Byline: Eric Berkman (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication.) A murder suspect's wife could not invoke spousal privilege to avoid testifying in a grand jury...

Professional actors portray witnesses in real trials.
July 4, 2006... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication.) For his role as an unsavory accountant, actor Greg Durkin donned a tan sports coat and brown...

Jewish lawyer wins $1,500 for ethnic harassment.
July 4, 2006... Byline: Paul Fletcher (This article was originally published in Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Richmond, Va., another Dolan Media publication.) A Jewish lawyer from Vienna, Va., won a $1,500 verdict against a man who told him he was sorry...

Minnesota bar group examines civil Gideon.
July 4, 2006... Byline: Michael Krieger (This article was originally published in Minnesota Lawyer, Minneapolis, another Dolan Media publication.) California Court of Appeals Justice Earl Johnson Jr. has done a fair amount of traveling in his time and...

Commentary: This optimist always uses plan one of three.
July 4, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken This week's Wirken Quote is: "Murphy's Law, O'Connor's Comment and O'Toole's Observation." Every time I think about the above quote I smile. This is one of the more fun quotes that I speak about in a lot of the...

Young Kansas City attorneys learn from veteran attorneys about the real world of law.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Throughout his career Sly James has used techniques he learned as a young associate more than 20 years ago. The groundwork that led to his career today began at Blackwell Sanders Matheny Weary & Lombardi in...

Massachusetts courts request more help amid rise in violence.
July 5, 2006... Byline: David Frank (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication.) Judges and lawyers say additional court officers and surveillance cameras are needed to combat an...

Minnesota law helps ease sting of eminent domain.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Mark Anderson (This article was originally published in Finance and Commerce, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication.) The Minnesota Legislature's final version of its new eminent-domain law gives most cities the...

Wisconsin court rules against Department of Transportation in land condemnation case.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Paul Snyder (This article was originally published in The Daily Reporter, Minneapolis, MN, another Dolan Media publication.) Wisconsin's eminent domain laws gained some new conditions when the state Supreme Court upheld a...

U.S. COA, 8th Circuit rules insurer required to pay for harassment settlement.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). An insurance company must cover the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund for a settlement with a woman who...

Insurer required to pay for harassment settlement.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Donna Walter

MD COSA rules travel time isn't work time until it exceeds normal commute.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD., another Dolan Media publication). A state employee who was sent to work at a remote site should be compensated for travel time beyond her...

U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th District of WI dismisses Cape's antitrust case.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Paul Snyder (This article was originally published in The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th District last week dismissed a bid-rigging case that James Cape &...

No drugs found in truck; police can't detain 'dealer,' rules RI Supreme Court.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Eric Berkman (This article was originally published in Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly, Providence, another Dolan Media publication). Once police searched a suspected cocaine dealer's truck during a traffic stop and found no...

Leawood attorney runs 12 marathons in 12 months.
July 7, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Steve Gorny runs in the Mercedes Marathon on Feb. 12 in Birmingham, Ala. He will run 12 marathons in 12 months to raise $12,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It will cover 314.4 miles in a dozen states with...

Attorneys question unanimous jury verdict in St. Louis County.
July 7, 2006... Byline: Allison Retka (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). Deliberating for four hours without a lunch break, a St. Louis County jury returned a unanimous verdict to a...

Oklahoma Supreme Court upholds law on punitive damage awards.
July 7, 2006... Byline: Janice Francis-Smith (This article was originally published in Journal Record Legislative Report, Oklahoma City, another Dolan Media publication). The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld state law regarding punitive...

Dispute brews among Baltimore jury workers.
July 7, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, another Dolan Media publication). Nine of the 10 employees of Baltimore City Circuit Court's Jury Division have filed grievances and...

Leawood attorney at halfway point in marathon runs for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
July 7, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Steve Gorny has reached the halfway point. Only 157.2 miles remain in his journey. And on Sunday with a little more good luck, he will knock off 26.2 more miles in Seattle. Gorny began a campaign called...

Maryland appeals court reverses victory for law firm's landlord.
July 8, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Md., another Dolan Media publication.) The landlord of a Prince George's County, Md., law firm was not entitled to summary judgment...

Maryland Tax Court approves cell phone fee, calling it excise, not sales tax.
July 8, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, Md., another Dolan Media publication.) A Maryland Tax Court judge has upheld a controversial cell phone tax imposed by Baltimore and...

Wisconsin considers suing defunct construction company employer.
July 8, 2006... Byline: Sean Ryan (This article was originally published in The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee, Wisc., another Dolan Media publication.) Wisconsin is gearing up to sue a defunct construction company after it missed a May 20 deadline to pay...

Petition group official in Oklahoma defends circulators.
July 8, 2006... Byline: Marie Price This article was originally published in Journal Record Legislative Report, Oklahoma City, Okla., another Dolan Media publication.) The president of the national firm that operated the recent Taxpayer Bill of Rights...

Life sentence not cruel, unusual, Maryland court rules.
July 9, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale The life sentence that a Prince George's County, Md., man received for holding his ex-girlfriend against her will after beating her does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment as the sentence was reduced to...

Life sentence not cruel, unusual, Maryland court rules.
July 9, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale

Ironworkers, apprentice settle discrimination suit in Milwaukee County Court against union.
July 9, 2006... Byline: Sean Ryan The Ironworkers Local 8 in Wisconsin worked out an amicable resolution in May with a former apprentice who sued the union for racial discrimination in October. Ricky Jones, who is black, was an apprentice in the...

How to ... select a managed services provider.
July 9, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Many companies find it makes good business sense to outsource one or more areas of their operation to third parties. Outsourcing is especially popular in information technology. A company may farm out one or...

Maryland court: Man could cancel installment contract.
July 9, 2006... Byline: Ann Parks An agreement between a brother and a sister to purchase a home was a land installment contract - meaning that under Maryland law, the brother had a right to cancel the deal and receive a refund of the payments he made,...

Trial set to start this week in Truman discrimination case.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A discrimination case against Truman Medical Centers could go to trial this week at the Jackson County Courthouse. Tiffany Steffee of Oak Grove alleged that while she was employed at the Lakewood location a...

Boy, health department settle on $43.1 million.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A 7-year-old boy received $43.1 million in a settlement for a vaccine that rendered him a quadriplegic. The settlement, which will be paid through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, is thought to...

Kansas City's largest firm to relocate Overland Park office to Crown Center.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Kansas City's largest law firm has announced that it is closing its Overland Park office. Shook, Hardy & Bacon will move its 16 lawyers and 29 support staff employees to its headquarters in Crown Center from its...

Oklahoma attorney builds chain of virtual offices.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Kirby Lee Davis A decade ago Kent Morlan created his vision of a virtual legal office. Now he's taking it nationwide. The Tulsa, Okla., attorney, who with his wife, Terrie, owns MoreLaw.com, intends to build a chain of 100...

Murder convict entitled to new trial, Maryland court affirms.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale A man convicted of murder 14 years ago is entitled to a new trial because his attorney never objected when the original trial judge incorrectly instructed jurors on the reasonable doubt standard, the Maryland...

The right way to sell your company.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick It's a rare occurrence for a law firm to be sold. A rule slightly more than a decade old allows attorneys in Missouri sell or purchase firms. And before Rule 4-1.17 of the Missouri Supreme Court, the only time a...

New York court puts technology to use in courtroom of future.
July 11, 2006... Byline: NY Daily Record Staff (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Rochester, N.Y., another Dolan Media publication.) Sharon S. Townsend and John M. Curran, 8th Judicial District administrative judges, have...

Execution ruling sets up change in Missouri's future.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Mike Nixon (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication.) The results of a court-ordered reorganization within the Missouri Department of Corrections could impact how...

Maryland cases trigger question: Should exposure of HIV be a felony?
July 11, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication.) Attempted murder. When Baltimore detective Lisa Robinson filled out her application for a...

Court dismisses case of passenger who stayed in drunken driver's car.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry (This article was originally published in North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Raleigh, N.C., another Dolan Media publication.) The Appeals Court has rejected a Wilkes County, N.C., woman's claim that even though she was...

Commentary: Take care with the words you hear people say.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Jim Wirken This week's Wirken Quote is: "Saying it's so doesn't make it so." I wish I could remember where I first heard this quote and how exactly it was used at the time. But I distinctly remember when I first heard it, I...

More complicated and longer trials made it difficult for judges to schedule downtime.
July 12, 2006... Byline: Bridget Heos Judge Marco Roldan planned his summer vacation five weeks ago. For 2007. The Jackson County 16th Circuit judge said more complicated and longer trials made it difficult for judges to schedule downtime. "Society has...

Jackson County jury finds for patient after infection follows pulled wisdom teeth.
July 12, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick A Jackson County jury awarded a woman $147,150 for the complications she suffered from pulled wisdom teeth. The plaintiff, Keithshon McGee, underwent four surgeries after she suffered a severe infection and...

Jackson County jury awards woman $212K for grocery store fall.
July 12, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick An elderly woman who fell in the entryway at a Hy-Vee in Belton received a verdict of $212,400 from a Jackson County jury. Doris Kesler Ferguson was 73 when she broke her right femur while entering the store...

MO Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit rules son's prior settlement precludes mother's suit.
July 12, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright (This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication). A mother can't sue for the wrongful death of her son after he had already settled the wrong, the 8th U.S....

Louis Vuitton handbags focus of infringement action in 2nd Circuit.
July 12, 2006... Byline: Helen Nguyen (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Rochester, N.Y., another Dolan Media publication). What would a woman do without her handbag or purse? This is what the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...

MA Attorney General's Office targets financial mismanagement at charities.
July 12, 2006... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication). Having filed legislation to promote "the financial integrity" of public charities in...

Friends remember 'Colonel' Donald Mason, former judge.
July 13, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Just last week Harlan Stamper met with Donald Mason for lunch. The two had been friends for more than 40 years, and the lunch was something of a habit. Arthur Stoup also joined this time. The three had an...

Report finds products liability cases declining; Missouri behind trend.
July 13, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright After a historic high of nearly 28,000 products liability case filings flowing into federal courts during 2004, new numbers suggest an ebbing of the tides. Federal products liability cases nationally slipped 14...

Report finds products liability cases declining; Missouri behind trend.
July 13, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright

St. Louis Circuit jury verdict stands despite juror feeling pressure to sign.
July 13, 2006... Byline: Emily Umbright It was the case of the juror who changed her mind - and a judge who did so as well. Within minutes of discharging a jury in a personal injury case, St. Louis Circuit Judge Lisa Van Amburg declared a mistrial...

Court finds Verizon firing of bipolar worker lawful.
July 13, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale A former employee of Verizon Maryland was not protected by federal law from being fired for hostile behavior related to her bipolar disorder, a federal appellate court affirmed this week. The Americans with...

Court of Appeals affirms miners union can investigate explosion.
July 13, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a preliminary injunction permitting the United Mine Workers of America to participate in the investigation of a deadly mine explosion at West Virginia's Sago Mine. ...

Trial over assault, burglary begins in St. Louis.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky >(This article was originally published in St. Louis Daily Record, another Dolan Media publication.) Last spring a man allegedly strangled his son's girlfriend before a neighbor burst into the house to...

Trial over assault, burglary begins in St. Louis.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky

Hilton President Kansas City hotel trial to begin break.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Attorneys plan to present the last of their evidence today in a civil trial that has entered its fifth week. But the jury will not hear closing arguments for a week in the case against Cleveland-based law firm...

Wisconsin takes steps to make self-representation easier.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Jack Zemlicka (This article was originally published in Wisconsin Law Journal, Milwaukee, another Dolan Media publication.) A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client. The adage is a gentle jab at attorneys...

Baltimore Circuit Court judge awaits ethics ruling.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Daniel Ostrovsky (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication.) A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge who allegedly tried to get his girlfriend excused from jury...

MA Supreme Judicial Court rules homeowner can be sued for failing to secure gun collection.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Eric Berkman (This article was originally published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, another Dolan Media publication.) A homeowner could be sued for failing to secure a gun collection that her live-in boyfriend kept in...

Law firms take issue with Exxon suits in federal jurisdiction.
July 14, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication.) Three groups of lawyers battled in federal court Wednesday over whether a new law requires that all...

Death penalty case highlights role of administrative law judge.
July 15, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber When an administrative law judge makes a decision, technically, it's not the last word. But practically, it usually is. The heads of state agencies have the power to accept or reject administrative law judge...

Death penalty case highlights role of administrative law judge.
July 15, 2006... Byline: Caryn Tamber

Maryland court upholds conviction as lawyer's silence appears tactical.
July 15, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale Maryland's appellate courts in most cases will not recognize flawed jury instructions in which trial tactics may be the reason counsel did not object to them, the Court of Special Appeals held. In such...

Cardiologist does not equal surgeon as expert witness on heart bypass claim.
July 15, 2006... Byline: Ertel Berry Because his specialty didn't involve surgery, an interventional cardiologist wasn't qualified to testify on whether cardiac surgeons botched a patient's bypass operation, the North Carolina Appeals Court has ruled. ...

Lawyer says new public records law poses problems for government employees.
July 15, 2006... Byline: Jim Small A new Arizona law designed to encourage municipalities and other government agencies to provide the public access to information may make the private information of employees more vulnerable and open for public...

Illinois study unlikely to change Wisconsin witness plan.
July 16, 2006... Byline: Tony Anderson Last year, the Wisconsin Department of Justice released a model policy for police departments to follow when dealing with eyewitness identification. Those best practices included six recommendations, stressing the...

Band mates sue former front man for name.
July 16, 2006... Byline: Kate Patton The frontman of a popular 1960s rock band has dug himself into a black hole, and it may cost him his famous name. Woodbury, N.Y.'s David Blatt, better known as Jay Black of the group Jay & the Americans, is awaiting...

How to ... choose the best office supplier for your needs.
July 16, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee From pens to printers and file folders to fax machines, you want to have what you need when you need it and without paying more than you have to. Aligning yourself with a good office supplier can save your...

New York court admits talks with police robot.
July 16, 2006... Byline: Kevin Habberfield In the case of New York v. William K. Fragner, Monroe County Court Judge Alex R. Renzi admitted statements made by the defendant to officers via F.R.E.D., a robot deployed by the Brockport Police Department in...

Supreme Court judge stresses judicial education.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Charles Emerick Judges need to do more to educate the public about the courts, according to a judge in the state's top court. Judge Mary Rhodes Russell of the Missouri Supreme Court said even some veteran legislators were...

Law in the family: Children of KC lawyers follow in their fathers' footsteps.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Bridget Heos Dana Cutler always wanted to work with her father in his law office. But she didn't know how hard it would be in the beginning. Or how rewarding in the end. Along with her husband, Keith Cutler, Dana has worked...

Ruling allows mother to sue for sex discrimination.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Eric Berkman A paralegal who claimed she was repeatedly denied promotions because she was a mother with small children could sue her employer for sex discrimination, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled. The employer,...