Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) articles from May 2008

Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) archives from May 2008

'Pants' defense lawyer seeks more Missouri tort law reform.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck The infamous $67 million lawsuit over a pair of lost pants could happen in Missouri, a group of business interests said Wednesday. And to prevent that from happening, the Missouri Justice Alliance is hoping that...

Silence on stem cell measure deafening.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick It's what an appellate court didn't do on Tuesday that could handcuff one Missouri group challenging a constitutional amendment. On its weekly hand down date on Tuesday, the Missouri Court of Appeals Western...

Commentary: The art of diplomacy is pure poetry.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Christine Hughes I had no idea what a haiku was until recently, when I was given the opportunity to write one on the theme of Kansas City. Haiku poetry is a "simple literary style based on the 5-7-5 syllable structure." It's...

Former Missouri CPA with wire fraud conviction wants to own firm.
May 2, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck The state can yank an accountant's license if he gets in trouble, but can it prevent an accounting firm from opening if one of the firm's owners has had a brush with the law? The Missouri Supreme Court considered such a...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: May 2, 2008.
May 2, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A fireworks display that spurred a wrongful death lawsuit has been fully settled, resulting in about $787,500 for the plaintiffs. The final defendants in the suit settled earlier this week for $245,000. Previous...

John Ashcroft urges lawyers to defend freedom.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck Shortly before John Ashcroft took to the podium at the Lake of the Ozarks, one lawyer stopped by a few of the tables with a little advice for the lawyers: Be nice. Ashcroft, who grew up in Springfield, can be a...

Bottle chemical suits hit Missouri.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A controversial chemical in baby bottles has led to at least two class action federal lawsuits in Missouri seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The Kansas City-based firm Scharnhorst Ast & Kennard filed...

Stem cell language ruling comes too late for Missouri ballot.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick Despite getting what it called a "partial legal victory," a Cures Without Cloning initiative to change embryonic stem cell research in Missouri will not make the November ballot. On Friday, the Missouri Court of...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: May 5, 2008.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A couple of months after closing its Westport Road location, Starbucks is facing claims that it failed to fulfill promises and make a rent payment. Historic Trail Investments, which owns the site at Westport and...

Commentary: A daily affirmation for people who hate them.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier I have been running pretty ragged lately. Money is tight, but my work load is up, which seems counterintuitive. Four years of practice under my belt seems like a long time, the whole time knowing it really is only a...

Death penalty in Missouri more frequent outstate than in metro areas.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The death penalty should be reserved for those who commit the most serious crimes, but that's not what's happening in Missouri, say three law professors who studied how the death penalty is applied in here. Where a...

Heart drug recall leads to lawsuit filed in Kansas City.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A consumer fraud class action lawsuit was filed in Kansas City last week, just days after the heart drug named in the suit was pulled from the shelves. The suit appears to be the first in Missouri centering on the drug...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District considers Hallmark's mandatory arbitration clause.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Company says former employee consented because she kept working Mary Kay Morrow wants to take her age discrimination claim against her former employer to a jury. But her former employer, Hallmark, says an...

Bill would add one judge in K.C., cut six in St. Louis.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Legislation moving toward House debate would slash six judges from the St. Louis Circuit Court, while adding new judges to courts in the St. Louis County, Kansas City and Springfield areas. The chances of passage remain...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District rules felon can't get bikes back.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey He ought to have gotten a storage unit. A man's quest to be compensated for two motorcycles seized in a police raid ended Tuesday. Larry M. Waller left the bikes with a friend while serving a prison sentence....

Jury in Jackson County awards $4.5M over delayed diagnosis.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick Image taken of wrong breast Breast cancer will ultimately claim the life of Linda Reynolds -- possibly within the next year or two. And if she had received timely treatment, a Jackson County jury ruled, Reynolds...

Federal courts move fast on new crack sentences.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Federal courts are cranking out their judgments on prisoners' motions to reduce crack cocaine sentences -- with some decisions already coming out of the appellate courts. An amendment of sentencing guidelines by the...

President Truman a 'judge' but not a lawyer.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey 33rd president took some classes but never got his law license He may have been known as "Judge," but Harry S. Truman never presided over a courtroom -- or graduated from law school for that matter. As state...

Okla. House gives first-round OK to voter ID proposal.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Fast-tracking the issue in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the House gave first-round approval to a proposal Wednesday to require voters to show government-issued photo identification to cast a ballot. The...

Critics in Missouri question voter ID law.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Ballot proposal may have problems despite U.S. Supreme Court ruling Opponents are questioning a last-minute effort to resurrect a photo voter identification requirement, saying the latest Missouri proposal might not...

Missouri House defeats Second Injury Fund overhaul.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck An attempt to overhaul the state's Second Injury Fund was defeated Thursday in the Missouri House. By a 65-87 vote, representatives refused to adopt the bill, despite having approved a number of amendments during a...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: May 9, 2008.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A warning to businesses: More digits, more problems. A Northland law firm filed a string of federal class action suits this week against a hodgepodge of business for printing receipts containing too much consumer...

Commentary: Mediators: Avoid the temptation to give directive advice.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Louise Phipps Senft Transformative mediators have a strong belief against directing parties during mediation. But directive advice given in mediation or elsewhere can often be good advice, so why discard it? For a mediator, there...

Attorneys team up with doctors to help the indigent.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Kelly Weise and Aaron Bailey A law professor in St. Louis is trying to launch a program to help poor families whose legal problems are also affecting their health. But even as the groundwork gets laid for that effort, similar...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: May 12, 2008.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A mother convicted of torturing and killing two of her triplet sons has settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by her other three children. Mary Bass, who is serving multiple life sentences following a 2001 murder...

Commentary: Put on the Beatles -- my daughter is born.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier Once there was a way to get back homeward. Once there was a way to get back home. It was a big week for me in many ways. It may have been the most "lawyerly" Wednesday I have ever had. Two hearings, one a complete...

University of Missouri law professor sues school over ADA.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole A tenured associate law professor who has focused on gender and race issues in published articles has sued the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, claiming the school didn't accommodate her chronic fatigue...

St. Louis County jury awards record $21 million for crash.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Lawsuit filed just before tort reform A man paralyzed in a 2004 car wreck won what lawyers believe is the largest personal injury verdict ever in St. Louis County: $21 million. The case was one of the many lawsuits...

Kansas City couple awarded $345K over excessive force.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick An elderly Kansas City couple received a jury award last week for a scuffle with police officers four years ago. A Jackson County jury determined two Kansas City police officers used excessive force when they...

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Missouri says loss in court aids federal case.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Missouri lost an effort on Friday to strike down what they say is a burdensome state law. Then again, maybe they didn't lose at all. As the organization wages a two-pronged effort to...

Commentary: Child rapists deserve the death penalty.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Matt Blunt Protecting our children is of paramount importance to Missouri families, and I have called for, fought for, and signed some of the toughest laws in the nation relating to violent child predators. We have made significant...

Missouri Supreme Court to hear case on expert testimony.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Lawyers for a medical malpractice plaintiff asked the Missouri Supreme Court to overturn a 46-year-old precedent and allow expert testimony in cases that are supposed to be based on common knowledge. At issue is the...

Missouri senator decries funding snub for court arts program.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Try telling Dave Sullivan that writing a politician with a concern is useless. Sullivan contacted U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill after his $1 million federal grant application was passed up. Sullivan is executive director...

Med mal case gets a second chance.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick The parties involved in a three-week medical malpractice trial more than two years ago have a second chance to try it all over again. A Missouri Court of Appeals Western District panel ruled on Tuesday that a trial...

Modest Second Injury Fund bill passes Missouri House.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri House took one last stab on Tuesday at reforming the state's Second Injury Fund. In an 83-69 vote, House members approved a bill previously passed by the Senate that would fix a flaw in state statute that...

Missouri sees gay divorce test case.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey At least one case in Missouri could set a precedent for how states that don't recognize same-sex marriages deal with annulment requests for marriages from states that do. A St. Joseph woman has asked a Missouri judge...

Lee's Summit Theater settles suit, installs security system.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A Lee's Summit theater agreed earlier this week to confidentially settle a lawsuit brought by a young girl accosted in its restroom. And it was her allegations, which exposed flaws in the security surveillance...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: May 16, 2008.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey In a case that may be a first, a judge has upheld voiding an insurance policy after the loss and claim due to "mutual mistake." But in the summary judgment ruling, the prevailing party was ordered to pay $4,000 in...

In Missouri's end-of-session lawmaking, anything goes and much gets done.
May 19, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese The final days of a legislative session can be frantic, as lawmakers combine several pieces of legislation into one, and meet until the wee hours of the morning. This year, despite expectations that few major laws would...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: May 19, 2008.
May 19, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A northwest Missouri family that lost its lawsuit claiming stench from a neighboring hog farm was a nuisance is appealing the December verdict. And in response to the appeal by Everett and Cindy Peters, defendants...

Three men nominated to fill St. Louis judicial vacancy.
May 19, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Three white men have been selected as nominees to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Circuit Judge Evelyn M. Baker, the first black woman circuit judge in the state of Missouri. The 22nd Judicial Commission...

Failed bills in Missouri brings victories, defeats.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Session's end notable for what wasn't done Like many public-interest topics this year, the just-concluded legislative session is more notable to the legal community for what failed as for what passed. In some cases,...

Lobbying reform in Missouri may reshape checklists.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey The state's legislative session may be over, but lobbying never takes a recess. Gov. Matt Blunt's sister Amy Blunt and a lobbyist for Kansas City were part of a continuing legal education seminar Monday focusing on...

Fake federal agent is among a litany of Gerald's legal worries.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The city of Gerald faces at least 11 federal lawsuits claiming members of its police department searched homes without warrants, arrested people without probable cause and engaged in other illegal acts. "We now have...

Study: Missouri's court plan as good as any.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A new study being released today by the Show-Me Institute finds Missouri's plan for selecting judges to the state's highest court is as good as any other in the country, giving fresh support to staunch backers who say...

Kansas City lawyer's bid to rejoin profession falls short.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A Kansas City lawyer suspended for his brash and intimidating courtroom behavior will have to wait even longer before returning to the practice. Michael Fletcher, suspended at both the federal and state levels, had...

Death row inmate Michael Taylor loses state challenge, but federal appeal remains.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Death row inmate Michael Taylor lost another appeal on Tuesday when the Missouri Supreme Court refused to order a circuit judge to reopen Taylor's post-conviction case. The appeal was Taylor's last chance in state...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District dismisses appeal by Allstate.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick The clock is ticking on Allstate Insurance Co.'s attempt to reverse a court ruling that will significantly limit its defense at trial. On Monday, the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District dismissed the...

Skywalk Memorial Foundation in Kansas City: 'The time is right'.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Group says city needs memorial to skywalk tragedy When the Hyatt Regency skywalk collapsed 27 years ago, 114 lives were lost and hundreds others were forever altered. Not only did Kansas City's physical landscape...

Ernst & Young settles securities fraud lawsuit against Kansas City-based American Italian Pasta Co.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Action ends American Italian Pasta suit The last portion of a massive securities fraud class action lawsuit against Kansas City-based American Italian Pasta Co. has preliminarily settled for $3.5 million. The...

Veterans court awards $906K to Missouri.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck Missouri's veterans homes will get an additional $906,000 after an appeals court ruled last week on a 7-year-old lawsuit. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, touting the decision Wednesday at a press conference in...

Sen. Claire McCaskill to be honored next week in St. Louis for drug court work.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The National Association of Drug Court Professionals will honor Sen. Claire McCaskill for her support of drug courts when the group hosts its annual training conference next week in St. Louis. McCaskill began the drug...

Attorneys in St. Louis County: Hurry up and wait.
May 23, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The wheels of justice are turning slowly in St. Louis County. Court clerks there are about a month behind issuing summonses in civil cases. Court administrator Paul Fox blames it on state-mandated court automation....

Kansas City Legal Briefs: May 23, 2008.
May 23, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A high-profile civil rights murder trial in federal court in Kansas City last week raised an issue of first impression for the 8th Circuit. Federal courts have been split regarding the ability of defendants in capital...

Spaces: Kansas City law firm's office unique as its past.
May 26, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick As far as Dirk Vandever is concerned, there can't be many other law firms, if any, with an office like that of the Popham Law Firm. Spread over the first two floors in the newly renovated Fountains Lofts building...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: May 26, 2008.
May 26, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A defunct car dealership facing a fraud charge apparently is willing to accept any punishment a judge deems appropriate. Loan Masters, which allegedly kept money from a fraudulent sale, finds itself in contempt...

Missouri Supreme Court says apprentice earnings must follow prevailing wage.
May 27, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Apprentices across Missouri got a boost in their legal right to higher wages last week when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in favor of four apprentice electricians from Butler County. The case interested the state...

Commentary: It's OK to be greedy if you have kids, right?
May 27, 2008... Byline: Craig Napier In a week that the new Indiana Jones movie came out in theaters alongside "Che" at the Cannes Film Festival, and a Texas judge sent many of the little polygamy kids home to see their mothers and father, it has been an...

Missouri man challenges jailing for failure to pay divorce decree.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Bryan Utter The state Supreme Court was asked Wednesday whether failure to pay part of a divorce decree can result in incarceration. After Robert and Melanie Fisher divorced in 2006, the Circuit Court of Phelps County jailed Robert...

Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal cuts two lawyers, 12 staff in Missouri.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Two associates and about 12 staff members in the Kansas City and St. Louis offices of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal were let go as part of the firm's national layoffs. Chicago-based Sonnenschein on Friday internally...

Attorney's discrimination claim against Missouri AG settled.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey An attorney has settled a lawsuit against Attorney General Jay Nixon's office that claimed she was not hired because she was a quadriplegic. Marla Grothoff will receive $26,000 if the release and settlement agreement...

Saturday is last day to evaluate Missouri judges online.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Missouri attorneys have until Saturday to complete surveys of judges facing retention elections in November. For the first time, attorneys can use online surveys to grade the performance of judges in their area....

Health care insurers ask Missouri Court of Appeal Western District for arbitration.
May 30, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick Several health insurance companies accused of price-fixing want to prevent a lawsuit against them from proceeding in court. In arguments before an en banc Missouri Court of Appeals Western District on Thursday, the...

Drug courts get close-up look at St. Louis Drug Court.
May 30, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter What happened, man? St. Louis Drug Court Commissioner James Sullivan asked a young man who missed an appointment last Friday for a urine drop. The man, Alexander, had a flare up of Crohn's disease last week, and his...

Federal Findings: Decades-old deseg suit in final throes.
May 30, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey A 31-year-old lawsuit that began over desegregating Kansas City public schools and morphed into a fight for funds has entered its last stages. Jenkins v. Missouri has been bounced around from the district level to the...

Blunt administration suspends Nixon account.
May 30, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Gov. Matt Blunt's administration suspended Attorney General Jay Nixon's use of a government account Thursday. The Office of Administration began investigating the attorney general's use of money gained as part of a...