Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) articles from October 2007

Daily Record (Kansas City, MO) archives from October 2007

Courthouse Roundup: UMKC professor requests dismissal of suit over lecture.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick

Missouri Public Defenders Commission will refuse to take some new cases.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese The Missouri Public Defenders Commission has voted to stop accepting certain cases in some offices that are overloaded. It will likely be a few weeks before the process is put into action. The details of just how many...

University of Missouri-Kansas City professor requests dismissal of suit over lecture.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick A University of Missouri-Kansas City professor accused of carrying out a profanity-laced, racially insensitive tirade during a class lecture wants a Jackson County Circuit judge to dismiss a student's lawsuit...

Commentary: The winter of a lawyer's discontent.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Craig Napier Boy, the ugly head of the no-business monster can turn up when you least expect it. But this time I kind of saw it coming. Or should I say, very little paying business. I'm stuck on a few domestic cases that I will get...

KC Council changes course on court background checks.
October 2, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick The cooperation displayed among some of the Kansas City councilmembers less than two weeks ago appears to have already waned. The council last week rescinded an ordinance concerning background checks for judicial...

Case.net almost complete statewide in Missouri.
October 2, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka The last phase of a computer changeover in St. Louis County Circuit Court was to take place today, aligning the court with others across the state. The so-called Justice Information System was scheduled to go "live"...

City? County? Uncertain location lands case in Misouri Supreme Court.
October 3, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck No one doubts that rape is a crime, but where it occurs -- and if the state must prove the location to win the case -- was the subject of an appeal before the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday. The case, involving a...

Kansas City Lawyers in the News: October 3, 2007.
October 3, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips adds four associates Kansas City, Kan.-based McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips announced that four lawyers have joined the firm as associates. Caroline S. Mudd joined...

Missouri Gov. Blunt, lawyers still disagree on tort reform.
October 3, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Medical-malpractice attorneys and Gov. Matt Blunt are still nowhere near agreement on the results of the two-year-old tort reform. The governor, who touted its effects in a news release last week, called the reform...

With millions at stake, suit lingers over minimum wage in Missouri.
October 3, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Having run out of chances to get a multimillion-dollar problem with the new minimum wage law fixed at the Capitol, Missouri firefighters and municipal officials are pinning their hopes on the courts. This spring they...

Fatal chase prompts suit for negligence against the Kansas City Police Department.
October 4, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick A Jackson County man is suing the Kansas City Police Department for the way it handled a high-speed chase four years ago. Larry Denny said negligence on the part of several police officers resulted in the death of...

Public Defender gets its day in Missouri Supreme Court.
October 4, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri State Public Defender's Office urged the Missouri Supreme Court to bar some private attorneys from leaving cases and dumping them in the laps of the taxpayer. In two similar cases argued back-to-back...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: October 4, 2007.
October 4, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Court orders new trial after juror misconduct A woman who lost her personal injury case last year will get a new trial because a juror failed to disclose prior litigation experience during voir dire. A Jackson...

St. Louis federal judge to rule on Monsanto intervention.
October 4, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka A decision was expected late Wednesday or early today on whether a St. Louis federal judge will intervene in a Tennessee state court case that levies anticompetitive conspiracy claims against Missouri-based Monsanto...

Montgomery trial gets underway in Kansas City.
October 5, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick As the long-awaited trial against Lisa Montgomery began Thursday in Kansas City, her lawyers told a federal jury that a history of abuse and mental illness are to blame for a gruesome crime she's accused of...

State ethics commission attempts a do-over.
October 5, 2007... Byline: all

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon files lawsuits against ticket sellers.
October 5, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon sued three out-of-state ticket brokers on Thursday, alleging they violated state consumer protection laws and a Kansas City ordinance by selling concert tickets for higher than face...

St. Louis federal judge stays out of Tennessee state case.
October 5, 2007... Byline: Dailly Record Staff Report U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber refused a request Wednesday to intervene in a Tennessee state court case that levied antitrust and conspiracy claims against Monsanto Co. The judge wrote in his order...

State ethics commission attempts a do-over.
October 5, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Just weeks after making a decision on state campaign finance law in private, the Missouri Ethics Commission opened its doors Thursday afternoon for a public meeting that provoked robust discussion and no decision....

Missouri Governor Blunt announces grant program for historic courthouses.
October 5, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Gov. Matt Blunt announced a $500,000 grant program Thursday to emphasize historic courthouses around the state. Speaking in St. Charles, Blunt said Missouri's courthouses play a significant historic...

Gladstone couple gets $3 million for injury from forklift.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick A short trial yielded big results last week for a Gladstone couple. A Jackson County jury awarded Joseph and Pamela Armato more than $3.2 million following a three-day personal-injury trial that ended Thursday. The...

Seeking shelter.
October 8, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record

KC attorney Steve Owens named U of Missouri general counsel.
October 8, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record The University of Missouri on Friday named Kansas City attorney Stephen J. Owens as the university system's next general counsel. Owens, currently a partner with Stinson Morrison Hecker's Kansas City office, is...

Securities fraud case expected to be huge.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Greg Stohr, Bloomberg News In August 2000, Charter Communications Inc. asked two suppliers to take part in what a pending lawsuit contends was a sham: a series of transactions whose only purpose was to deceive the cable company's...

Schaffer: Clooney in Michael Clayton captures big-firm culture.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Noah Schaffer By In the innocuously titled Michael Clayton, George Clooney portrays one of Hollywood's not-so-innocuous stereotypes: a sleazy corporate lawyer. While title character Michael Clayton works in the sleek high-rise...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: October 8, 2007.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Questions surrounding the exact time a man suffered a stroke swayed a jury in its defense verdict following a three-week trial. An attorney for Frederick Beaty, who sought more than $1 million, was unable to...

U.S. Supreme Court misapplied Brown v. BOE, law professor says.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A Chicago law professor took the U.S. Supreme Court to task for failing to learn the lessons of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision when in the last term it struck down two voluntary school desegregation...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: October 8, 2007.
October 8, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record St. Louis attorney sentenced to prison A federal judge has sentenced St. Louis criminal defense attorney Frank Fabbri to18 months in prison for accepting a $36,000 cash payment from the proceeds of a client's...

Commentary: Even the little settlements become emotional.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Craig Napier I went to a settlement conference at a court house a few hours north of Kansas City recently. It was one my last remaining flunky cases. In other words, it was one of the last cases that my mentor gave me to do the...

Devlin pleads guilty to 71 more counts in St. Louis County court.
October 9, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka The state of Missouri's case against admitted child abductor and abuser Michael Devlin ended Tuesday afternoon with a scathing glare from a mother of one of the victims. Pam Akers, the mother of Shawn Hornbeck, the...

Enforcers of the law in Missouri must constantly train on the law.
October 9, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese In the wake of recent incidents of questionable judgment by law enforcement, some in Missouri are taking another look at how police officers in the state learn what they need to know. During a February 2006 traffic...

Devlin sentenced to life in first of four jurisdictions.
October 9, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Michael Devlin entered his first guilty plea Monday in the child abduction and assault cases that have stretched across four jurisdictions since two boys were rescued from Devlin's Kirkwood apartment in January. He...

Commentary: Devlin's pleas spare his victims -- and all of us.
October 9, 2007... Byline: Will Connaghan The Michael Devlin guilty-plea tour of St. Louis-area courthouses this week is a good thing. On Monday in Franklin County, Devlin admitted to kidnapping young William "Ben" Ownby at the point of a gun in January. He...

Judge Welsh to join Missouri Court of Appeals' Western District.
October 10, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick After more than three decades, Judge James Welsh is returning to where his legal career began. Welsh, a judge on the Clay County Circuit bench for the past 19 years, will soon join the Missouri Court of Appeals'...

Devlin case may change Missouri's kidnapping law.
October 10, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Franklin County Prosecutor Robert Parks wishes a tougher sentencing law had been available as he worked with other prosecutors on the case against Michael Devlin. Now, as Devlin has pleaded guilty to several crimes in...

New chief diversity officer joins Bryan Cave's Kansas City office.
October 10, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Staff Bryan Cave has appointed Tina L. Harris as the firm's first chief diversity officer. Harris will be based in Bryan Cave's Kansas City office but will spend significant time in each of the firm's...

77-year-old junkyard owner fights her way to Supreme Court.
October 11, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Standing at an umbrella-covered desk in her junk-strewn salvage yard, Opal Henderson seems as determined as ever to hang onto the property the city of St. Louis wants to condemn in the name of redevelopment. The...

Municipal Court ordinance debate grows more tense in Kansas City.
October 11, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick With insults and accusations abounding, a Kansas City Council committee made little progress in determining the fate of a background check ordinance for Municipal Court judicial applicants during a hearing Wednesday...

U.S. Supreme Court lets stand victory for air show protesters.
October 11, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Anti-war protesters who want to share their message at an air show in Columbia can let their ideas take flight without worry. The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied a request to hear an appeal from a group that runs...

U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway says she won't run for Missouri AG.
October 12, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway ended any speculation that she might be running for Missouri attorney general next year. Hanaway, who has held the federal position in the Eastern District of Missouri since July...

Ex St. Louis fire chief claims ouster was discriminatory.
October 12, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese The man removed as fire chief of St. Louis claimed Thursday that his removal was illegal and Mayor Francis Slay and other city officials engaged in racial discrimination. Sherman George was demoted to deputy fire chief...

Eminent domain case before Missouri Supreme Court hinges on evidence of fraud, bad faith.
October 12, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A battle that's been brewing in downtown St. Louis found its way to the state Supreme Court on Thursday. There, attorneys for St. Louis' land clearance authority and the owner of a junkyard they're trying to relocate...

St. Louis jury awards former engineer $760,000 for injuries.
October 12, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record A St. Louis jury this week awarded a former Union Pacific railroad employee more than $760,000 for injuries he sustained in a 2003 work accident, according to his attorney. Steve H. Lowery was working...

Nation Briefs.
October 15, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Milberg co-founder Weiss pleads not guilty to paying kickbacks Milberg Weiss co-founder Mel Weiss pleaded not guilty to charges he secretly paid clients to file shareholder lawsuits that brought in...

Missouri Supreme Court considers case involving KC housecleaner.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Chris Blank The state's Supreme Court judges considered Friday how to interpret their own rules while state and federal officials warned that a lower court's ruling could make future administrative hearings more expensive and...

Two families suing Ford ask Missouri Court of Appeals for second trial.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Attorneys for two families suing Ford Motor Co. for product liability in a fiery 2003 wreck that killed a state trooper asked an appellate court on Friday to grant them a new trial. The families have already...

Due consideration.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Court ruling on conduct of pregnant woman already affecting other cases A federal court recently ruled that a woman could not be charged with child endangerment for using illegal drugs during pregnancy. Now a...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: October 15, 2007.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick The mother convicted of murdering two of her triplet sons eight years ago finally has a lawyer to represent her in a civil case filed by the third son. Mary Bass, who received multiple life sentences and is...

Commentary: Decent settlements come to those who wait.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Craig Napier I recently settled a domestic case that I thought would never settle. I was shocked, but in looking back, I think a lot of domestic cases in my past have been settled when there seemed so very little common ground...

Mo. COA Western District allows part of $4M judgment.
October 16, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Court of Appeals' Western District said an insurance company must pay a $500,000 judgment stemming from the death of a young man outside a St. Louis nightclub in 2003, although the company remains off the...

Companies defend and file fewer lawsuits, survey finds.
October 16, 2007... Byline: Carlyn Kolker, Bloomberg News Company lawyers are filing and defending fewer lawsuits and expect litigation to drop off next year, according to a survey by law firm Fulbright & Jaworski. But at least one Missouri lawyer doesn't...

Gaming dot-com site awaits $1.5 million judgment against bankrupt St. Louis media co.
October 16, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka An online gaming site hit the jackpot with a $1.5 million judgment against a bankrupt St. Louis media company earlier this month, but the Detroit-based Internet company has yet to see a payout. St. Louis Circuit Judge...

St. Charles County Circuit judge mulls manslaughter in infant's death.
October 16, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese A judge raised questions Monday about whether the case can proceed against a mother accused of drinking so much alcohol that her child was pronounced dead minutes after her premature birth. St. Charles County Circuit...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: October 16, 2007.
October 16, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Public defender system weeks from turning away cases Despite a vote by the state Public Defenders Commission in late September to set up a process for overworked offices to reject new cases, it...

Kansas City Legal Briefs: October 17, 2007.
October 16, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Staff Bank One settles suit for $28 million Bank One Corp., the Chicago-based lender acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2004, agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit from shareholders...

Patent attorneys in U.S. decry changes to rules.
October 17, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick A move aimed at creating a more efficient process at the United States Patent and Trademark Office is generating deep criticism from attorneys and their clients across the country. New broad-sweeping rules to the...

Lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Western District of Mo. alleges pot pies contained salmonella.
October 17, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Staff ConAgra Foods pot pies contaminated with salmonella caused several Missourians and others from across the country to fall ill, according a federal lawsuit filed last week. In their class action...

Kansas City Council nears deal on background checks.
October 18, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick In what appeared nearly impossible one week ago, a Kansas City Council committee passed a recommendation regarding background checks of judicial applicants for the Municipal Court. The Finance and Audit Committee on...

Former hockey all-star faces Canadian law in Missouri.
October 18, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Less than a month after he was convicted of drunken driving in a Canadian court, former Blues hockey player Rob Ramage will face a civil trial in St. Louis County. Ramage's case in the wrongful death suit will be...

Batter up! Fantasy sports league may still use players' names, stats.
October 18, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Federal court rules against MLB, ballplayers group Businesses catering to fantasy-sports fans may continue selling statistics and using the names of professional athletes to do so, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of...

City Council nears deal on background checks.
October 18, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick In what appeared nearly impossible one week ago, a Kansas City Council committee passed a recommendation regarding background checks of judicial applicants for the Municipal Court. The Finance and Audit Committee on...

Lawsuits, accusations fly in Missouri over language in proposed initiative.
October 19, 2007... Byline: Chris Blank A state-by-state campaign to bar racial, ethnic and gender preferences by state governments has sailed through four states from Washington to Florida. But an effort to chalk up five more states come November 2008 has...

Allstate Insurance Co. settles $1.2M case in Missouri Supreme Court.
October 19, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Allstate Insurance Co. brought some resolution to Jackson County case that it has taken all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. The company agreed during court-ordered mediation last week to pay Dale Deer and his...

Sentencing for former Mo. legislator, immigration attorney delayed until November.
October 19, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Sentencing for a former legislator and immigration attorney has been pushed back until November. Nathan Cooper, a Cape Girardeau Republican, was to have been sentenced today after pleading guilty in August to two...

Commentary: My practice is an infant -- and so are my kids.
October 22, 2007... Byline: Craig Napier My wife and I are pregnant. We are very excited about the idea of having our second child, but my wife just realized the financial security of my job is not where she would like it. I realize now that she was kind of...

Liturgy and the law: Kansas City-area attorneys work to institute ancient Red Mass tradition.
October 22, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The lawyer's world of long days, hard-fought compromises and zealous defenses of clients is certainly one that can try the soul. In Kansas City, Catholic attorneys are banding together for spiritual support. On Friday,...

Missouri firms take lead in organic milk label suits.
October 22, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Two Missouri law firms are taking the lead in federal lawsuits claiming a Colorado-based dairy farm is illegally labeling its milk as organic. The basic premise in both suits, with more being filed around the country,...

Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: October 22, 2007.
October 22, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Newly appointed appellate Judge James Welsh is scheduled to hear his first oral arguments next week. Welsh, selected to the Missouri Court of Appeals' Western District by Gov. Matt Blunt earlier this month, will sit...

Assistant U.S. Attorney in Kansas City wins national award.
October 22, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Staff A federal prosecutor in Kansas City won the 2007 Director's Award from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri said Friday. Linda P. Marshall, an assistant U.S....

Koster for Missouri attorney general takes lead among lawyers.
October 23, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Sen. Chris Koster has hardly been lagging in raising money for his presumed bid for Missouri attorney general, but until recently he hadn't gotten the state's legal community on his side. As of last week, that's...

Missouri man gets neither art nor insurance, state appeals court orders.
October 23, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka A state appeals court has ended a Missouri man's legal battle to win back eight pieces of expensive art taken from his residence in 2004. The court ruled earlier this month that real estate agent Stuart Slavin could...

Missouri federal jury finds Montgomery woman guilty of slaying.
October 23, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick After 11 days of testimony, a jury on Monday returned a guilty verdict against Lisa Montgomery for the slaying of a Skidmore woman. The jury, which received the case at noon, returned its verdict shortly after 5...

Some lawyers in Missouri seeing red over blood sample standard.
October 23, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Missouri has changed the rules on collecting blood samples, and some defense attorneys worry the new standard allowing use of an alcohol swab could invalidate results and harm their clients. Missouri legislators changed...

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri takes lawsuit to state court.
October 24, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has taken its ongoing legal battle to the state level. Attorneys for the organization are asking the Jackson County Circuit Court to rule on a new Missouri law that...

Man sues bus system in a Jackson County court after scooter mishap at casino.
October 24, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick After tipping over on his scooter while exiting a Kansas City bus, a disabled man says the driver drove off, leaving him injured and humiliated. Paul Hayes, who requires a motorized scooter after suffering a stroke,...

Women's fitness chain sued in St. Louis County Circuit Court by franchisees.
October 24, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese Dozens of people across the country who bought franchises in a women's fitness chain are suing the company, claiming it understated the costs to operate a gym and did not help franchisees as promised. The suit was filed...

Legal Aid of Western Missouri honors attorney, begins new fund campaign.
October 24, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick After completing the most successful campaign to date, those behind the newest Justice for All drive are pushing for more. A goal of $1.75 million is the target for the fourth annual three-year campaign that "tipped...

Commission to meet Thursday on Mo. Court of Appeals' Western District vacancy.
October 24, 2007... Byline: The (Kansas City) Daily Record Staff The Appellate Judicial Commission will meet Thursday in Jefferson City after individual commissioners have finished conducting one-on-one interviews with applicants for an opening on the Missouri...

BP to pay $373 million to end legal challenges.
October 25, 2007... Byline: Tom Cahill and Tina Seeley, Bloomberg News BP Plc agreed to pay $373 million to resolve a lawsuit and investigation into a fatal refinery explosion, as Europe's second-largest oil company tries to recover from lapses that dented its...

Missouri Plan, municipal court nominations face controversy for different reasons.
October 25, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick With its vote later today, the Kansas City Council could take a substantial step forward in putting to rest an ongoing dispute over the appointment of judges to the city's municipal court. But the true test of the...

Ann Niederlander, pioneering female judge, dies at age 92.(Obituary)
October 25, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Ann Quill Niederlander, who in 1978 became the first female judge in greater St. Louis, died Tuesday in Amherst, Mass. She was 92. Known for her passion and independence, Niederlander blazed a trail for women judges...

Fatal birth-control case nets $1.25M.
October 25, 2007... Byline: David Voreacos and Patricia Hurtado, Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson settle case similar to that of upcoming Missouri trial Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a 14-year-old girl who...

Janitorial firm sues Missouri Gov. Blunt over cancelled contract.
October 26, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese A former state contractor sued Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday, alleging he encroached on federal authority in booting the company for using illegal workers. The African native and U.S. citizen, K. Asamoah-Boadu, also...

Kansas City Council once again passes ordinance for municipal judges.
October 26, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick After no debate, the Kansas City Council unanimously passed an amended background-check ordinance for judicial applicants at the Municipal Court, settling a long-running feud about the way new judges should be...