Missouri Lawyers Weekly articles from August 2003

Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives from August 2003

Judge With A Sense Of Humor.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Judge Stephen L. Crocker of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin issued the following order in Hyperphrase Technologies, LLC v. Microsoft Corporation, entered on July 1: ...

Low-Dollar Cases Provide Lessons For Attorneys.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Kelly Kress Attorneys say that a recent $680 auto accident verdict offers several lessons on the risks and realities of handling low-dollar value cases. Above all, standing toe-to-toe and taking a bantamweight case to trial...

Fired Staff Can Sue Nursing Home District, Rules Missouri Supreme Court.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A doctor and nurse who were fired by a nursing home district after they reported perceived deficiencies in care could sue for wrongful discharge, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled in a case of first impression....

Missouri Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 4, 2003.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law DNA Testing - Post- Conviction Motion - Denial Where defendant was convicted of murder based on abundant circumstantial evidence, his conduct in washing the inside of his truck...

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Food Distributor Claimed Violation Of Non-Compete.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $150,000 Settlement A Greene County wholesale food distributor sued a former sales representative and his current employer for violating a non-compete clause. Jim Fisk joined Springfield...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 4, 2003.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Rule 74.02 - Counterclaim - Dismissal Where the trial court in a civil case failed to issue a written order to dismiss a count in a party's counterclaim despite the...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 4, 2003.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Sovereign Immunity - Nursing Home District - Whistleblowers - Private Right Of Action Where a doctor and a nurse employed by a nursing home sued the nursing home district for...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 4, 2003.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Employer - Employee Discrimination - Age - Stray Remaks Where the person hired to replace two store managers who claimed they were terminated because of age discrimination was only nine years...

Ten Years Ago In Missouri Lawyers Weekly.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Stale Valuation Voids Property Split Where the trial court based its division of marital property on a valuation of corporate stock made seven months before trial and the stock's value increased by...

Attorneys Foresee Hiring Jump.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Despite uncertainties in today's economy and the legal business environment, there is good news on the way for recent law school graduates and legal job hunters. The St. Louis office of The...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: August 4, 2003.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff W. Dudley McCarter received the Lou Czech Award from the Missouri Municipal Attorney's Association. McCarter has been the City Attorney for the City of Creve Coeur since 1991. A former President of...

Missouri Counties Flock To Central Traffic-Ticket Processing.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Many circuit courts are responding to the budget crunch by joining a state system that processes uncontested traffic, watercraft and conservation tickets, clerks tell Lawyers Weekly. Effective Aug. 1, Greene...

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Patient Died Of Abdominal Hemorrhage.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant's Verdict The family of a Hannibal woman sued her doctor for wrongful death after he failed to diagnose a rare spontaneous hemorrhage in her abdomen. Muriel Harrison, 67, became a...

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Distributor's Contract Was Terminated.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $705,000 Verdict Wash Solutions, Inc., a distributor of car wash supplies, sued under the Missouri Franchise Act after its distribution contract was terminated and awarded to one of its customers....

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Woman Killed By Drunk Driver.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.2 Million Settlement A St. Joseph man who was injured -- and whose wife was killed -- in a collision with a drunk driver sued the drunk driver's estate. In August 2002 Mercer Gewin, 77, and...

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Packing Material Ignited In Factory.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $4.8 Million Settlement An industrial worker who was severely burned when packing material caught fire near him sued the manufacturer. In its business the worker's employer used packing...

Missouri Supreme Court: Defendant Decries 9/11 Link.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff In his appellate brief before the Missouri Supreme Court, Columbia public defender Gary E. Brotherton argues that the state unjustly linked his client, Deandra M. Buchanan, to the Sept. 11 terrorist...

Missouri Supreme Court Gives Hockey Star Second Shot At 'Publicity' Case.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones Where a comic book author named a character after a professional hockey player, the player could sue for violation of his right of publicity, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled, reversing a JNOV for the...

Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 4, 2003.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Rule 74.01(a) - Judgement - Final Where the order of a trial court dismissing a party's petition without prejudice was not denominated a judgment as required by Rule...

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Three Children Injured In Accident.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $3.25 Million Settlement The mother of three children sued the owner of a tractor-trailer that struck their van head on. On May 27, 2000 Timothy, Tenetia and Terry Wilson were passengers in a...

Verdicts & Settlements August 4, 2003: Man Died In Nursing Home.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Confidential Settlement The son of a Monroe County man sued a nursing home for wrongful death. John Doe entered the nursing home in August 2000. He soon developed multiple ulcers on his lower...

State Of Missouri To Offer Med-Mal Coverage.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Missouri will offer medical malpractice insurance to doctors unable to get private insurance, the director of the state Department of Insurance said July 30, according to an Associated Press report. ...

Informal Advisory Opinions From Mo. Bar Legal Ethics Counsel.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Informal advisory opinions are issued by the Legal Ethics Counsel under Rule 5.30. The Legal Ethics Counsel only issues opinions to attorneys for their own guidance involving an existing set of facts....

University of Missouri-Kansas City clinic fills business need.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Both students and local business owners in Kansas City benefit from a program operated by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. The Entrepreneurial Legal Services Clinic, under the...

Verdicts & Settlements August 11, 2003: Driver Admitted Liability.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant's Verdict A Cole County man who collided with a car that pulled out in front of him sued for negligence. Kevin Haslag was driving south on Highway 179 in Cole County on Sept 16,...

Verdicts & Settlements August 11, 2003: Nurse Filed Suit For Overtime.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant's Verdict A nurse who was on call during meal breaks at a nursing home sued for unpaid overtime. Sandra Teson was employed as a charge nurse by the Miller County Nursing Home...

Two Pillars Of Judiciary In Missouri Reflect On Their Careers.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Two judges who have been pillars of the legal community on both sides of the state since the 1970s retired from the bench last month. Judge Paul J. Simon was appointed to the Missouri Court of...

Worker At Mother's Day Party Could Get Comp, Rules Labor and Industrial Relations Comm.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Kelly Kress An employee who lost control of her car at her sister's house during a Mother's Day party could get workers' compensation for her injuries, the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission has ruled in a 2-1 decision. ...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 11, 2003.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Domestic Relations Maintenance - Child's Special Needs - Change in Circumstances Where a mother did not seek employment because of her child's special needs following a brain tumor, the child's...

Verdict Upheld By Mo. Appellate Court Even Though Juror Said She Visited Scene.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones A juror in a med-mal case did not commit misconduct when she told other jurors that she had visited the hospital and overheard nurses say that the doctor would lose his license if he lost the case, the Missouri...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 11, 2003.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Pleading Rules - State Court Action - Failure to State a Claim Where an inmate filed a civil rights action under Section 1983 in state court, the Missouri Rules of Civil...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 11, 2003.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Available Remedies - Failure to Exhaust - Truck Driver Where a man who completed a trucking company's driving school but was refused a job sued the company for discrimination on...

Verdicts & Settlements August 11, 2003: One Triplet Suffered Brain Damage.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $10 Million Settlement The parents of an infant sued the hospital where she was born, claiming a misplaced catheter left in place for several days caused severe brain damage. In August 1999...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 11, 2003.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Municipal Court - Right to Appeal Where a man who was charged with traffic violations sought an appeal to the Appellate Court, there is no statute granting the right to a...

St. Louis Attorneys Named To FOCUS.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Eight St. Louis attorneys have been selected for the Leadership St. Louis program of FOCUS St. Louis. The program, in its 28th year, brings together a diverse group of emerging and established community...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: August 11, 2003.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Dana Hibbs, an associate in the St. Louis office of Evans & Dixon, was recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of St. Louis' 30 Under 30. A graduate of St. Louis University, she is actively...

10 Years Ago In Missouri Lawyers Weekly.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Carrier Can't Block 'Sweetheart' Deal An insurance company that offered to defend under a reservation of rights could not stop its policyholder from entering a "sweetheart settlement" under which...

Verdicts & Settlements August 11, 2003: Mother Wins $180K After Infant's Death From RSV.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Anne C. Vitale The mother of a 6-week-old boy who died of RSV in 1999 has won $180,000 in her Greene County case against the hospital where he was born. In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, the mother claimed the hospital should...

Lawyers: No Stampede Of Missouri Human Rights Act Cases To State Court.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Kelly Kress Six months after the Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs in Missouri Human Rights Act cases can have a jury trial in state court, the mass exodus from federal court that some predicted has not occurred, according to...

Doctor Can Be Released From Under His Non-Compete, Rules Greene County Circuit Judge.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones A doctor employed by a medical clinic was released from his non-compete when the clinic entered into an agreement with a local hospital to jointly employ all its physicians, a Greene County Circuit Judge has ruled....

Verdicts & Settlements August 18, 2003: Boy Broke Arm At Baseball Stadium.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $48,000 Verdict A 13-year-old sued the St. Louis Cardinals for premises liability after he broke his arm in a contest at Busch Stadium. Brad Rabinowitz was attending a Cardinals game on Aug. 2,...

Verdicts & Settlements August 18, 2003: Railroad Worker Fell Off Ladder.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $5.5 Million Verdict A railroad worker sued his employer for injuries he suffered when he fell off a ladder. On Nov. 8, 1999 Ralph Early was washing windows at a Burlington Northern and Santa...

Missouri Department Of Insurance Enforces Prompt Pay Law.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The Missouri Department of Insurance last month collected its first fine -- more than $100,000 -- under a new law requiring insurers to promptly pay claims to physicians and other providers, Director...

HB613 Pleases Missouri Lawyers, Dubbed 'Bradley Dream Team'.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Back in March 2000, a Johnson County Circuit Court judge ruled that administrative modifications of child support by the Division of Child Support Enforcement are unconstitutional. Judge Joseph...

No Recall Elections In Missouri.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Unlike in California, where Democratic Gov. Gray Davis is facing a recall election, there will be no effort by Missouri voters to prematurely remove Democratic Gov. Bob Holden from office, according to...

Missouri Lawyers In The News: August 18, 2003.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Lathrop & Gage announced that Kristie R. Richardson and JoAnna L. Rush have joined the firm's Kansas City office. Richardson, who received both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of...

Verdicts & Settlements August 18, 2003: Passenger Killed, Driver Paralyzed In Crash.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $7.6 Million Settlement A driver and the estate of her passenger sued a trucking company after a tractor trailer rear-ended their car in a construction zone. On Aug. 26, 2002 Jane Doe and Mary...

Man Paralyzed By Dive In Hotel Pool Wins $3.2M.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A man who was paralyzed after diving into the shallow end of a Ramada Inn swimming pool in Joplin has won over $3.2 million in his Jasper County negligence case. Steve Burrows claimed that the hotel did not...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 18, 2003.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Rule 24.035 - IADA - Guilty Plea Where a criminal defendant who argued that his guilty pleas and convictions should be vacated and the charges dismissed because of violations of...

U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit Case Summaries: August 18, 2003.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Public Housing - HUD (1) Where the district court in a public housing dispute that included Fair Housing Act issues of discrimination stated "although the court did not analyze...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: August 18, 2003.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Debt Collection - FDCPA - Hospital Bill (1) Where a hospital set up a division that operated as a collection agency and that used a name other than its usual business name and...

Ten Years Ago In Missouri Lawyers Weekly.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Husband Can Sue Over Property A man is entitled to a jury trial for money damages in a suit against his ex-wife for failure to turn over specific property awarded to him in a divorce decree, the...

FDCPA Trips Up Hospital Trying To Collect Bills, Rules Mo. Appellate Court.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A hospital that created a division to collect bills under an unrelated "doing business as" name violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Missouri has ruled....

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 18, 2003.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Judgment - Finality - Counterclaim Where motions for summary judgment brought by an insured and an insurance company in a declaratory judgment action failed to address the...

Verdicts & Settlements August 18, 2003: Worker Killed While Repairing Truck.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $150,000 Settlement The wife of a St. Louis man who was killed while repairing his employer's dump truck sued her insurance carrier after it refused to pay an uninsured motorist claim. Donald...

Nominees Sought For Missouri Malpractice Board.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The Missouri Department of Insurance has announced that Director Scott Lakin is seeking candidates to fill eight board of director positions on the new Missouri medical malpractice joint underwriting...

Missouri Court Of Appeals' Western District Rules Violation Of Safety Rule Not 'Willful Misconduct'.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff A worker who was fired for violating his employer's safety rules could get unemployment benefits, the Missouri Court of Appeals' Western District has ruled. The employer argued that the safety...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 25, 2003.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Rule 74.01(b) - Judgment - Finality Where a trial court granted an insurer's motion to intervene in a medical malpractice suit, the order could not be certified as a final...

Verdicts & Settlements August 25, 2003: Pickup Truck Hit Plaintiff's Car.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $150,000 Verdict A St. Louis woman sued the driver of a pickup truck who struck her car as she backed out of a parking space. On Feb. 5, 2001 Amber Stringer decided to leave work to get lunch....

Verdicts & Settlements August 25, 2003: Nursing Home Death Leads To Suit.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $315,000 Settlement The family of a Jackson County man who died in a nursing home sued for wrongful death, claiming his feeding tube was placed improperly. Ira Sutton, 87, and his wife, Minnie,...

Doctor Prevails In Med-Mal Lawsuit Over Pap Smear Test.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Kelly Kress A Greene County doctor has prevailed in a medical malpractice case charging that he failed to notify a patient of abnormal Pap smear test results. The family of Debra Nelson said that a resultant delay in...

Missouri Bar Foundation Selects Lon O. Hocker Award Winners.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The Missouri Bar Foundation has selected the 2003 recipients of the Lon O. Hocker Awards, which are presented each year to three lawyers under age 36 -- one each from the St. Louis, Kansas City and...

Missouri Lawyers In The News: August 25, 2003.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Steven B. Gorin, a partner in the Thompson Coburn Private Client Practice Area, was reappointed Co-Chair of the Committee on Estate Planning and Administration for Business Owners of the Real Property,...

Insurance Co. Was Jointly Liable For Settlement, Rules Missouri Court Of Appeals' Southern District.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones Where a trucking company "and" its insurance carrier agreed to settle an automobile accident case, the two were jointly liable to pay the settlement, the Missouri Court of Appeals' Southern District has ruled. ...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 25, 2003.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Breach - Standing - Real Party in Interest Where two sons who claimed they were entitled to damages for breach of a contract between their deceased father and the defendants filed a...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 25, 2003.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Jurisdiction - Core Proceeding - Chapter 11 Where a Chapter 11 debtor was required under a purchase agreement entered into previous to the bankruptcy to provide a bond indemnifying a...

10 Years Ago In Missouri Lawyers Weekly.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff 'Fellow Employee' Exclusion Upheld Where a passenger in the back of a pickup driven by a fellow employee was injured because of the driver's negligence, the passenger could not collect from his...

State Politicians Endorse Missouri Beer.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff A bevy of the state's top politicians lined up behind a lectern packed with beer bottles Aug. 14 to endorse a new brand of beer made by a farmer-owned microbrewery, according to an Associated Press...

Increase Noted In Same-Sex Harassment Cases.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Two same-sex harassment cases recently issued by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reflect an upsurge in those claims across the country, according to employment attorneys. They attribute the increase to a...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 25, 2003.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Partial Summary Judgment - Unresolved Claims - Finality Where a partial summary judgment order left undecided a party's duty to indemnify, the order did not resolve all of...

Verdicts & Settlements August 25, 2003: 89-Year-Old Fell In Hallway.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $250,102 Settlement An 89-year-old woman sued her apartment complex and a construction company after she fell in a hallway that was being remodeled. Mabel Stearns was a resident at Grand Court...

Verdicts & Settlements August 25, 2003: Man Killed In Collision With Truck.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $600,000 Settlement The parents of a McDonald County man sued a tractor-trailer driver and his employer after their son was killed in a highway collision. On Nov. 14, 2002 Jeremy Abercrombie...