Missouri Lawyers Weekly articles from August 2007

Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives from August 2007

Missouri Court Of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Marijuana Possession - Sufficiency Of Evidence - Scope Of Review (1) Where a defendant convicted of marijuana possession challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, the scope of...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Default Judgment - Motion To Set Aside - Lack Of Finality Where a trial court entered a default judgment awarding attorney's fees to a law firm and the client entered a...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Medicaid Services - Supplemental Payments - Plan Amendment Where the state of Minnesota sought an increase in the annual supplemental payments made by the federal Medicaid...

Verdicts & Settlements August 6, 2007: Couple wins $825,000 for delayed diagnosis.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter $825,000 verdict A St. Louis jury last month ordered Saint Louis University and Dr. Paulo Bicalho to pay a South County couple $825,000 for injuries suffered after the husband's hip fracture went undiagnosed for...

Verdicts & Settlements August 6, 2007: Passenger settles collision case with delivery company.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale $1.3 million settlement A passenger injured when a delivery truck overturned onto her vehicle has reached a $1.3 million settlement in her case against the confidential delivery company and its driver. ...

Verdicts & Settlements August 6, 2007: Jury favors theater in premises case.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Defendant's verdict A Springfield movie theater has prevailed in a Greene County premises liability case brought by a patron injured in a fall on its auditorium floor. Plaintiff claimed the theater failed to...

Verdicts & Settlements August 6, 2007: Resident settles with her condominimum complex.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale $600,000 settlement A woman injured in a fall on a handicap access ramp has reached a $600,000 settlement in her Jackson County premises liability case against a condominium complex and its property management...

Agree to use a critical tool for team success.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Offices can use well-thought-out written agreements to help define, enhance and protect the work quality and success of their various departments and work groups. Our profession (and ultimately our...

New payment twist for Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin attorneys.(lawyer Michael Kahn)(Brief article)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin attorneys have a new payment source for their fees in the Tony Twist litigation. In a July 27 order, an Arizona bankruptcy judge authorized client Todd McFarlane Productions Inc. to use...

License of St. Charles attorney reinstated.(attorney Del Phillips)(Brief article)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole The license of St. Charles attorney Del Phillips has been reinstated after it was suspended in August 2006. Phillip had held onto $17,000, part of a client's portion of an automobile accident settlement, a bit too long...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: August 6, 2007.(Brief article)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff With help from Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, 34 Bosnian refugees were among 321 people sworn in as American citizens during a naturalization ceremony June 22 at Harris-Stowe State University....

Missouri nonpartisan plan criticism widens after announcement.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Long a noncombatant in the Missouri nonpartisan plan fight, the state Senate may investigate the matter this coming term. Majority Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, said the Senate may entertain hearings on a...

Supreme Court will look at tobacco decision.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick The family of a deceased smoker is claiming victory - even though the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District threw out their $20 million award. In a thinly split 2-1 decision last week, the Western District...

Sen. Chris Koster's party switch tightens Democratic race for AG.(attorney general)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck and James Goodwin Democratic contenders for state attorney general brushed aside Sen. Chris Koster's announcement last week that he was leaving the GOP for the Democratic Party. But the Harrisonville lawmaker's...

'Egregious' misconduct leads to suit's dismissal by U.S. District Court judge.(Western District of Missouri Judge Dean Whipple)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole A U.S. District Court judge has tossed a more than $20 million lawsuit against Shell Oil Co., lambasting a former operator of Kansas City Shell stations for holding back evidence and ignoring court orders. Western...

St. Louis attorney files motion after unpublished opinion.(Laurence Mass)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole St. Louis attorney Laurence Mass was irked. He had taken a legal malpractice case to the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District and received an order from a three-judge panel instead of a published opinion....

Missouri state representative pleads guilty in visa fraud case.(representative Nathan Cooper)(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese An immigration attorney and state representative pleaded guilty Thursday to felony fraud charges stemming from a scheme to get work visas for some clients. The U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis announced that Rep....

Discrimination for albino man does not get him asylum, says 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.(United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit)(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Tom Herrmann Social and economic discrimination are not sufficient grounds to grant asylum to an albino Indonesian man who wanted to remain in the United States, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. But the standard...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Husch & Eppenberger and the St. Louis County Bar Association sponsored 15 eighth-grade students from Loyola Academy on a July 26 tour of the St. Louis courthouse, followed by a visit to the firm's...

Seven IP lawyers join Armstrong Teasdale.(intellectual property)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole In the latest round of intellectual property attorney musical chairs, seven patent lawyers have landed seats at Armstrong Teasdale. The group, led by partner Christopher Goff, exited St. Louis boutique firm...

Client conflicts did not arise with attorney moves.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Armstrong Teasdale and the seven patent attorneys joining the firm were fortunate when it came to client conflicts. The firm and the group of attorneys, led by partner Christopher Goff, looked but didn't run into...

For Hmong farmers in the Ozarks, it's bad luck of bad faith.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka An American dream deeply rooted in their Southeast Asian heritage has led hundreds of Hmong families to the Ozarks. After living in urban areas for decades, the families seized an opportunity to become farmers...

Appellate Judicial Commission panel's aftermath leads to paper flood.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck For a process criticized for being secretive, the work of the Appellate Judicial Commission is releasing a level of press releases and official correspondence usually reserved for political campaigns. Last week,...

St. Louis firm Fox Goldblatt pays nearly $6,000 to paralegals.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Fox Goldblatt & Singer just finished paying three employees who followed two lawyers to a new firm last year. A Department of Labor investigation into unpaid overtime wrapped up in June with personal injury firm...

Missouri Court of Appeals says truck driver could not recover for emotional distress.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Joy Simmons A truck driver whose vehicle was struck by a family's car after it crossed a median may not seek damages for emotional injuries caused from a young child dead at the scene, the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Criminal Appeal - Timeliness Where a criminal defendant filed a direct notice of appeal from a judgment entered on May 19, 1976, the appeal was filed more than 30 years...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Settlement - Mootness Where parties in a civil case filed a settlement while an appeal was pending, the case is moot and the appeal is dismissed with instructions. ...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Default Judgment - Independent Action - Good Cause (1) Where a defendant in an employment discrimination case moved to set aside a default judgment, the motion was an independent...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Subject Matter Jurisdiction - Work Comp Exclusivity - Not 'At Work' Where a hotel worker, who was injured on his way to work when he was involved in an auto accident with a car...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Agriculture - Wetlands Conversion - USDA Benefits Where the United States Department of Agriculture found that a plaintiff was ineligible for USDA benefits because he had...

Verdicts & Settlement August 13, 2007: Yellow Transportation settles for $3.25M.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale $3.25 million settlement The family of a motorcyclist struck and killed by a Yellow Transportation semitrailer has reached a $3.25 million settlement in their Jackson County wrongful death case against the...

Verdicts & Settlements August 13, 2007: Couple gets $6.5M settlement in truck crash.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole $6.5 million settlement A seriously injured couple settled their lawsuit against a student driver and the interstate trucking company that trained him for $6.5 million after a crash with a tractor-trailer. ...

Verdicts & Settlements August 13, 2007L Sexual harassment suit leads to settlement at UMKC.(University of Missouri-Kansas City)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck $1.1 million settlement The settlement of a high-profile sexual harassment lawsuit against the University of Missouri-Kansas City has brought some closure to the alleged victims, though questions about the incident...

Commentary: In defense of the Plan.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The undersigned are all former Chief Justices of Missouri. Each of us once chaired the Appellate Judicial Commission under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. We were appointed to the Supreme Court by...

Commentary: In defense of the Plan.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The Appellate Judicial Commission understands that certain politicians and others have made public statements raising questions about the commission's recent process of nominating three individuals for...

Commentary: A Sow's Ear - Importance of patent quality after KSR.
August 20, 2007... Byline: John K. Roedel, Jr The April 30, 2007 Supreme Court decision in KSR International v. Teleflex is the latest in a series of judicial decisions that increase the need for high-quality patent applications and high-caliber patent...

Study finds three Missouri firms among best for women.(Armstrong Teasdale L.L.P., Blackwell Sanders Matheny Weary & Lombardi, Bryan Cave L.L.P.)(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff All Blackwell Sanders' offices toasted with ice cream the firm's designation as one of the best law firms for women. The firm, along with fellow Missouri-based firms Armstrong Teasdale and Bryan...

Some Missouri family law atty. hoping to replace "custody" with "parenting responsibilities".(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole To paraphrase Shakespeare, a divorce by any other name still would be a divorce. However, some family law attorneys are hoping that changing some of the legal terminology in divorce agreements could erase some of...

Rolla attorney Lee Harrison Bushie dies.(Obituary)(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Rolla city counselor Lee Harrison Bushie drowned Aug. 9 while swimming in the Osage River. He was 47. Bushie, who also had a personal injury and criminal defense practice, was a "tremendous" lawyer...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: August 20, 2007.(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Reuben Shelton has been elected president of the board of directors for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. He has served as interim president since February and becomes the first African-American...

Class-action settlements can be attractive to attorneys.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole In a Florida judge's view, Kansas City attorney Ken Nelson wasn't a big help in examining a class-action settlement. U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz borrowed a word used by plaintiffs' attorneys when she called...

Missouri Auditor Susan Montee pumps up municipal court audits.(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole After $1.36 million went missing in Springfield, state Auditor Susan Montee is bumping up the number of municipal court audits. Municipal courts in the cities of Fulton, Moberly, Centralia and Huntsville already...

Selling the Nonpartisan Court Plan in Green County (of all places).
August 20, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole As the Nonpartisan Court Plan comes under attack by conservative critics, a Springfield criminal defense attorney is spearheading an effort to switch Greene County to the plan. Joseph Passanise, an attorney with...

Chief's firing creates a new standard for discrimination in Missouri.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Members of the employment law bar reacted with surprise and alarm to a state Supreme Court decision last week that may provoke a sea change in the way employment discrimination cases are handled in Missouri. The...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Jury Instruction - Question - Objection Where a trial judge gave a jury in a statutory rape and statutory sodomy trial the proper jury instructions defining deviate sexual...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Stealing - Deceit Where a township board member signed four township checks made payable to himself as well as four township checks payable to his wife, six of those eight checks...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Jurisdiction - Guilty Plea - Withdrawal Where a motorist moved to withdraw his speeding ticket guilty plea after he discovered the plea would result in points assessed against his...

U.S. Bank. Ct. - App. Panel Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.(United States Bankruptcy Courts - Appellate Panel)(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Homestead Exemption - Right To Counsel Where the bankruptcy court sustained a creditor's objection to debtor's homestead exemption, the debtor had transferred the property...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Race Discrimination - Pretext - College Defendant Where an African-American campus provost who applied for the college president position brought claims of retaliation and race...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: Trucking company settles in fatal collision.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale $5 million settlement The adult children of a Kansas City woman who died in a fiery collision with a semitrailer have reached a $5 million settlement in their Jackson County wrongful death suit against the truck...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: Woman settles claim against bankrupt diet-pill maker.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter $700,000 settlement A woman who suffered an aneurysm and hemorrhagic stroke after taking Dexatrim caplets for several days settled her claim against the diet-pill maker for a gross settlement of $700,000. ...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: Mall's former owners settle in premises case.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka, James Goodwin $750,000 settlement Lawyers for a mentally retarded woman successfully held the former owners of the Saint Louis Galleria liable for her rape, which she said occurred in an employee restroom in the...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: Funeral home wins third-party breach of contract case.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale $844,300 verdict The owners of a northwest Missouri funeral home have won an $844,300 judgment in their Buchanan County breach of contract case against a former employee and a competitor alleged to have violated...

Commentary: Keeping the court door open for pro se litigants.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Maridee Farnquist Edwards Everyone has a right to redress in the courts, but not everyone can afford it. Many judges observe that it is a drain on court time (and their patience) to walk unrepresented litigants through the legal...

Editorial: Coming to the defense of Dennis Owens.(Letter to the editor)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Derk Schwieger, Minneapolis attorney Dear Editor: I am a member of the Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota Bar Associations. I have also been an elected official and political party leader. I have seen firsthand numerous political...

Editorial: Partner, are you sure you're tenured?
August 20, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll The recent headline in The Wall Street Journal would have been unthinkable a decade ago: "Partnership Is No Longer a Tenured Position." The accompanying article talked about the phenomenon of "de-equitization" -...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Interlocutory Order - Finality Where a prisoner appealed from an order denying his application for habeas corpus, the order was interlocutory and not appealable. Appeal...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Jurisdiction - Third- Party Claims - Severance Where plaintiffs sued defendants for a prescriptive easement and the defendants impleaded the sellers of the property, an...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Judgment - Finality Where a trial court entered a judgment that dismissed one but not all counts in a civil case, the judgment was not final for purposes of appeal. ...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Banks and Banking Unauthorized Practice - Loan Documentation Where a bank charged borrowers a document preparation fee when processing their mortgage loans, the bank engaged in a separate...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Costs - Taxation Where a verdict in a commercial case was affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded by the appellate court, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 39(a)...

Up & Coming Lawyers in Missouri.(Occupation overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff These areas of practice include employment and trademark. Attorney information includes their firm, law school, practice area and notable accomplishments. Mike Blumenthal, 39 Seyferth Knittig...

Up & Coming Lawyers in Missouri.(Occupation overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff These areas of practice include liability and health care. Attorney information includes their firm, law school, practice area and notable accomplishments. Amy Collignon Gunn, 35 Simon...

Up & Coming Lawyers in Missouri.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff These areas of practice include state and county appointed and elected offices. Attorney information includes their law school, practice area and notable accomplishmnets. Nimrod (Rod) Chapel Jr, 37...

Up & Coming Lawyers in Missouri.(Occupation overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Practice areas for this group includes criminal defense estate and family law. Attorney information includes their firm, area of practice, law school and notable accomplishments. David G. Bandre,...

Up & Coming Lawyers in Missouri.(Occupation overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Practice areas for this group includes plaintiff and business litigation. Attorney information includes their firm, area of practice, law school and notable accomplishments. Morry Cole, 36 ...

U.S. Senior District Court Judge Dean Whipple denies throwing gavel.(Brief article)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole U.S. Senior District Court Judge Dean Whipple would like it to be known that he's not in the habit of flinging gavels across the courtroom. In fact, the Western District judge said in an Aug. 17 order, he doesn't...

Easing tension.(massage services for lawyers of Armstrong Teasdale L.L.P.)(Brief article)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole The hard-working attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale and Bryan Cave headquarters may soon be able to go to a masseuse in their St. Louis building. The masseuse is scheduled to start work in September in the...

Bryan Cave loses three to Ogletree Deakins in St. Louis.(Bryan Cave L.L.P., Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, Saint Louis, Missouri)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Media Staff Three former attorneys at Bryan Cave opened a St. Louis office for Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. Gregg M. Lemley and Tim A. Garnett opened the office as shareholders of Ogletree Deakins,...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: August 27 2007.(Brief article)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Todd Ahrens, Daphney Destin, Pamela Meanes and Jennifer Schwendemann were elected to two-year terms on the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Board of Directors. Ahrens is senior vice president and...

Verdicts & Settlement August 27, 2007: Fathers' deaths lead to $13.5M settlement.(David Adams and Brian Hill)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole The families of two fathers killed in a crash in a highway construction zone during a father-and-son trip settled lawsuits against two construction companies for $13.5 million. A general contractor also assigned the...

Missouri Supreme Court: Bank wrongly practicing law in mortgage papers.(Midwest Bank Centre)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka The Missouri Supreme Court issued a sweeping reprimand Tuesday to banks that charge fees for processing mortgage-loan documents. Charging such fees is the unauthorized practice of law, the court said, siding with...

IRS looked into St. Louis's Lewis Rice & Fingersh tax advice.(Internal Revenue Service, Saint Louis, Missouri)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole The Internal Revenue Service asked Lewis Rice & Fingersh for information about certain tax shelters and to identify the clients the law firm advised about them, according to a recently filed document in a lawsuit. ...

Missouri Court of Appeals says police officer's testimony can convict speeder.(Missouri Court of Appeals (Southern District))
August 27, 2007... Byline: Joy Simmons Testimony of a police officer may be considered sufficient evidence that a person was speeding in some cases, the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District ruled in a case of first impression. Those instances are when...

Meet the Best of Missouri's GEN X.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Bridget Heos Jill Patterson and Tyson Martin proved that a man murdered his girlfriend's 18-month-old son - as opposed to unintentionally killing him while play wrestling, which the defense had argued. Matthew Schelp is...

Lawyer membership of Missouri judicial commission have two things in common:.(Missouri Association of Trial Attorney members and Democratic Party donors)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Kelly Wiese As Gov. Matt Blunt weighs who to place on Missouri's highest court, some conservative groups have complained that Missouri's process for selecting judges is unduly influenced by "liberal trial attorneys." Some...

Up & Coming Lawyers in Missouri.(Occupation overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff These areas of practice include real estate. Attorney information includes their firm, law school, practice area and notable accomplishments. G. Edgar (Eddie) James, 36 Shughart, Thompson &...

Verdicts & Settlements August 27, 2007: Obstetrician prevails in medical negligence case.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vital Defendants' verdict A Jackson County jury found an obstetrician did not cause cerebral palsy in a child's delivery. Jacob Frazier was born on Sept. 8, 2003. Dr. Michelle R. Lemberger of the Independence...

Verdicts & Settlements August 27, 2007: Former HBE Corp. salesman wins case over unpaid commissions.(unpaid commissions)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole $550,000 verdict A fired former HBE Corp. salesman is seeking $224,000 in prejudgment interest after winning his case over unpaid commissions. On a unanimous verdict July 19, a St. Louis County jury awarded...