Missouri Lawyers Weekly articles from December 2008

Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives from December 2008

Missouri firms among those lining up for payment from Twinkie maker's bankruptcy.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Missouri firms are among several others lining up for payment as Twinkie-maker Interstate Bakeries Corp.'s bankruptcy draws to a close. A hearing on the confirmation of the Kansas City company's plan to emerge...

FDIC ensures continued insurance coverage.(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka After being flooded with 500 comments from bar associations and law firms, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has bitten the bullet. On Nov. 21, the FDIC extended unlimited deposit insurance coverage to Interest...

Missouri Lawyers In the News: December 1, 2008.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart announced Eric A. Todd, a shareholder in its St. Louis office, has been elected president of the board of directors of Kids In the Middle, a St. Louis-area...

Reorganization of St. Louis-based Bryan Cave credited with hastening merger.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Bryan Cave's reorganization of its management and administration allowed the firm to move more quickly on its most recent merger, according to a partner in charge of the firm's growth. Bryan Cave has made 15...

'Something more' theory helps St. Louis worker net $10M.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka In the latest payout generated by the often-nebulous "something more" doctrine, a St. Louis employee secured a $10 million settlement over a 2006 on-the-job accident that left him with severe burns and an amputated...

Commentary: 52nd annual Gridiron: less drag, more gags.(self-parody of the legal profession)(Missouri)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Richard Jackoway With Sarah Palin having returned to the frozen tundra, "Saturday Night Live" isn't the yuckfest it was during the election. Fortunately for St. Louis lawyers in search of some song, a little dance and more...

Opposition mounts to proposed ad rule changes in Missouri.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole An ethics committee and the head of the state's lawyer discipline system are objecting to some of the proposed changes to lawyer advertising rules as the public comment period draws to a close. The rule-tightening...

Longtime Springfield lawyer Glenn Burkart remembered.(Obituary)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A longtime lawyer and founder of a Springfield defense firm has died. Glenn Burkart was remembered by colleagues as a legendary litigator and great storyteller who also took the time to serve as a mentor to younger...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: December 1, 2008.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Public Employee - Demotion - Notice Where a city's notice to an electrician foreman about his demotion failed to provide specific details about the allegations against him and...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: December 1, 2008.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Contracts Real Property - Conveyance - Wastewater Treatment Plant Where a trial court found that landowners agreed to convey property to a water company and the Public Service Commission for...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: December 1, 2008.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Contempt Order - Remedy Available - Writ Where a party filed a petition for a writ of prohibition to set aside a judgment for civil contempt, the preliminary writ must be...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: December 1, 2008.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Fiduciary Duties - Post- Conviction Representation - Amended Pleading Where an inmate claimed his post-conviction attorney breached his fiduciary duty to him by failing to call...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: December 1, 2008.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Sovereign Immunity- Investigatory Actions - Prosecutors Where two men who were convicted of murder and served lengthy sentences brought civil rights claims against the former...

Reasonable precautions still protect confidentiality.
December 1, 2008... Byline: William Hodes/Dolan Newswires The duty of confidentiality is one of the most important professional duties that lawyers owe to their clients. It applies to lawyers of all stripes transaction, litigation, civil or criminal and...

Commentary: Congressional action needed on judicial pay.
December 1, 2008... Byline: H. Thomas Wells Jr. Federal judges serve for life and make decisions that affect the constitutional rights of millions of Americans. We must have the best people in these judgeships. Yet, serving as a judge in the U.S. federal...

Missouri-based Shughart Thomson & Kilroy to thin equity partner ranks.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Shughart Thomson & Kilroy's equity partner ranks will drop by almost half when the firm merges with the Polsinelli law firm early next year. Forty-eight Shughart shareholders will be equity partners in a combined...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: December 15, 2008.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The Missouri Democratic Party selected Springfield attorney Craig Hosmer of Springfield as party chairman. Hosmer, of Hosmer, King & Royce, serves as the chairman of the Greene County Democratic Party...

Top defense verdict of 2007 upheld by Missouri Supreme Court.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Will Connaghan Just before Thanksgiving, the Missouri Supreme Court declined to transfer a case from the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District. That happens all of the time, but this case is significant because it was the top...

Missouri Court of Appeals: Fired insurance agent keeps $1 million award.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco A former insurance agent with an office in the Cape Girardeau area since 1982 won his breach-of-contract case against the insurance company that fired him. The Missouri Court of Appeals has affirmed a $1 million...

Missouri Supreme Court passes on proposed discovery rule.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka The e-mails poured in from Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and less than a week later, Bill Thompson, counsel to the Missouri Supreme Court, replied with a succinct message. "Please be advised that the...

Recession proof? Not quite: intellectual property litigation demand down slightly.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Law firms have been grabbing intellectual property litigation attorneys in a mad rush to build a practice deemed immune to the slings and arrows of the economy. The thinking has been that companies are willing,...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District recognizes cause of action for negligent credentialing.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Scott Lauck The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District recognized a cause of action for "negligent credentialing" against hospitals that authorize independent doctors to practice there. The court, in an opinion issued Dec....

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: December 15, 2008.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Habeas Corpus - Dismissal Where a party appealed from a trial court's judgment dismissing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, an appeal does not lie from the denial or...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: December 15, 2008.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Hearsay - Instruction Where an insurer appealed the trial court's judgment on a jury verdict entered for a plaintiff in a breach-of-contract case, the insurer failed to...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: December 15, 2008.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Inadequate Brief - Domestic Case Where the brief of a father brought a pro se appeal to a judgment modifying child support and visitation rights and finding him in contempt...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Appellate Panel Case Summaries: December 15, 2008.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Pre-Bankruptcy Planning - Homestead Exemption - Intent Where debtors at the advice of their attorney increased the value of their homestead exemption by liquidating construction...

United States Court of Appeals 8th Circuit Case Summaries: December 15, 2008.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights State Actor - Agency - Work Comp Benefits Where a worker who was order to re-pay workers' compensation benefits brought a civil rights action against his former employer and the...

Verdicts & Settlements December 15, 2008: Researcher wins $2.4M in unjust enrichment case.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Sex researcher Virginia Johnson won a $2.4 million jury verdict against a health care management company for using the Masters and Johnson service mark to market treatment programs that have nothing to do with sexual...

Verdicts & Settlements December 15, 2008: Fatal St. Charles crash settles for $1 million.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The husband of a woman killed in an auto accident has reached a more than $1 million settlement with the defendants. On Feb. 25, 2007, while driving home from watching the Academy Awards at a...

Verdicts & Settlements December 15, 2008: Homeowners recover $170,000 from contractor.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A Greene County jury awarded $170,000 in damages to homeowners accusing their general contractor of breach of contract stemming from construction defects on their new home. "The repairs lasted several years and...

Verdicts & Settlements December 15, 2008: Union Pacific found not liable for FELA claims.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Union Pacific Railroad Co. has prevailed in a Federal Employers Liability Act action brought in Jackson County by a railroad employee claiming more than $1.2 million in damages from an accidental handgun discharge....

Verdicts & Settlements December 15, 2008: Plaintiffs settle suit over fire after four years.
December 15, 2008... Byline: Cathy Kingsleyn Four years of intensive litigation was resolved in minutes of face-to-face negotiations in a case involving a fire in a condominium complex near Chicago. Each building in the Villa Verde Residential complex in...

Missouri Supreme Court: sexually violent determinations must be 'clear and convincing'.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum The Missouri Supreme Court rejected a bid by two men to overturn their determinations as "sexually violent predators," ruling that it was constitutional to use a "clear and convincing evidence" standard to make such...

Missouri Supreme Court outlines reformed eminent domain process.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The Missouri Supreme Court has started outlining some of the procedures trial courts should use for eminent domain cases under reform passed in 2006. On Tuesday, the court said a "heritage" award required under...

Face-to-face justice: why restorative justice programs are thriving in Missouri.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Supporters of expanding restorative justice programs in Missouri say it's a great concept that makes victims feel more involved and helps youngsters turn their lives around. Advocates range from juvenile officers and...

Missouri's new attorney general tries to maintain independence of office during transition.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Chris Koster is only a few weeks away from taking the reins of one of Missouri's biggest and most consequential law firms. However, his pace to make appointments to his new office has been slowed down by the...

IRS nabs refund from Arkansas tax attorney.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco A former partner in a Little Rock law firm won a nearly $9,000 judgment against the Internal Revenue Service, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed last week, holding that the attorney lacked...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: December 22, 2008.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Driver's License DWI - Probable Cause - Paraplegic Driver Where an officer observed a driver weaving in a lane and fluctuating his speed and when stopped the driver admitted to drinking and...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: December 22, 2008.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sexual Misconduct - 'Affront' - Child Victim - Where the state in a sexual misconduct case presented evidence that the defendant exposed himself to a child when he was alone with...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: December 22, 2008.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Contracts Distributorship Contracts - Termination - At-Will Agreement Where a corporation that terminated two distributorship contracts sought a declaratory judgment that the termination was...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: December 22, 2008.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Batson Challenge - Pretext - Slip And Fall Where a grocery store that was a defendant in a slip-and-fall case used its three peremptory strikes to remove three African-Americans...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: December 22, 2008.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Standing - Tax Sanction - Law Firm Where a plaintiff sought a refund of his pro rata share of a tax sanction paid in conjunction with a closing agreement between the plaintiff's...

Verdicts & Settlements December 22, 2008: Head injury yields $1.1 million settlement.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Kyle Lewis A boy who suffered a brain injury during a school field trip hiking accident settled his Cole County case for $1.1 million. The plaintiff, Jesse C. Rodriguez Jr., was 13 years old and in seventh grade on May 11,...

Verdicts & Settlements December 22, 2008: Collision case settles for $1.4M before filing.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A couple injured in a collision with a semitrailer has reached a $1.4 million settlement with the truck driver and his employer. The parties settled before suit was filed in Saline County. "Developing a...

Verdicts & Settlements December 22, 2008: Engineer settles FELA case for $700,000.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A locomotive engineer claiming he was injured in a fall from a collapsed seat has reached a $700,000 settlement of his Jackson County FELA action against Union Pacific Railroad Co. Alex Castillo, 48, was an...

Verdicts & Settlements December 22, 2008: SLU cleared of medical malpractice.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A St. Louis jury returned a verdict in favor of Saint Louis University in a medical malpractice case claiming that lack of monitoring after the delivery of a preterm baby led to the child's cerebral palsy. In...

Verdicts & Settlements December 22, 2008: Cole County jury rejects passenger's injury claims.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A Cole County jury rejected a passenger's claims that a dump truck driver caused his injuries during a severe collision. The plaintiff, a passenger in a vehicle that crashed into the dump truck while trying to...

Verdicts & Settlements December 22, 2008: Washington County settles wrongful death lawsuit.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter The Washington County Sheriff's Office and a former deputy agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a man the deputy killed. Deputy Jason M. Louis shot John L. Turntine Jr. on Sept. 3, 2006,...

Former law professor, Obama could reshape law.
December 22, 2008... Byline: William H. Freivogel Before he was a candidate for president and before he was a U.S. senator, Barack Obama was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago. Few presidents in the past century have entered the Oval...

Blossoming in the desert: Shughart Thomson & Kilroy adds attorneys at its Phoenix office.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Phoenix was one of those cities that took it on the chin in both the commercial and residential real estate markets this year. So why did Shughart Thomson & Kilroy include a real estate attorney among the 13 others...

Spencer Fane Britt & Browne adds space in Overland Park, Kansas, location.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Spencer Fane Britt & Browne is adding four new offices in the firm's Overland Park, Kan., location. Now the Kansas City firm just needs lawyers to occupy them. The firm negotiated for 2,700 square feet to add to...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: December 22, 2008.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Five Missouri attorneys were named to Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America list. Thompson Coburn Chairman Tom Minogue, Shook, Hardy & Bacon attorneys Robert Adams and Harvey Kaplan and Lathrop &...

Commentary: give your client the gift of cooperation.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Will Connaghan We like to think during the holiday season that the spirit of goodwill is alive and well. And many times the practice of law is adversarial. One side seeks justice for an alleged wrong while the other side...

Hiring freeze follows promotion freeze in Missouri's public defender's office.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Missouri's public defenders are stuck between a rock and hard place after the State Public Defender's Office instituted a hiring freeze last week. Still struggling with heavy caseloads, the freeze will prevent any...

Bad economy affecting parents' ability to pay support, Missouri lawyers say.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka His defense attorney calls it a "sign of the times" case. A father is laid off from a high-paying job, uses his retirement savings to buy a foundering small business, sees his home foreclosed on and ends up unable...

Missouri Supreme Court upholds Batson challenge.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley In a ruling affirming the trial court's discretion, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a judge's decision to sustain a Batson challenge. The ruling upheld a $212,000 jury verdict for Doris Kesler-Ferguson in her...

Ill woman's loss of job not voluntary, rules Missouri Supreme Court.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A woman with ovarian cancer did not voluntarily leave her sales job and was wrongly denied unemployment benefits, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. In a unanimous decision, the court reversed a Labor...

St. Louis schools takeover upheld by Missouri Supreme Court.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A unanimous state Supreme Court rejected all arguments by those seeking to reinstate the elected board for the St. Louis Public School District. The court found that the State Board of Education acted properly in...

Internet necessitates 'false light' protection, Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District says.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Angela Riley The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District has recognized a new tort false light invasion of privacy. The decision has free speech advocates concerned because the line between it and defamation is unclear. ...

General counsel of St. Louis-based Emerson shuffles control.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole General Counsel Frank Steeves is bringing more of Emerson's legal department directly under his control. Steeves has put five legal areas under central management, plans to add a regional counsel position in Latin...

Gov. Blunt will turn over e-mails to investigative team.(Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Court-appointed attorneys and lawyers for Gov. Matt Blunt came to a settlement on Tuesday afternoon over a festering controversy concerning records retention in the governor's office. In 2007, Nixon appointed a...

Missouri 2008 year in review: law firms merged, judges retired and the economy raised concerns.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Perhaps it would be an injustice to characterize the past year as eventful. 2008 brought about enough drama, suspense, triumph, defeat, dizzying highs and frightful lows to fill movie scripts. Some...

The go-to guy in Jefferson City over the next four years.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka There are no continuances on Election Day. Chuck Hatfield kept this mantra in mind during a frenzied year of work at Stinson Morrison Hecker for his growing stable of business clients and political candidates. ...

Boone County judge's verdict favors store employee harassed by customer.(Missouri)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Kyle Lewis A Boone County judge returned a plaintiff's verdict for a woman who was sexually harassed and stalked while working at a convenience store. The plaintiff, Deborah Caruso, was employed as a manager and sales clerk at...

Missouri Department of Corrections officer settles lawsuits over retaliation.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A corrections officer who claimed he was retaliated against for blowing the whistle on illegal activity settled a pair of lawsuits. Bryant Holmes, a 14-year veteran of the Missouri Department of Corrections,...

Kansas City mayor, wife settle with former aide.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser and his wife settled their portions of a lawsuit brought earlier this year by a former mayoral aide. Ruth Bates sued the first couple and the city, alleging she was the victim...

How do you go about suing a client? Carefully.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll Regular readers of this column know I consider the client intake process the most important step in the collection process. An appropriate conversation and written agreement with your client about payment of fees in the...

Two Missouri firms trim summer programs.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Summer associates at two of Missouri's largest firms will have more time to work on their tans in 2009. Bryan Cave and Husch Blackwell Sanders each cut their summer associate programs by two weeks, bringing them to...

Assistant U.S. attorney Larry H. Ferrell, of Cape Girardeau, shows dedication to justice in Iraq.(Interview)
December 29, 2008... Byline: John DeMoor Assistant U.S. attorney Larry H. Ferrell, of Cape Girardeau, says the prosecution of Saddam Hussein's regime and the establishment of a judicial system in Iraq are vital to the success of the nation's new democracy. ...

Work on merger pushed Springfield company into Fortune 500.
December 29, 2008... Byline: David Knopf It's not often that a transaction in the Springfield market pushes a local company into the Fortune 500. But that's what happened in 2008, when Lathrop & Gage attorney Randell D. Wallace helped advise McQueary Bros....

Missouri lawyer was leader in effort to overhaul court plan.(judicial selection)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Attorney Bill Placke has been amazed at the level of opposition from The Missouri Bar and other legal groups to what he sees as reasonable efforts to update the state's plan for selecting judges. Placke became the...

Assistant Missouri AG lands big verdict against pharmaceutical giants.
December 29, 2008... Byline: David Knopf John D. Anderson met Rex Burlison three decades ago, when the young lawyers were on opposing sides of a tenant-landlord dispute. He doesn't remember much about the specifics of the case, but he's been a fan of his...

Chris Koster's big gamble to switch parties paid off.(Missouri)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Chris Koster doesn't have much time these days to reflect on the remarkable events of the past year. Yes, he switched political parties in 2007, shocking the Jefferson City establishment and losing some friends in...

Attorney General Jay Nixon takes hard work to Missouri's top spot.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Jason Rosenbaum Attorney General Jay Nixon was essentially running for governor the past three years. It took less than 30 minutes after the polls closed to find out he had won. Nixon, a Jefferson County native who lives in...

Saint Louis University Legal Clinics director pushes through citizenship applications.
December 29, 2008... Byline: David Knopf John Ammann, director of the Saint Louis University Legal Clinics, didn't have to go far to find inspiration to serve others. His father, Joseph, a high-school teacher who's now deceased, gathered the family to...

First Amendment passion fuels Legal Director at ACLU of Eastern Missouri.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Betsy Lee Though she regularly stands up and yells out slogans that are reprehensible to him, Anthony Rothert agreed to represent Shirley Phelps-Roper. In the case Phelps-Roper v. Nixon, Rothert convinced the 8th Circuit panel...

Lathrop & Gage attorney keeps railways on green track.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The world's largest three-level railway flyover was finished in Kansas City in 2007, but Lathrop & Gage Partner Allison Bergman mopped up the details this year. Bergman is general counsel for the Kansas City...

City attorney for St. Peters leads $35 million business project.(Missouri)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Matt Allen When Randy Weber signed on as city attorney for St. Peters in 1998, he jumped right into an almost-1,600-acre land transaction. The project was a decade-long effort to finance, acquire and construct a $35 million...

Passanise, Sheppard helped Missouri's nonpartisan court plan pass.(lawyers Joseph Passanise and Chip Sheppard)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Joseph Passanise and Chip Sheppard seemed to have too many things stacked against them. The governor, a Republican from the area, came out in opposition to their effort. A group that opposes the judicial selection...

Missouri lawyer became flashpoint in open records dispute.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Scott Eckersley never intended for it to work out this way. He was going along doing his job as a lawyer for the governor's office. But he saw something happening that he didn't think was right, and he shared those...

Rudolph A. 'Rudy' Telscher: an intellectual property slugger.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter Rudolph A. "Rudy" Telscher spends most of his time on large patent litigation. But three years ago he landed what he now calls a "once-in-a-lifetime case," a lawsuit by a St. Louis-based fantasy baseball provider...

Charlie Harris finishes as president of The Missouri Bar with no regrets.
December 29, 2008... Byline: Betsy Lee Before Charlie Harris' father died in 1987, he offered a few words of advice that sparked a change in Harris' life. "He told me to never go through life saying 'shoulda, coulda, woulda,'" Harris said. "And after that,...

Commentary: a lawyer for a political year.(Missouri)
December 29, 2008... Byline: Richard Jackoway Although there's no good way to pick Missouri's Lawyer of the Year, there are some bad ways. It shouldn't go by fiat to the lawyer who won the largest jury award or completed the biggest merger. Big firm...