Missouri Lawyers Weekly articles from February 2004

Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives from February 2004

MO Court of Appeals, Southern District Case Summaries: February 2, 2004.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Merchandising Practices Act - Damages - Counterclaim Where a man who was sued by a hospital for payment of a medical bill counterclaimed under the Merchandising Practices Act, the...

MO Court of Appeals, Western District Case Summaries: February 2, 2004.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Rule 74.05 - Default Judgment - Response Where a mother was found to be in default for failing to file responsive pleadings to a father's motion to modify child support, a...

Estate of MO Gov. Mel Carnahan wins $4M in plane crash litigation.(Carnahan v. Parker-Hannifin Corp.)
February 2, 2004... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan and her children won $4 million in their products liability litigation involving the plane crash that killed Gov. Mel Carnahan and his son, pilot Randy Carnahan. The plaintiffs...

Missouri Supreme Court rules default was wrongly set aside.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones Where a default judgment was entered against a defendant because its registered agent "forgot" that she had been served, the trial court should not have set aside the default, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled....

MO Bar's "Law School for Legislators": First class graduates.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The first class of legislators graduated from The Missouri Bar's "Law School for Legislators" program on Jan. 27 in Jefferson City. According to MoBar Media Relations Director Jack Wax, four inches...

MO Lawyers In The News: February 2, 2004.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff James E. Godfrey Jr. has joined Evans & Dixon LLC as a member in the firm's Civil Litigation Practice. Godfrey had been in private practice in St. Louis and brings 20 years of civil defense litigation...

Estate of MO Gov. Mel Carnahan wins $4M in plane crash litigation.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan and her children won $4 million in their products liability litigation involving the plane crash that killed Gov. Mel Carnahan and his son, pilot Randy Carnahan. VERDICT REPORT ...

Car buyer claimed breach of warranty, plaintiff failed in court.(Pamela Smith v. Kia Motors America Inc.)(Case overview)
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant's Verdict Pamela Smith filed a breach of warranty suit against Kia Motors America, claiming that a new car she bought had various mechanical problems. Before trial Kia Motors filed a...

MO Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: February 2, 2004.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Constitutional Prevailing Wage Act - Occupational Title Rule - Public Works Projects Where the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations applied the occupational title rule to contractors...

MOSupreme Court to review the child support guidelines.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Section 452.340.7 RSMo requires the Missouri Supreme Court to review the child support guidelines (Rule 88.01) every three years to ensure that application of the guidelines results in appropriate child...

10 Years Ago In MO Lawyers Weekly: $70 million Kansas City case was the largest plaintiff's verdict.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $70 Million Verdict Is Largest For 1993 A $70 million Kansas City case was the largest plaintiff's verdict reported to Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 1993. The case involved a breach of a commitment to...

St. Louis-based environmental group battles Wal-Mart.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff St. Louis-based Great Rivers Environmental Law Center has weighed in against Wal-Mart in a 5th U.S. circuit Court of Appeals case. "The tenacious legal fight to stop a massive Wal-Mart Supercenter...

'Egg-shell' plaintiff wins automobile accident case in St. Louis County court.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Most lawyers encounter "egg-shell" plaintiffs only in law school. But for St. Louis attorney David A. Dimmitt, first-year torts class came alive when he represented a 38-year-old woman involved in a minor car...

MO attorneys tell how to find success by marketing niche practices.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Ann Corrigan Forget about being all things to all clients, attorneys tell Missouri Lawyers Weekly -- the key to building a practice is focusing on a narrow segment of the legal market. And the success of their niche practices,...

Verdicts & Settlements February 2, 2004: Property taken for highway improvement.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.3 Million Verdict The owners of property in Washington County filed exceptions to a commissioners' award following condemnation by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission. Yogi...

Former St. Louis City prosecutor Edward Dowd Sr. dies.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Edward Dowd Sr., a former St. Louis City prosecutor and 1972 Democratic gubernatorial candidate and patriarch of a prominent St. Louis family of lawyers, has died. The Associated Press reports that...

Verdicts & Settlements: Woman awarded $397,500 in auto accident case.
February 2, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $397,500 Settlement The plaintiff, a 42-year-old woman, sued for injuries she suffered in an accident with a truck. On Aug. 27, 2002 the plaintiff was making a left turn from Gregory Road onto...

'Egg-shell' plaintiff wins automobile accident case in St. Louis County court.(Case overview)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Anne C. Vitale Most lawyers encounter "egg-shell" plaintiffs only in law school. But for St. Louis attorney David A. Dimmitt, first-year torts class came alive when he represented a 38-year-old woman involved in a minor car...

8th Circuit rules employee cannot sue employer for defamation.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones An employee who was fired for falsifying corporate records could not sue the employer for defamation after it reported the incident to an outside company that processed unemployment claims, the 8th U.S. Circuit...

MO Court of Appeals' Eastern District rules hearing aid case barred by med-mal statute.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones A woman's lawsuit against a hearing aid company for injuries she suffered while being fitted for a hearing aid was subject to the two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims, the Missouri Court...

St. Louis attorney Malcolm Martin dies at 91.(Obituary)
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Malcolm W. Martin, a founding member of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, died on Jan. 29 in St. Louis. The firm released the following statement: "Lawyers of my generation were lucky to have Malcolm...

Commentary: Withdrawing from representation.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Emily Eichenhorn As any divorce lawyer can tell you, when someone wants out of a relationship, the fallout can be ugly -- even when the other person is amenable to the proceedings. It's no different when lawyers seek to withdraw...

GOP tort reform bills in MO legislature require new restrictions on lawsuits and insurance cos.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Missouri's medical malpractice crisis must be attacked with new restrictions on lawsuits and insurance companies alike, according to a Republican legislator who has filed bills to do both. The...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: February 9, 2004.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bryan Cave LLP announced that Charles Weiss, a partner in the firm's St. Louis office, has been elected chairperson of the recently formed Legal Aid of Missouri Statewide, Inc. -- a not-for-profit...

Verdicts & Settlements February 9, 2004: Man died in motorcycle accident.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $2.5 Million Settlement The family of a motorcyclist killed in an accident with a delivery truck sued for negligent supervision. On Sept. 12, 2002 Larry Jennings was riding a friend's...

Verdicts & Settlements February 9, 2004: Plaintiff: Sex harassment destroyed business.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $800,000 Settlement A woman who claimed that a business associate destroyed her company after she refused his sexual advances sued under several theories, including fraud and tortious interference....

Verdicts & Settlements February 9, 2004: Rear-end accident caused head injury.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $487,000 Settlement $3.85 Million Judgment A man who suffered a head injury in a rear-end accident sued the driver who hit him and the driver's employers. In August 1999 Tim Swinney was...

Verdicts & Settlements February 9, 2004: Turbulence injured airline pasengers.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $365,000 Settlement Several passengers who were injured when a chartered flight from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Chicago experienced severe turbulence brought injury claims under the Warsaw Convention....

Verdicts & Settlements February 9, 2004: 88-year-old died in nursing home.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $345,000 Settlement The estate and four children of an 88-year-old woman who died in a nursing home sued the home and its administrator for negligence. The woman had Parkinson's disease,...

10 Years Ago In Missouri Lawyers Weekly: February 9, 2004.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff At-Will Employee Can Sue For Discharge A "whistle-blower" could file suit for retaliatory discharge against the nursing home she worked for, even though she was only an at-will employee, according...

U.S. Bank. Ct. - App. Panel Case Summaries: February 9, 2004.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Discharge - Denial - Fraudulent Intent Where the debtors in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case failed to read their bankruptcy schedules before signing them and the schedules contained...

MO COS' Western District rules boy may sue for the wrongful death of his father's girlfriend.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones A boy could sue for the wrongful death of his father's girlfriend upon a family court's posthumous finding that she had equitably adopted the boy, the Missouri Court of Appeals' Western District has ruled in a case...

Missouri Republican Trial Lawyers Caucus vs. tort reform.
February 9, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Another front will open this week in the tort reform war. Former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Chip Robertson and former Hickory County Prosecutor Mike Holzknecht have formed the Missouri...

St. Louis attorney Jeffrey P. Medler named 'Outstanding Young Lawyer'.(Brief article)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff St. Louis attorney Jeffrey P. Medler was presented with the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award on Feb. 6 by the St. Louis County Bar Association. The honor is given to an attorney licensed fewer than 10...

Verdicts & Settlement February 16, 2004: 'Black teeth' result in $250K dental malpractice.(Leslie Wayne v. Plaza Dental Center)(Case overview)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Ann Corrigan A recent $250,000 verdict against a St. Louis dentist may cause attorneys to reconsider the conventional wisdom that dental malpractice cases are not worth the effort. Leslie Wayne, 31, sued after the cosmetic...

Verdicts & Settlements February 16, 2004: Patient had multiple hernia surgeries.(medical malpractice case)(David R. Goucher v. Alan M. Buchele)(Case overview)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Ann Corrigan Trying two medical malpractice cases back-to-back was unusual, but not overwhelming, for Springfield attorney Brian D. Malkmus. "You figure you're going to work, whether it's in the courtroom or the of-fice," he...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: February 16, 2004.(Anderson v. Shelter Mutual Insurance Company)(Thomas v. St. Martin's Child Care Center)(Brief article)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Pre- Judgment Interest - Punitive Damages - Section 408.040.2 Where a plaintiff in an auto accident case was awarded $22,000 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: February 16, 2004.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Miranda Waiver - Videotaped Statement - Closing Argument (1) Where a murder defendant who signed a written waiver of his Miranda rights while being videotaped was asked after the...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: February 16, 2004.(Landwehr v. Landwehr)(domestic relations case)(E.N.K., R.M.R., and R.C.R. v. M.R.C)(termination of parental rights case)(Kerns v. Midwest Conveyor)(workers compensation case)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Rule 84.04 - Brief - Inadequate Where all of the points relied on in the brief of an appellant in a domestic relations case failed to identify the ruling being challenged...

Prior restraint order on CBS affiliate canceled by federal judge.(KCTV being sued by John Doe)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff An attorney for a man portrayed as an Internet sex predator in a television news report said Feb. 6 that his client hasn't decided whether to pursue legal action beyond a previously filed defamation...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: February 16, 2004.(Anita M. Kidd and Robert D. Klahr joins Armstrong Teasdale)(Shelley Schiebel Patterson joins Husch & Eppenberger)(Sam M. Corning joins Reynolds, Gold & Grosser)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Anita M. Kidd and Robert D. Klahr were elected partners at Armstrong Teasdale. Kidd is a member of the firm's Litigation Department where she concentrates her practice in medical professional liability...

Verdicts & Settlements February 16, 2004: Truck's trailer becomes unhitched.(Borders v. Heet & Rodeman Construction, Inc)(traffic accident case)(Brief article)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $535,000 Settlement Linda Borders sued for injuries she suffered when her van struck tools and equipment that had become detached from another vehicle. Borders was a passenger in a van...

Verdicts & Settlements February 16, 2004: 31-year-old dies in hospital.(Hicks, v. Emergency Physicians of Springfield, Inc)(medical malpractice and wrongful death case)(Case overview)
February 16, 2004... Byline: Ann Corrigan Trying two medical malpractice cases back-to-back was unusual, but not overwhelming, for Springfield attorney Brian D. Malkmus. "You figure you're going to work, whether it's in the courtroom or the of-fice," he...

MO Court of Appeals', Southern District rules 33-year-old could sue for childhood sex abuse.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones A woman who claimed her father sexually abused her as a child could file suit against him in 2000 when she was 33, even though she always remembered the sexual abuse, the Missouri Court of Appeals' Southern...

MO Supreme Court rules venue against company may continue since CFO lived in Jefferson County.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones Plaintiffs who claimed that emissions from a Jefferson County lead smelter damaged their property could sue the company in St. Louis City because they also named the company's chief financial officer -- who lived...

Verdicts & Settlements February 16, 2004: Warehouse flood damaged bicycles.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $224,044 Judgment Huffy Corporation sued for breach of contract after a warehouse flood damaged thousands of its bicycles. Huffy and Custom Warehouse, Inc. of Cape Girardeau entered into an...

Back-to-back wins for Springfield medical-malpractice defense lawyer.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Ann Corrigan Trying two medical malpractice cases back-to-back was unusual, but not overwhelming, for Springfield attorney Brian D. Malkmus. "You figure you're going to work, whether it's in the courtroom or the of-fice," he...

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules the citizenship of LLC is determined by its members.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones For the purposes of federal diversity jurisdiction, the citizenship of a limited liability company is that of its members, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a case of first impression. The...

Attorney Jordan B. Cherrick joins law firm of Husch & Eppenberger.
February 16, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate law guru Jordan B. Cherrick has joined Husch & Eppenberger in St. Louis, where he will co-chair the firm's new Appellate and Complex Litigation Support Group with Husch veteran Mark Arnold....

Legislative committee studying efficiency of MO judiciary makes its recommendations.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Aaron Brown A legislative committee studying the efficiency of the Missouri judiciary has made several notable recommendations -- the requirement that each county have at least one judge should be scrapped, circuit boundaries...

Members of a St. Louis family win $700K award in Case vs. Merrill Lynch.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Aaron Brown Members of a St. Louis family who entrusted an inheritance to Merrill Lynch obtained mixed results in their arbitration case against the brokerage house. The Paniello family claimed their signatures were forged on...

Verdicts & Settlements (February 23, 2004) Man died of heart attack after visiting er.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Confidential Settlement The family of a 37-year-old man who died of a heart attack after a visit to the emergency room sued for medical malpractice. Larry Bramel suffered a minor finger injury...

Verdicts & Settlements (February 23, 2004) Patient falls during discharge from hospital.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant's Verdict Sandra Thurman sued for medical malpractice after she fell while being discharged from the hospital. On Thursday Oct. 26, 2000 Thurman was leaving the hospital after ankle...

Verdicts & Settlements (February 23, 2004) MoDOT worker rear-ended.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $325,000 Settlement A Missouri Department of Transportation worker who was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer sued for negligence. Mary Yant worked on a striping crew for MoDOT. On Oct. 4, 2000 she...

U.S. Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: February 23, 2004.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Motion To Dismiss - Notice - Change Of Address Where the debtor, who was also an attorney, in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case was mailed notice of a motion to dismiss to the address...

U.S. District, Western District Court Case Summaries: February 23, 2004.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Child Pornography - Guilty Plea - 'Engaging' In Conduct Where a criminal defendant pleaded guilty to child pornography charges based on a statute that prohibits offering visual...

Verdicts & Settlements: February 23, 2004: Woman's uterus perforated during surgery.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant's Verdict A woman who suffered a perforation of the uterus and rectum during a surgical procedure sued for medical malpractice. On Oct. 4, 1999, Cheryl Carlson, 41, was having a...

U.S. Disrict Court, Eastern District rules insurance carrier must defend junk fax lawsuits.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Kenneth C. Jones Where two companies were sued for sending out unsolicited telefaxes, their insurance carrier had to defend the suits, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri has ruled. The carrier argued...

Black teeth result in $250K dental malpractice verdict against St. Louis dentist.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Ann Corrigan A recent $250,000 verdict against a St. Louis dentist may cause attorneys to reconsider the conventional wisdom that dental malpractice cases are not worth the effort. Leslie Wayne, 31, sued after the cosmetic...

MO Lawyers in the News: February 23, 2004.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Kurtis B. Reeg, James G. Nowo-grocki and Joseph F. Yeckel have formed Reeg, Nowo-grocki and Yeckel in St. Louis. Reeg has a national insurance coverage, products liability and toxic tort practice. His...

Verdicts & Settlements: February 23, 2004: Foot drop diagnosed in ICU.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff $1 Million Verdict Vincent Redel sued for medical malpractice after he was diagnosed with bilateral foot drop following a stay in the intensive care unit. On Oct. 26, 1998 Redel, 58, underwent...

Attorneys recall St. Louis attorney Walter Clark.
February 23, 2004... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff The death of St. Louis attorney Walter Clark on Jan. 23 at the age of 77 caused quite a bit of reminiscing from his friends and law partners. Clark, a trial lawyer, spent his entire career at Armstrong...

MO Informal Advisory Opinions: Period of Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2004.
February 23, 2004... 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....