Missouri Lawyers Weekly articles from March 2007

Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives from March 2007

Missouri Public Defender Commission backs off plan to shut system to new clients.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The ability of indigent defendants to get state-funded legal counsel appears to be safe for now, but the issues raised by the attempt to shut off the system are not going away. The Missouri Public Defender's...

Charge appropriately for paralegal work.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Linda S. Jevahirian - Dolan Media Newswires DETROIT, MI - In 1989, the United States Supreme Court identified paralegals as separate members of the billing team. (See, Missouri, et al. v. Jenkins, et al., 491 U.S. 274, 109 S.Ct....

Missouri bill offers solution to attract and retain graduates to public offices.(John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Karen J. Mathis A bill introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois provides a winning solution for all of us concerned that low wages paid to prosecutors and public defenders, along with the high cost of law school, are...

Missouri attorney Michael Chivell takes the helm of Armstrong Teasdale after a year of major growth.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Corporate transactional attorney Michael Chivell is taking the helm of Armstrong Teasdale as the St. Louis firm comes off a year of major growth. Chivell, 53, succeeded Richard Scherrer as managing partner of the...

St. Louis Family Court judge rules local personal injury attorney owes ex-wife $163K.(Terry Crouppen )
March 5, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Personal injury attorney Terry Crouppen owes his ex-wife Carol $163,000 in back maintenance for 2005, a St. Louis County Family Court judge ruled Monday, Feb. 26. Judge Douglas Beach sided with artist Carol...

Missouri lawyers receive awards and promotions.(Craig S. Biesterfeld)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Craig S. Biesterfeld, a St. Louis partner of Blackwell Sanders, has been named to the 2007 Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers. Biesterfeld is the only Missouri practitioner listed. He has...

City of St. Louis deemed liable for wrongful death.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter The city of St. Louis is vicariously liable for the death of a woman hit by a police car driven the wrong way on a one-way street because the officer was an agent of the city, the Missouri Supreme Court said in a 5-2...

St. Louis-based D&K Healthcare settles class-action suit for $18.7M.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter McKesson Corp., the largest U.S. health care services company, will pay $18.7 million to settle a class-action securities fraud lawsuit filed against St. Louis-based D&K Healthcare Resources Inc., which McKesson...

Verdicts and Settlements March 5, 2007: UMB Financial Corp. prevails in discrimination suit.(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, et al. v. UMB Financial Corporation)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale UMB Financial Corporation has prevailed in an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a quadriplegic man who was denied employment with the bank. The plaintiffs, who...

Missouri Governor Blunt announces appointment of St. Louis resident to Appellate Judicial Commission.(Matt Blunt)(Donald L. Ross)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Gov. Matt Blunt announced the appointment of St. Louis resident Donald L. Ross to the Appellate Judicial Commission on Wednesday, Feb. 28. "Mr. Ross is committed to protecting our constitution by selecting...

Race, law and the struggle for equality.(Column)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff This is a transcript of comments made by the Chief Justice on March 1 at Washington University. Between 1861 and 1865, many states experienced what people to the South of us call the "war between...

Competing views of Asbestos come to the surface as a pair of bills in the Missouri House.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Asbestos. To some, a destroyer of lungs. To others, a destroyer of corporate profits. Those competing views are coming to the surface as a pair of bills moves through the Missouri House that would change the rules...

U.S. Department of Labor investigates two St. Louis law firms for overtime violations.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating two other St. Louis firms for overtime violations after wrapping up a probe of Carmody MacDonald in December. Personal injury firm Fox Goldblatt & Singer and general...

Ability of indigent defendants to get state-funded legal counsel raises on-going issues for Missouri.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck The ability of indigent defendants to get state-funded legal counsel appears to be safe for now, but the issues raised by the attempt to shut off the system are not going away. The Missouri Public Defender's...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 5, 2007.(Harris v. Westin Management Company East )
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Jurisdiction - Work Comp Exclusivity - Not At Work Where plaintiff was injured in a car accident on a public street on his way to work at a hotel, the trial court erred in...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 5, 2007.(State v. Wright)(State v. Tabor )
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Witness - 'Personalizing' Testimony - Plain Error Review Where an investigator testified in defendant's trial on a first-degree statutory sodomy charge that there was no reason to...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 5, 2007.(State ex rel. Sierra Club, et al. v. Public Service Commission)(Cover, et al. v. Robinson, et al.)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative PSC - Jurisdiction - Contested Case Where plaintiffs appealed a decision by the Public Service Commission approving an experimental regulatory plan proposed by a utility, the...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 5, 2007.(State v. Cooper )
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Verdict Director - Essential Element - Burglary Where a trial court in a burglary case submitted a verdict-directing instruction that omitted the word "unlawfully" from the phrase...

United States Bank Court Case Summaries: March 5, 2007.(Capital One Auto Finance v. Osborn )
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Security Interest - Surrender Of Collateral - 'Hanging Paragraph' Where a finance company held a claim secured by a purchase money security interest in debtors' pickup truck, purchased within...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 5, 2007.(Levy v. Ohl, et al.)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Malicious Prosecution - Statute Of Limitations Where a doctor brought a malicious prosecution action against attorneys who had brought a suit against him and the court dismissed...

Verdicts and Settlements March 5, 2007: Valvoline settles over oil disposal fees for $18M.(Sifford and Cacchiatore v. Ashland Inc. d/b/a The Valvoline Co.)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole $18 million settlement The Valvoline Co. settled lawsuits over its used oil disposal fees before the cases were certified as a class-action. As part of the December settlement of a lawsuit filed by St. Louis...

Verdicts and Settlements March 5, 2007: Missouri highway department retiree settles for $810K.(Donehue v. MHP, L.L.C.)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco $810,000 settlement A retired highway department employee reached a settlement for $810,000 with the owner of his apartment complex after he fell from a parking lot retaining wall. On January 14, 2005,...

Verdicts and Settlements March 5, 2007: Missouri man overdoses and settles with pharmacy for $565K.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Anne Vitale $565,000 settlement A man who suffered liver, spleen and lung damage after ingesting nine times more medication than his doctor ordered has reached a $565,000 settlement in his St. Louis City lawsuit against the...

Verdicts and Settlements March 5, 2007: Missouri child kicked by horse loses personal injury case.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco Defense verdict A Marion County jury deliberated for about two hours before granting a defense verdict in the case of a child who was kicked in the head by a horse. The child and his parents sued the...

Verdicts and Settlements March 5, 2007: Mo. jury finds rehabilitation staff not at fault for fall.(Reiff vs. SSM Health Care St. Louis)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka Defense verdict Rehabilitation nurses and staff at DePaul Hospital were not responsible for the subsequent injuries of an 82-year-old woman who fell and broke her hip after undergoing knee surgery, a St. Louis...

Verdicts and Settlements March 12, 2007: General Motors settles lawsuit over sidesaddle fuel tank.(Melissa Thornton v. General Motors and John Clark)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Confidential settlement A plaintiff who said the "sidesaddle" fuel tank in a 24-year-old pickup truck led to her severe burns in an accident settled her lawsuit with General Motors Corp. and the driver of the...

Verdicts and Settlements March 12, 2007: Missouri mother settles suit over defective car seat.(Benavidez v. Dorel Juvenile Group, Inc., et al.)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Anne Vitale Confidential settlement The mother of a toddler whose eye was impaled and partially blinded by a car seat spring has reached a confidential settlement in her lawsuit against the car seat maker and retailer. The...

Verdicts and Settlements March 12, 2007: Missouri jury rules for defendant in med-mal suit.(Dowell v. Peterson)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Anne Vitale Defendant's verdict A vascular surgeon has prevailed in a St. Louis City medical malpractice case filed by a woman who developed Horner's Syndrome after a surgical procedure. Donna Dowell had been experiencing...

Verdicts and Settlements March 12, 2007: Missouri demolition worker settles for $1.76M.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco $1.76 million settlement A heavy equipment operator who developed reactive airways disease and asthma after a demolition accident reached a $1.76 million settlement with an agreement to keep the defendants'...

Baumruk's attorneys ask for new trial in Missouri.( Kenneth Baumruk)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Lawyers for a man convicted last month of shooting his wife to death inside the St. Louis County Circuit Court have filed a motion for an acquittal or a new trial. A jury on Feb. 6 recommended that Kenneth Baumruk,...

Missouri business leaders tapped to pick judges.(Brief article)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Gov. Matt Blunt last week announced the appointments of several business leaders who will serve on state circuit judicial commissions. "The Missourians I appointed today believe as I believe that the role of judges...

Missouri law firms announce personnel changes and promotions.(Brief article)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Eric Kendall Banks was awarded the Reverend Arnold and Mildred Bringewatt Social Justice Award by Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri. The Bringewatt Award honors those who have made a...

City of St. Louis also liable for electrician's negligence.(Daoukas v. City of St. Louis )
March 12, 2007... Byline: Joy Simmons An independent contractor injured after a Lambert International Airport electrician disabled a safety device can recover damages under a general negligence theory regardless of whether the airport electrician controlled...

Stinson represents retired pilots in Missouri $485M settlement.(Stinson Morrison Hecker)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole A case Stinson Morrison Hecker netted with the help of an Arizona bankruptcy judge has settled to the tune of $485 million. New York Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin approved the settlement between Stinson's client,...

Missouri Bar officials hold press conference opposing proposed constitutional amendment.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Bar officials held a press conference last week to oppose a proposed constitutional amendment they say goes too far in defending the Legislature's power of the purse. The press conference, held at the Bar's...

Federalist Society finds Missouri voters want more say over judges.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck A poll sponsored by a conservative legal group has found that Missouri voters, while knowing little about the state's court system, would like to have more say in the selection of judges. And yet they generally trust...

Sonnenschein plots $4 million upgrade of St. Louis office.(Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Visitors to Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal's St. Louis office soon will get a better look at the Arch. Opening the view in the office's 30th floor reception area in the Metropolitan Square Building downtown is one...

Humphrey Farrington says Missouri billing charges are correct.(Humphrey Farrington and McClain)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Legal secretary Paula Robinson and document analyst/paralegal Pier Miller signed on at Humphrey Farrington & McClain in 2003, drawn by the promise of interesting work at a small "family-type" plaintiffs' law firm. ...

Missouri attorney's state historic tax campaign revives downtown St. Louis.(Jerome Schlichter)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Attorney Jerome Schlichter's successful campaign for state historic tax credits has revived downtown St. Louis and led to development across the state Jerome Schlichter once dreaded his commute to work. ...

Despite popularity, some stridently oppose Missouri's historic tax credit laws.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Despite the popularity and success of Missouri's state historic tax credits law, it has faced challenges every year since its enactment in 1998. Some critics have tried to cut back its provisions,...

Missouri coalition continues fight to preserve historic tax credits.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Once developers decide to renovate a historic property, they must submit an application and plan to the state historic preservation office and the state department of economic development. The building must be on the...

Big-city boom reverbates to small towns across the state of Missouri.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Although the revitalization of downtown St. Louis is attracting national attention, many smaller towns across the state are beginning to reap the benefits of the Missouri Historic Tax Credit legislation as well. ...

Commentary: Three steps to a slam-dunk cross-examination.(Column)
March 12, 2007... Byline: David E. Gordon Of everything that goes into being a trial lawyer, nothing is more difficult, more subtle or more challenging than cross-examination. Writing about cross-examination is a little bit like writing about golf....

Missouri lawyer moves closer to getting law license back.(Eric Vickers)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole While Eric Vickers was making the news last week as the spokesman for a coalition of minority groups threatening to shut down a St. Louis construction project, he also was moving closer to having his law license...

Missouri judges debate tort reform statutes.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka One element of 2005's tort reform statutes was argued Wednesday in the state Supreme Court for a St. Louis man who brought a personal injury lawsuit against a dozen makers of chemicals he was exposed to on the job....

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 12, 2007.(Culley v. Royal Oaks Chrysler Jeep, Inc.)(Smith v. City of St. Louis Civil Service Commission )
March 12, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Inadequate Brief - Pro Se Appellant - Rule 84.04 Where the brief of a pro se appellant in a workers' compensation case failed to contain a clear statement of facts, his...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 12, 2007.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Premature Claim - Summary Judgment - Real Estate Action Where a trial court dismissed as premature an action brought by real estate managers against a title company, the court...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 12, 2007.(LPP Mortgage, LTD. v. Marcin, Inc.)(Minor v. Rush )
March 12, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Counterclaim - Promissory Note - Prima Facie Tort Where in a dispute over a secured promissory note, a mortgagee that entered a counterclaim for prima facie tort failed to show...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 12, 2007.(Wintermute, McAninch v.)(Dahl v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company )
March 12, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Banks and Banking Breach Of Contract - Duty To Indemnify - Dual Capacity Where bank directors sued their insurer for breach of contract, the insurer could not avoid its duty to indemnify under...

Verdicts and Settlements March 12, 2007: Missouri woman hit at 'hazardous' crossing settles suit.(Christina Bova, by and through her Mother and Next Friend Joan Bova v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, et al.)
March 12, 2007... Byline: Anne Vitale Confidential settlement A passenger in a car struck by a train at a railroad crossing settled her St. Louis City negligence suit against Union Pacific Railroad Company. A judge had ruled the plaintiff, who...

Commentary: Do the Missouri written ethics codes promote good behavior?(Missouri. Attorney Rules of Professional Conduct)(Column)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Maridee Farnquist Edwards After a decade of debate and drafting, the final version of the Missouri Attorney Rules of Professional Conduct is complete. You may have heard it referred to as "Ethics 2000," but the process began in...

Verdicts and Settlements March 19, 2007: Missouri woman settles for $265K in personal injury suit.(Karen Worley v. Donald and Joan Gerard, Darrell C. Ruediger, and Terry Ann Wright)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter $265,000 Settlement A woman who fell from a three-wheel motorcycle after hitting a black Labrador retriever running loose on the road settled her personal injury lawsuit against the dog's owners. On Jan. 8,...

Verdicts and Settlements March 19, 2007: Missouri boy's rheumatic fever led to heart failure.(Watts v. Keuhn and Missouri Valley Physicians, P.C.)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco A Saline County jury deliberated for about an hour and a half before finding for the defense in a medical malpractice case arising from a 13-year-old boy's rheumatic fever, which resulted in heart failure and...

Missouri court upholds jury instruction for plaintiff on premises liability.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Joy Simmons A jury instruction of simple negligence was appropriate even when the facts of the case could be construed as a claim for premises liability because the plaintiff has the right to elect the theory on which a case is...

Missouri Supreme Court passes overhaul of ethics guidelines.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Charles Emerick Though an overhaul of Missouri's ethics guidelines won't significantly affect most lawyers, those familiar with the changes say they were needed. After several years in the works, the new changes to Rule 4 take...

An overview of the most significant changes to Missouri's Rule 4.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Sara Rittman This article does not attempt to address every change between the pre-July 1, 2007 rules and the new rules. This article should not be used a substitute for reading the actual text of the rules. Many of the rules...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 19, 2007.(State v. LaJoy)(State v. Johnson)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sentencing - Clerical Error - Nunc Pro Tunc Motion Where a trial court orally sentenced a defendant as a prior and persistent offender but the written sentence and judgment...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 19, 2007.(State v. Whitwell)(Steele-Danner v. Director of Revenue )
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Interlocutory Appeal - Exclusion Of Evidence - Lineup Identification Where a trial court in a criminal case entered an order excluding identification evidence from a lineup, the...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 19, 2007.(Tolbert v. Jackson County)(Elam v. Dawson )
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Pro Se Appeal - Legal Record Where a Chapter 13 debtor claimed a tax foreclosure sale violated the automatic stay, his pro se appeal is dismissed because the legal record did not...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 19, 2007.(Reichert, et al. v. Board of Education of City of St. Louis)(Jamison, et al. v. State )
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative School District - Employee Termination - Outsourced Jobs Where a city board of education terminated a number of stationary engineers and outsourced their jobs to save money, the...

U.S. Bank Court Case Summaries: March 19, 2007.(Bellamy's Inc. v. Genoa National Bank)(Olsen v. Habitat for Humanity)(PW Enterprises, Inc. v. State of North Dakota )
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Artisan's Lien - Priority - Farm Equipment Where debtor took his farm equipment for repairs and the artisan kept the equipment because the debtor could not pay for the repairs, the...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 19, 2007.(EEOC v. Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Motion To Compel - EEOC Enforcement Action - Intervenor Where a district court excused an employee with a discrimination claim from arbitrating her individual discrimination claims...

Verdicts and Settlements March 19, 2007: Missouri jury awards quick-stop $500K in condemnation costs.(City of Liberty v. John Ferguson et al.)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck $500,000 jury verdict A jury awarded a Pleasant Valley convenience store $500,000 in condemnation costs after the neighboring city's road project reduced access to the store. The Kincade family owns the Valley...

Prominent Missouri criminal defense attorney wins second round of insurance malpractice lawsuit.(Art Margulis)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Prominent white-collar criminal defense attorney Art Margulis won the second round in his fight to get his insurance company to cough up the money for his successful defense against a malpractice lawsuit. The...

Missouri appeals court rules case must be resolved before fees can be decided.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole A Missouri appeals court weighed in on the side of Clayton attorney Norton Beilenson in his fee dispute with The Roach Law Firm. A state trial court can't decide how attorneys should divvy up contingency fees...

David Welte and his main client joins Bryan Cave's Kansas City law firm.(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole Bryan Cave's Kansas City office will get David Welte and his main client, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The institute announced in January that Welte, formerly a name partner at the Polsinelli firm,...

Missouri trial attorney Daniel T. Rabbitt chosen for Award of Honor.(Rabbit, Pitzer and Snodgrass)(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Allison Retka A still-busy trial attorney with more than three decades of legal experience was selected to receive the Award of Honor by the Lawyers Association of St. Louis. Daniel T. Rabbitt, founding principal of Rabbitt,...

Missouri lawyers receive honors and awards.(Simon Passanante appoints Diane M. Andrew, Stephen J. Telken, Jeffrey Roseman, Rachel L. Roman)(Buckley and Buckley appoints David S. Davis)(Bryan Cave appoints Michael Toner)(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Nearly 700 people raised $165,000 at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri's 17th Annual Justice For All Ball on Feb. 24 at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis. All proceeds will go to LSEM's...

Mo. Senate committee expresses concerns about state courts' jurisdictions over spending and taxation.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck A Senate committee on Monday, March 12, expressed grave concerns about a proposed constitutional amendment that would restrict state courts' jurisdiction over taxation and spending. However, the committee's chairman...

Missouri House's proposed budget lacks pay raises.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Despite a constitutional promise otherwise, the Missouri House's proposed budget lacks a major feature for the judiciary: pay raises. Also missing: new money for the Missouri State Public Defender's Office, which...

Missouri legislators to reduce Second Injury Fund's payouts or end it altogether.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Missouri House and Senate committees last week began taking a hard look at the state's Second Injury Fund, seeking to reduce its payouts or end it altogether. "Our fund will go insolvent very soon, maybe as soon as...

Defections mark big changes for two Missouri law firms.(Lathrop and Gage L.C., and Blumenfeld, Kaplan and Sandweiss P.C.)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Heather Cole In early March, Brent Baldwin had a problem other law firm managing partners might envy. Baldwin, the managing member of Lathrop & Gage's St. Louis operations, had seven attorneys from Blumenfeld Kaplan & Sandweiss...

Nun sues Roman Catholic Church for employment discrimination.
March 19, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A convertible or the cross? That's the choice Lynette Petruska faced 14 years ago: Should she buy a convertible and continue with her already successful legal career in St. Louis, or should she forgo such materialism...

Verdicts and Settlements March 19, 2007: Missouri plaintiff sought $18M, but faulted for own injury.(Benjamin Smith, by Thomas Smith, Guardian and Conservator of the Estate of Benjamin Smith v. Allied Services, LLC and Randy J. Hankins)
March 19, 2007... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A trash truck driver and his employer have won a defense verdict in a St. Charles County negligence case over a collision that left the plaintiff with a severe brain injury. The plaintiffs had sought $18 million in...

Commentary: Ten indispensable steps to handling helicopter crash litigation.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Gary C. Robb Ask any aeronautical engineer exactly what makes a helicopter fly and you are likely to learn that "the rotor blades simply beat the air into submission." Ask how it flies and the response may be that "a helicopter is...

SBC lawyer heads to small firm in Shrewsbury.(DeVoto and Benbenek appoints Bob Lynch )
March 26, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Bob Lynch spent 25 years at the top of the legal food chain in one of America's largest telecommunications companies, breathing the "rarified atmosphere" of the corporate boardroom. Now he's one of a handful of...

Retired Missouri appeals court judge Harold Satz dies.(Obituary)(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Judge Harold Satz, who retired from the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District bench in 1992 died on March 18 of complications from cancer. Satz was on the appellate bench for 14 years after...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: March 26, 2007.(Board of Directors of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri appoints Maria Perron)(Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard P.C. appoints Elizabeth A. Murphy)(Armstrong Teasdale L.L.P. appoints Thomas E. Nutter)(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Maria Perron has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, a non-profit organization that represents clients in 21 Missouri counties with their civil legal needs....

Oath refusal gets case transferred to Missouri high court.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter A St. Louis County judge refused to allow a criminal defendant to testify on his own behalf after the defendant stated he wouldn't take any form of oath or swear to tell the truth under the penalty for perjury. ...

Political spat could cause change in Missouri constitution over appropriation powers.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Points of political contention between Gov. Matt Blunt and Attorney General Jay Nixon are as common as the day is long. But one recent spat has dragged in the court system as well, and potentially could encourage a...

Medical monitoring suits OK'd by Missouri court.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Scott Lauck Acknowledgment came for the first time last week that groups exposed to toxins but displaying no injuries can form class-action lawsuits seeking money to monitor their medical progress. The court on March 20...

8th Circuit rules employer does not have to cover contraceptives.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter The Pregnancy Discrimination Act does not give female employees the right to insurance coverage for contraceptives because they are used to prevent pregnancy, said the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 26, 2007.(State v. Still)(State v. Fears)(State v. Vanlue)
March 26, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Notice Of Appeal - Timeliness Where a notice of appeal was filed more than 10 days after the judgment became final, the notice was untimely and the appeal must be dismissed....

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 26, 2007.(Kempton v. Dugan)(State v. Tyler)(State v. Dixon )
March 26, 2007... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Oral Agreement - Parole Evidence - Trust Assets Where a trial court granted specific performance for the distribution of trust assets based on an alleged oral agreement that the...