Missouri Lawyers Weekly articles from March 2008

Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives from March 2008

St. Louis area judges and lawyers offer personal items for 18th annual Justice for All Ball auction.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole St. Louis area lawyers and judges trotted out the contents of personal wine cellars and offered up the use of vacation homes for the silent auction at the 18th annual Justice for All Ball. Several of the 41 donated...

Keeping Missouri judicial candidates in line.(Brief article)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole While the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association is advocating changing Greene County's system of selecting judges, it's also considering oversight of the current system. The association, which preliminarily...

Joe Keenan leaves Kansas City's Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus.(Brief article)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Add Joe Keenan to the list of marketing professionals departing Kansas City's largest law firms. Chief marketing officer Keenan left Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus within the past month. His exit means...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: March 3, 2008.(Calendar)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Patrick Whalen, partner in the Kansas City office of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, will be a featured keynote speaker at the Gartner Global Comprehensive Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Summit...

Deconstructing Shakespeare's oft-quoted line about killing lawyers.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Richard Jackoway You can't help but know the line: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." A minor character in a rarely produced Shakespeare play first uttered that offhand exhortation more than four centuries...

Kansas City law firms announce high-profile moves.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Thomas G. Kokoruda will take the helm at Kansas City law firm Shughart Thomson & Kilroy beginning this week. Kokoruda, 61, replaces Lawrence Ward, who after 20 years as chairman chose to step down to focus on...

LSAT exception: A test of fairness in Missouri law schools?(Law School Admission Test )
March 3, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Law school hopeful Josh Berry of Topeka, Kan., wanted to earn his degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Berry, who admits his LSAT score wasn't great, was wait listed by the law school and eventually denied....

Some solos push for a bar of their own in Missouri.(Missouri Bar Association)
March 3, 2008... Byline: John DeMoor A small but vocal group of solo and small firm lawyers say The Missouri Bar is not meeting their needs and have begun forming a new statewide, voluntary bar association. Jefferson City attorney Daniel Green said a...

Circuits split on public safety.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco A defendant's incriminating response to police did not have to be suppressed despite the officers' failure to give Miranda warnings, according to an opinion handed down this week by the Eighth Circuit. The...

Commentary: Big verdicts coming out of western Missouri.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Will Connaghan Two verdicts don't necessarily indicate a trend, but it's been interesting to watch the multimillion-dollar verdicts coming out of Jackson County already this year. Last week, a Jackson County jury awarded $7.1...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 3, 2008.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Driver's License Revocation - No License - Even though a man who was convicted of driving while his driving privilege was revoked never had a Missouri driver's license, a person may have a...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 3, 2008.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Jurisdiction - Prohibition Proceeding - Probate Court Where a circuit court re-opened a probate file for an heir but relator's prohibition petition claimed the court lacked...

Missouri Court Of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 3, 2008.(Brief article)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Batson Challenge - Improper Procedure - Prejudice Where a defendant in a civil case provided a race-neutral reason for a peremptory strike of a juror, the trial court failed to...

United States Court Of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 3, 2008.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Chapter 13 Dismissal - Notice - Foreclosure Sale Where the bankruptcy court dismissed debtor's Chapter 13 case resulting in a foreclosure sale of debtor's property, the court erred...

Verdicts & Settlements March 3, 2008: Family wins $5 million in wrongful death suit.(family of Leonard Musgray)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese The wife and children of a man killed in a traffic accident in St. Louis have won a $5 million court judgment in their wrongful death lawsuit. But when, or if, they receive that money remains unclear. Leonard...

Verdicts & Settlements March 3, 2008: Motorcyclist awarded $3.1 million in suit against MoDOT board.(Missouri Department of Transportation)(Christopher Spielvogel)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale An arbitration panel awarded $3.1 million to a motorcyclist claiming that the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission's defective highway signs caused him to crash his motorcycle, killing his wife. Upon...

Verdicts & Settlements March 3, 2008: Beneficiary recovers $500,000 in trust dispute.(Dwight O. Monteith Jr.)(Case overview)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A beneficiary has recovered $500,000 in his Stoddard County case against the trustees and two adoptees involved in a trust dispute. Plaintiff claimed two people were adopted to become trust beneficiaries, and that...

Verdicts & Settlements March 3, 2008: Insurer agrees to stack policies in claim.
March 3, 2008... Byline: Bridget Heos Plaintiffs often argue that there was insurance at the time of an accident. In this case, attorney John Thomas, of Thomas, Burns, Gaddie, Spencer, tried to prove the opposite. Tom Gaudette was the 58-year-old...

Verdicts & Settlements March 3, 2008: Jury strikes play key role in med-mal defense win.(medical malpractice)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Bridget Heos For attorney Brandon Henry of Wagstaff & Cartmell, jury selection was crucial in this medical malpractice case. He wanted jurors who didn't believe that a patient automatically deserved compensation because a known...

Verdicts & Settlements March 3, 2008: Student recovers $260,000 for fall on school bus.(Atlantic Express of Missouri Inc.)(Chasmin Cooley)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A student who fell on a school bus has reached a $260,000 settlement in her St. Louis case against the bus company. She claimed Atlantic Express of Missouri Inc., failed to adequately supervise the driver accused of...

Commentary: How do you sue a client? Very carefully!(Column)
March 3, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll Regular readers of this column know that I consider the client intake process to be the most important step in the collection process. An appropriate conversation and written agreement with your client about payment...

Training used against sexual orientation bias.(employee and diversity training in companies urged to prevent employment discrimination)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh A growing number of companies driven by a concern over litigation are ramping up employee training in an effort to stamp out sexual-orientation bias in the workplace. In the past few years, 20 states have passed...

Slowing criminal justice in Missouri courts.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Tracy McKee is finally a free man. After spending a year and a half in a St. Louis jail, a St. Louis City jury in late January convicted him of felony vehicle tampering for trying to steal a car radio, but acquitted...

Survey of Missouri law firms finds promotion of minorities lags recruitment.(minority lawyers)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Dutro "Bruce" E. Campbell II got the sense Husch attorneys viewed him as a future partner of the firm when he was recruited as a summer associate. "I always had a lot of trust and faith in what they were telling...

Case against former Missouri judge dropped for speedy trial violation.(Roger Wall)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese While attorneys and analysts say it's rare for a court to go so far as to throw out a case because of a speedy trial violation, one need look no further than southwest Missouri for a real-life example. U.S. District...

Power company is running out of options in Missouri.(Aquila Inc.'s zoning case)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Aaron Bailey Last week's legal blow to Aquila's controversial power plant in Cass County means little to Domenic Bruno. He just wants to know when the fight will be over. "I'd like to know when it ends," said Bruno, who...

Missouri Supreme Court asked: Can prosecutor charge an ex-client?
March 10, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter When Heidi Parker Burns was charged in September 2006 with trying to procure a prescription drug by fraud, she hired Syd Weybrew to defend her. Today, Weybrew is prosecuting her. Weybrew, who was elected prosecutor...

Commentary: Award is not 'typical' for St. Louis County jury.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Will Connaghan Weather forecasters like to tell us that this winter has been typical for our region. As I sit here watching the snow fly once again and wondering what "typical" really means, my thoughts turn to something else that...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 10, 2008.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Road Vacation - 'Aggrieved Parties' - Judicial Review Where a county council's decision to vacate a road was overturned by the trial court after opposition by residents, the...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 10, 2008.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Deed Of Trust - Deed Of Release - Demand Letter Where defendants were ordered to pay statutory damages for failing to timely provide a deed of release after plaintiffs paid off a...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 10, 2008.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Attorney's Fees - Contested Case - Employee Termination Where an employee who was terminated from his position as a technology supervisor at the Department of Public Safety...

Missouri Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 10, 2008.(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sentencing - Enhancement Statute - Ambiguity Where a man charged with DWI was sentenced as a persistent offender based partly on a prior guilty plea and suspended imposition of...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 10, 2008.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Ancillary Jurisdiction - Desegregation Bonds - Tax Funds Where a district court issued an order enjoining the state from requiring the Kansas City School District to divert tax...

Jury in federal court in St. Louis awards fired ambulance district clerk $75,000.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A jury in federal court in St. Louis awarded $75,000 to a former ambulance district clerk claiming she was fired in retaliation for publicly supporting a whistleblower. "The verdict demonstrates to public...

Fatal boating accident results in $1.9 million settlement in federal court in Missouri.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale The family of a passenger killed in a boating accident at Lake of the Ozarks has reached a $1.9 million global settlement in a federal wrongful death action against the two drivers involved in the collision. "The...

Johnson County Circuit Court: MGM Masonry wins case over nixed oral contract.(MGM Masonry Inc.)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole and Charles Emerick A masonry subcontractor who found out he didn't get a contract when he saw another company preparing to do the work won a $122,100 verdict from a Johnson County jury. MGM Masonry Inc. sued for...

Greene County Circuit Court jury finds doctor not responsible for amputation.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Bridget Heos Blaming injuries on a patient in a medical malpractice suit can backfire. But defense attorney Randy Cowherd said that in this case, the patient's injuries were related to his tendency to go against medical advice. For...

Platte County Circuit Court rules insurer must pay builder for property damage.(American Family Mutual Insurance Co.)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Bridget Heos Broken promises. That was the theme Jason Davey, of Costello, Davey, & Fera in Kansas City, used to convince a jury that an insurance company reneged on a contract to cover property damage for a home builder. ...

St. Louis County Circuit Court: Railroad case nets $1 million verdict after reform.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka In one of the first railroad cases to reach trial since the state changed its tort laws, a $1.05 million jury verdict has attorneys split on how St. Louis County will handle a deluge of corporate injury cases. ...

Commentary: Act protects military from high loan rates.(Limitations on Terms of Consumer Credit Extended to Service Members Act)
March 10, 2008... Byline: Steven Geary As of Oct. 1, entities making payday loans, title loans and tax-refund-anticipation loans were obliged to address the Limitations on Terms of Consumer Credit Extended to Service Members Act and its implementing...

Commentary: Lawyers may need to fear ghostwriting.
March 10, 2008... Byline: Edward Poll Few, if any, of us today expect politicians to write their own speeches or CEOs to write their own shareholder letters. Ghostwriting is a fact of modern communication. But where does that leave lawyers, who are trained...

Thompson Coburn Fagel Haber prepares to move down three floors in its Chicago Loop building.(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Thompson Coburn Fagel Haber is keeping its options open for expansion as it prepares to move down three floors in its Chicago Loop building. The Thompson Coburn office has added three lateral partners since...

Kansas City law firms help launch offices in San Francisco and Denver.(Bryan Cave L.L.P. and Husch Blackwell Sanders)(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Bryan Cave and Husch Blackwell Sanders want to show other towns how it's done in Kansas City. They're exporting attorneys from their Kansas City offices to help launch offices in San Francisco and Denver. Lynn...

Cattle call: U.S. Supreme Court to take up Sioux tribal court award.(Plains Commerce Bank of Hoven, S.D.)(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The U.S. Supreme Court will on April 14 take up a case stemming from a Sioux tribal court award whose plaintiffs were represented by several St. Louis attorneys. The case is an appeal of a 8th U.S. Circuit Court of...

Missouri law firm of Bryan Cave handles sale of Shook's building.(Shook, Hardy & Bacon's headquarters)(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole It's Shook, Hardy & Bacon's headquarters, but it was Bryan Cave's deal. Bryan Cave attorneys represented Hallmark's Crown Center Redevelopment Corp. in the sale of 2555 Grand in Kansas City to Houston real estate...

Missouri Lawyers in the News: March 17, 2008.(Husch Blackwell Sanders )
March 17, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff St. Louis Circuit Judge Evelyn Baker is stepping down from the bench at the end of the month. Baker, who will turn 60 on March 29, said she hasn't figured out yet precisely what her new endeavor will...

Commentary: St. Louis county juries can produce big verdicts.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Will Connaghan Just when I thought I knew all that there was to know about jury verdicts in St. Louis County, several e-mails arrived last week that further enlightened me. In my last column, I wrote about the $1.05 million...

Looking for room to change Missouri's court plan.(rules in judicial selection)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Those who want to revamp Missouri's plan for selecting judges say it is too dominated by trial lawyers and too secretive. Supporters of the system say the proposals would make the process more political and it has...

Some big Missouri firms go to $120k.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole For the third year in a row, Missouri's largest firm is bumping up salaries for first-year associates. Starting June 1, the starting salary for Bryan Cave associates will move up $10,000 to $120,000 in St. Louis...

8th Circuit to decide if two women switched at birth have legal claim.(Beverly Bowker and Rowena Madrigal)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka Growing up, Beverly Bowker and Rowena Madrigal were tormented by rumors that their parents brought the wrong babies home from the hospital. "You know how other children can be, saying you must be a bastard...

8th Circuit issues mixed opinions on search and seizure.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Donna Walter and Aaron Bailey In a matter of two days, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld evidence gathered in one police search without warrant in Missouri and overturned evidence gathered in another. One appeals...

General counsel for University of Missouri is taking a crash course on higher ed law.(Steve Owens)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Bridget Heos Steve Owens expected a lifelong career as a private sector attorney. But doing work as outside counsel for the University of Missouri led the UM graduate to the position of general counsel for the university...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 17, 2008.(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Municipal Zoning - Non-use Variance - Practical Difficulties Where a homeowner requested a 10-foot variance in order to avoid building his garage over a sewer line, he failed to satisfy his...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 17, 2008.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Trial Transcript - Post- Conviction Relief Where a criminal defendant failed to provide a copy of the trial transcript to the appellate court, the appeal of the denial of a...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 17, 2008.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative State Trooper - Dismissal - Off- Duty Conduct Where a Missouri State Highway Patrol regulation prohibits conduct that has a "tendency" to negatively impact the reputation of the...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Appellate Panel Case Summaries: March 17, 2008.(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Preference - Post- Petition Refinancing - Damages (1) Where two unsecured creditors obtained a first and second mortgage on a debtor's property within 90 days prior to the debtor's...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 17, 2008.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Personal Jurisdiction - Minimum Contacts - Book Publishing Even though the publisher of a fictional book that chronicled a woman's Washington D.C. trysts sold only a relatively...

Kansas City software developer wins millions in license case.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A Kansas City-based computer software developer received a $7.1 million jury award on allegations that it was the victim of a license agreement violation. Overlap, based in downtown Kansas City, claimed A.G....

Verdicts & Settlements March 17, 2008: Forklift accident leads to $3.3 million for couple.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Charles Emerick A short trial yielded big results for a Gladstone couple. A Jackson County jury awarded Joseph and Pamela Armato more than $3.2 million following a three-day personal-injury trial in October. The couple sued...

Verdicts & Settlements March 17, 2008: Family awarded $1.1 million in med-mal case.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A St. Louis jury awarded $1.1 million in a medical malpractice case brought by the family of a man who allegedly died from internal bleeding while hospitalized for broken ribs. Joseph Marks was an...

Verdicts & Settlements March 17, 2008: St. Louis jury clears fireworks maker and distributor.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese A maker and a distributor of fireworks parts succeeded in convincing a jury they were not responsible for an explosion that led to five deaths. The lawsuit was filed by Angel Moran, the mother of a 22-year-old man...

Verdicts & Settlements March 17, 2008: Landowner awarded $1 million in dispute with MoDOT.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A jury awarded just over $1 million to a St. Charles County land owner in his eminent domain battle with the Missouri Department of Transportation. The landowner contended MoDOT undervalued a parcel of land taken for...

Verdicts & Settlements March 17, 2008: Jury finds doctors not responsible for missed appendicitis.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Victoria Siegel After six days of deliberation, a Jackson County jury decided that Dr. K. Steven Braton and Highland Medical Group were not liable for a plaintiff's claim of malpractice. Plaintiff Bobby Fields alleged that the...

Verdicts & Settlements March 17, 2008: Joplin hospital, cardiologist cleared of negligence.
March 17, 2008... Byline: Anne C. Vitale A Joplin hospital and cardiologist were found not negligent in a Jasper County medical malpractice case stemming from the death of a patient after triple bypass surgery. Larry Rush, 65, presented at Barton County...

Commentary: Preparing for the Second Season.(mandatory retirement)(Column)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Edward Poll According to a recent study by Altman Weil, Inc., the closer to retirement a lawyer gets, the more likely he/she is to oppose mandatory retirement ages. Interviews with a number of aging lawyers suggests that they don't...

Commentary: Politics behind redundant right-to-pray amendment.(Column)
March 17, 2008... Byline: Dan Margolies Bet you didn't know that the right to pray in public is under siege in Missouri. That's right. Schoolchildren can't bow their heads in prayer over lunch, let alone in the classroom. Why, they've even been barred...

Northwest Academy in St. Louis bests Ladue, misses regional.(Ladue Horton Watkins High School)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The Northwest Academy of Law mock trial team bested Ladue Horton Watkins High School in the second round of a St. Louis bar sponsored competition, but didn't have enough points to make it to the regional competition....

Not in their pond: Missouri Supreme Court turns down Bass Pro whistleblower lawsuit.(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole Lawyers in the Bass Pro whistleblower lawsuit will have to look elsewhere for an answer to the question of how big the punitive damages award should be after the Missouri Supreme Court turned down the case. The...

Out of the penalty box: Missouri Supreme Court lifts attorneys' license probations.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole The Missouri Supreme Court recently lifted three attorneys' license probations. The orders ending the probations followed after the attorneys petitioned the court and several months after the probationary periods...

National Guard pilot braces for tough defense in suit against Boeing.(Stephen Stilwell sues Boeing Co. )
March 31, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka National Guard pilot Stephen Stilwell's first challenge was recovering from a botched training mission that violently launched him from an F-15 fighter jet cruising 500 mph over central Missouri. His second...

Making your case: Making mediation meaningful.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Julia M. Johnson One of the main purposes of mediation is to lessen the time, money and effort spent on a case, but that doesn't mean attorneys should prepare for a mediation any less thoroughly than they would for a court...

Involuntary manslaughter conviction reversed in Mo. Court of Appeals Western District.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Stephanie Maniscalco A teen driver convicted of involuntary manslaughter will get a new trial, the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District held last week. The court found that a report by an accident reconstruction expert was...

Commentary: Volleyball injury traced to earlier crash.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Will Connaghan Jamie Ranabargar suffered a knee injury while playing volleyball. That's not unusual, but when she sued over her injury, the defendant was not some mad spiker on the other team, not even the maker of the court. She...

State of Missouri owes attorneys $160k for challenge.(Burton Newman and Richard Miller)
March 31, 2008... Byline: Heather Cole More than four years ago, Burton Newman and Richard Miller took up a whirlwind court challenge of Missouri's Concealed Carry Act. In four months, the two attorneys gathered 10 plaintiffs and got a preliminary...

A trailblazer leaves the bench: St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Evelyn Baker.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Kelly Wiese Before Evelyn Baker ever donned her judge's robes, all Missouri circuit court judges were white or male and most likely both. That hasn't changed much. When Baker leaves her St. Louis Circuit courtroom for the last...

Effort by Missouri House to impeach judge fails.(Jim Lembke's investigations of Christine Hutson)
March 31, 2008... Byline: Allison Retka The state House is dropping an impeachment effort against a Laclede County associate circuit judge after Speaker Rod Jetton concluded the matter is best left to a state appeals court. But Rep. Jim Lembke, the St....

Medication errors are prescription for lawsuits.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Celebrity cases such as Heath Ledger's recent death from mixing prescription drugs and Dennis Quaid's newborn twins receiving an adult dose of a blood thinner only scratch the surface of a growing number of lawsuits...

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: March 31, 2008.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Brief - Inadequate Where the brief of a pro se appellant in a dissolution included defective arguments and points relied on, the brief failed to comply with Rule 84.04 and...

Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Case Summaries: March 31, 2008.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Appellate Practice Brief - Inadequate - Pro Se Appellant Where the brief of a pro se appellant in an unemployment compensation case failed to state a reviewable claim under Section 288.210 and...

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Case Summaries: March 31, 2008.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Involuntary Manslaughter - Accident Reconstruction Expert - Hearsay Where a defendant convicted of involuntary manslaughter as the result of a high-speed, single car accident...

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit Case Summaries: March 31, 2008.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Class Action - Pleading - Heightened Standard Where the pleading of a plaintiff in a securities fraud class action failed to establish that the defendant misrepresented a...

Making your Case: Arbitration falling out of vogue in some areas.
March 31, 2008... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh After years of making mandatory pre-dispute arbitration a boilerplate provision in all contracts, companies are now rethinking the use of mandatory arbitration in business-to-business, consumer class action and...

Making your case: American Association of Justice outlines new agenda.(arbitration clauses)
March 31, 2008... Byline: Kimberly Atkins The American Association of Justice agenda for this year is focusing most closely on the issues of mandatory arbitration agreements, federal pre-emption and expanding the right to file civil actions against foreign...

Commentary: The three R's of negotiation ethics.
March 31, 2008... Byline: James W. Reeves The search for the line between what is ethical and what is not is a difficult one in negotiation. First, the rules don't provide clear-cut guidance for resolving ethical dilemmas. Second, even if one's actions meet...