An appeals court has affirmed a penalty against the Missouri Department of Corrections for knowingly breaking the Sunshine Law by withholding information about people who applied to witness state executions. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem had ordered the department ...
Read More »Judges approve new 16th Circuit administrator
Mary Marquez, deputy court administrator and director of Family Court Services, was promoted to court administrator effective Feb. 1, 2017, according to court spokeswoman Valerie Hartman. Marquez replaces Jeff Eisenbeis, who is retiring at the end of January. She has ...
Read More »Jury awards couple $37.5 million for vehicle crash
An Orrick man paralyzed by a chain of crashes on Interstate 435 in Kansas City in 2014 received a $30 million jury verdict Thursday and his wife received a $7.5 million verdict on her loss of consortium claim. Tim Dollar ...
Read More »Portfolio takes aim at $82 million verdict
An $82 million jury verdict was critiqued and defended in oral arguments before the Western District Court of Appeals on Thursday morning. The verdict was in the case of Guadalupe Mejia, who won on a counterclaim against Portfolio Recovery Associates ...
Read More »KC Public Schools settles sexual assault suit
Kansas City Public Schools has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit against the district over the alleged sexual assault of a student by an extended-care program employee. In 2015, the plaintiffs, J.J. and her son, J.J., sued the ...
Read More »Parties reach $80m settlement in courthouse asbestos case
A class-action lawsuit over asbestos exposure at the Jackson County Courthouse following a renovation in the 1980s has settled for $80 million. The case was set to start opening statements Wednesday at the University of Missouri – Kansas City School ...
Read More »Newspaper gets summary judgment, sanctions order
The failure to hand over documents during discovery has led to sanctions for the Kansas City Star. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Greg Kays ordered $21,152 in sanctions against Cypress Media, doing business as the Kansas City Star. The sanctions ...
Read More »Tractor crash trial ends in $6.3M verdict
A Jackson County jury has awarded a Kansas man $6.3 million in damages stemming from a traffic crash involving a tractor-trailer and a farm tractor. Roger C. Ross, of Troy, Kansas, brought the suit against Jeschke Ag Service, a Troy ...
Read More »Moran, retired Jackson County judge, dies at 86
Former Jackson County Circuit Judge John Moran died Oct. 3, according to a family obituary. He was 86. Moran served the court from 1988 to 1999 and was based in Independence. Before joining the bench he practiced law for 31 ...
Read More »Innocence claim not enough in non-death penalty case
An appeals court on Tuesday said it could not review a man’s claim that he is innocent of a 1982 murder because Missouri law doesn’t recognize a “freestanding claim of actual innocence” unless the death penalty is involved. The Court ...
Read More »Grace Day film sparks discussion of women in law
Grace Day may have passed away this summer, but she was still making people laugh Tuesday night as a room full of mostly female attorneys and law students chuckled at her quick quips caught on film. Day, who practiced law ...
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