St. Louis staff at Dr. Patricia Wolff's nonprofit for malnourished Haitian children learned Thursday that their employees and warehouse in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince survived intact.
Read More »Pro se plaintiff takes on Allstate – and wins
A federal jury awarded a former St. Louis resident $140,000 on Wednesday in a breach of contract suit against Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Co. The verdict matched testimony from Allstate’s forensic accountant about how much plaintiffs Reginald and Roxanna ...
Tagged with: Allstate U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri
Read More »South Butt defends ‘parodic spirit’ of clothing
In a response filed Monday in federal court, Jimmy Winkelmann, the 19-year-old clothing entrepreneur sued by The North Face, denied his line of outdoor apparel confuses consumers or dilutes North Face's trademarks.
Tagged with: Jimmy Winkelmann North Face South Butt Williams Pharmacy Inc
Read More »Collectability pondered in legal malpractice suits
A malpractice suit against a St. Louis solo attorney may be the first Missouri case to flesh out a key element of legal malpractice that the state’s appellate courts haven’t touched: collectability. If insufficient insurance coverage hampered the underlying suit, ...
Tagged with: Daniel Finney Jr. David Mason Serif Selimanovic
Read More »Top Stories of 2009: BetonSports turns over $50 million to the feds
With the sentencing of David Carruthers, a former BetonSports CEO, on Jan. 8, the federal government will wrap up an eight-year investigation and prosecution of BetonSports, a giant offshore gambling company first charged by Missouri prosecutors in 2006. But the ...
Tagged with: Betonsports Charles Birmingham Gary Kaplan Steve Holtshouser Steven Muchnick
Read More »Top Stories of 2009: Ups and downs for public defenders over the past year
After just a few months at law school at Saint Louis University, Matt Melton knew he wanted to be a public defender. As he neared graduation he sent his one and only job application to the Missouri State Public Defender’s ...
Tagged with: Missouri's Public Defender System
Read More »Names of those seeking bench to be publicized
For the first time, the Missouri Supreme Court will release the names of those interviewed for judicial vacancies in the courts falling under the Nonpartisan Court Plan. The high court announced Monday it will release the names of every applicant ...
Tagged with: judicial applicants Nonpartisan Court Plan transparency vacancies
Read More »Task force to tackle justice funding
Two past bar presidents, several prosecutors and public defenders, one judge and one former lawmaker make up the Criminal Justice Task Force, which will study prosecutor and public defender funding problems and come up with solutions for the Legislature.
Tagged with: Joe Moseley Missouri's Public Defender System Skip Walther
Read More »State high court offers new solution on defender cases
The Missouri Supreme Court struck down rules the Missouri Public Defender Commission enacted in 2008 that allow public defenders to refuse certain types of cases.
But, as public defenders read the decision, opinion author Judge Michael A. Wolff shoved open the door to a new option. Public defender offices can't refuse some cases and take others, but particularly burdened offices might be able to refuse to take any new cases.
Tagged with: caseload Cat Kelly Dwight Scroggins Michael A. Wolff Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys Missouri Public Defender's Commission Missouri Supreme Court
Read More »St. Louis attorneys launch fundraising effort for charities
A network of St. Louis attorneys is trying to make Valentine’s Day a little sweeter for 10 local charities. Today the attorneys will launch a fundraising effort, Project XOXO, that targets the post-holiday lull in charity donations. Organizers set recommended ...
Tagged with: charities Project XOXO
Read More »‘Put up or shut up’
If a criminal attorney stares down a forensic expert testifying from the witness stand about a scientific conclusion, the attorney should pin down the expert and say, "Put up or shut up."
Tagged with: CLE expert witness forensic expert
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