MLM Counties News. Notices. Need-to-know Information.

Plaintiff Tatyana Tasheva Gospodinova claims Pinnacle Career Institute breached “clear public policy” when it terminated her for failing to meet enrollment quotas of for-profit online courses, according to a lawsuit she filed Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Seven weeks of wrangling over a verdict that could have yielded as much as $2 million for the defendant or as little as nothing for both parties has come in closer to the latter. The defendant, a national drug distributor, did come out slightly ahead

Kansas City mayor-elect Sly James still is working out plans for his attorney opponent from the March election. Ever since election night, James pledged to involve his contender, Mike Burke, in his mayoral administration, although the extent of that involvement has been unclear.

Eight people have applied to serve as Jackson County’s next prosecuting attorney, a county spokesman said Friday. The county hasn’t yet released the names of the applicants and it is unknown whether it will do so before scheduled interviews on April 25. The interviews will be open to the public, however.

The Kansas City Police Department and plaintiffs alleging wrongful property seizures reached a nearly $1.2 million settlement, ending class action litigation that started 10 years ago.

A Kansas City activist is accusing City Attorney Galen Beaufort of abusing his authority and hurting his chances to run in last month’s mayoral race, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

More than 22,000 dentists and orthodontists claiming the makers of Invisalign braces were unclear about their quotas for prescribers will see up to $44 million in injunctive relief, per the terms of a recent class action settlement. Lawyers at the Kansas City-based firm of Stueve Siegel Hanson handled the settlement, which a federal judge in California approved April 8.

A three-year legal battle spanning embezzlement allegations, contract disputes, 140 trucks and 6 to 8 inches of invoices came to a close this month in Jackson County Circuit Court with an unfavorable verdict for a plaintiff propane gas company. But attorneys see the result as a win for plaintiff Ferrellgas, which avoided a potential jury award of more than $7 million in counterclaims from the defendants.

A prominent small-firm operator who recently jumped to a larger firm plans to go back out on his own after less than six months on the job. Jim Wirken said in an interview that today is his last day as of counsel with McDowell, Rice, Smith & Buchanan in Kansas City.

A lawsuit a shoe store clerk triggered when she handed a receipt containing a racial slur to a black customer ended Tuesday in the employer’s favor. The October 2008 transaction attracted national media attention and local activists’ attempts to prompt a nationwide boycott of Journeys shoe stores.

At least 50 lawyers already have expressed “encouraging and surprising” interest in succeeding Jim Kanatzar as Jackson County’s prosecuting attorney, County Executive Mike Sanders said in an interview Monday. Kanatzar, whom Gov. Jay Nixon last week named to the Jackson County Circuit, must swear in as a judge by May 1.