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

Do lawyers have an ethical obligation to warn clients of the risk of third-party access to all types of electronic communication between attorney and client? This question was addressed last month in an ethics decision, Formal Opinion No. 11-459, issued by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.

The Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization of veterans who have received the Purple Heart decoration after being wounded in combat, has sued a Kansas charity for trademark infringement.

Beekeepers with hives close to fields of Monsanto Co. genetically modified corn must have their honey checked by regulators before selling it in the European Union, the region’s highest court said. EU rules require prior authorization before goods containing genetically modified organisms are marketed.

An appeals court has upheld the summary for two ballot initiatives that seek to limit the use of eminent domain in Missouri.

Tagged with: eminent domain

A St. Louis jury ordered a heating and cooling company to pay $786,000 to homeowners who blame the company for the mold that ruined their house and their belongings. St. Louis lawyer Kevin J. Marquitz bought the newly built home at 2122 Franz Park Lane three years ago and first noticed four small dots of mold on a dining room wall two years ago.

On the morning of Aug. 31, AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said in a television interview that he expected his company’s bid for T-Mobile USA Inc. to get government approval by the first quarter of 2012.

The Appellate Judicial Commission announced its selection after more than four hours of private debate on Thursday in Jefferson City. But the commission’s interviews with the 13 applicants were open to the public, the first time that’s happened for a Supreme Court vacancy.

Tagged with: George W. Draper III Joe D. Jacobson Michael W. Manners

Steven Gartenberg, a suspended St. Louis-area attorney, was sentenced today to two years in prison for embezzling client funds from estates and family trusts.

Tagged with: Steven Gartenberg

Americans rightly take great pride in the freedoms afforded to us by the First Amendment. Which is what makes the ongoing self-censorship among a group of highly regarded art scholars, who work at some of our most prestigious and respected museums and universities, so deeply and profoundly disturbing.

The federal judge presiding over Yasmin and Yaz multidistrict litigation said he is formulating a plan for prodding the parties into reaching a settlement. “The court has no intention of presiding over anything into eternity, let alone this litigation, and the court is presently working on a process that will engage the parties in settlement discussions following the bellwether trials in a meaningful way,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge David R. Herndon in an Aug. 18 order.

Former Festus Postmaster Teresa Tremusini was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for her role in a mail fraud scheme that resulted in a loss to the U.S. Postal Service of approximately $3.8 million. She is the third of four accomplices to be sentenced in the case. Tremusini, 40, of St. Louis appeared Aug. 26 for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel.