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

Three cigarette butts held the key to freeing Johnny Briscoe from prison for a rape he didn’t commit. The rapist remained in his 29-year-old victim’s apartment for about an hour after he forced himself upon her, talking with her and smoking cigarettes. He told her he was Briscoe.

The alleged errors of a long-defunct servicer for car loans have resulted in a cascade of litigation in Missouri against credit unions, with mixed results.

Tagged with: Centrix Financial Lewis Rice & Fingersh Slough Connealy Irwin & Madden Stinson Morrison Hecker Walters Bender Strohbehn & Vaughan

The Joplin office of Legal Aid of Western Missouri was spared by the tornado and reopened Tuesday after a one-day closure. The agency, whose staff headed out to shelters and churches to hand out information to renters and homeowners, is at the forefront of legal community efforts to help victims. Here is a round-up of some of the efforts:

Make sure to discuss your positive outcomes. Don’t get sloppy in emails or too informal in discussions. Try to meet your colleagues and clients in person. Leadership often means building consensus.

The Jackson County Land Trust could find itself in the odd position of having to pay more for some properties that practically nobody else wants, following a court decision on Tuesday. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District upheld a circuit court judge’s ruling that the land trust paid too little for a house in central Kansas City that had failed to sell at a foreclosure sale.

The jury in a historic trial against Big Tobacco in St. Louis Circuit Court delivered numerous verdicts all for the defense this morning.

Tagged with: tobacco

A prominent Clayton family law firm has plunged into scandal over its handling of emailed evidence in a contentious custody dispute.

Tagged with: emails ethics Family Law Hais Hais Goldberger & Coyne Jay Fisk Sanctions

In a 4-3 decision, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the tax sale of a man’s house, even though he said he hadn’t received the letter informing him of the sale.

Two men who were molested as boys by former assistant U.S. Attorney Eric T. Tolen (pictured left) have received a more than $30 million judgment following a St. Louis County Circuit Court bench trial. Tolen was convicted in September 2008 on multiple statutory sodomy counts of five minor boys, including the plaintiffs, “C.W.” and “J.B.” Tolen was sentenced to 65 years in prison.

Tagged with: Eric Tolen St. Louis County Circuit Court

A Delaware court recently decided in favor of Springfield-based hotel magnate John Q. Hammons in a challenge to the sale of his company.

Tagged with: business law Husch Blackwell John Q. Hammons shareholder lawsuits

They’re not getting the increased funding they would like next fiscal year, but the state’s court and public defender systems aren’t getting slashed either. That’s the bottom line unveiled Wednesday night by Gov. Jay Nixon, left, as part of his proposed $23.1 billion operating budget for fiscal 2012, which begins July 1.