A federal appeals court Wednesday cleared the way for the Department of Justice to allow states to have their inmates’ death penalty appeals expedited through federal court. Legal organizations that challenged the DOJ’s criteria for certifying states for the fast-track program ...
Read More »Mamtek consultant to pay $100K settlement in lawsuit
A business consultant who helped sell Missouri on a sweetener manufacturing company’s project will pay $100,000 to settle bankruptcy court claims that he participated in a scheme to divert millions of construction funds to company insiders. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis ...
Read More »Justices divided over health law birth control plan
The Supreme Court seems deeply divided over the arrangement devised by the Obama administration to spare faith-based groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans. The court’s conservative justices sounded supportive Wednesday of the ...
Read More »Judge grants woman’s request to quit Trump University suit
A judge has granted a Southern California yoga instructor’s request to withdraw from a federal class-action lawsuit against Trump University after her attorneys said the Republican presidential front-runner and his lawyers put her “through the wringer.” Tarla Makaeff’s withdrawal from ...
Read More »How the FBI might hack into an iPhone without Apple’s help
For more than a month, federal investigators have insisted they have no alternative but to force Apple to help them open up a phone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. That changed Monday when the Justice Department said ...
Read More »Experts see little chance of charges in Clinton email case
Asked earlier this month whether she’d be indicted over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton responded, “It’s not going to happen.” Though Republicans characterized her response as hubris, several legal experts interviewed by ...
Read More »Study finds affluence factor in municipal court satisfaction
A new study suggests that a community’s affluence plays a role in determining a person’s municipal court experience. Saint Louis University conducted an exit poll of 753 people leaving courts in 13 St. Louis County municipalities, the results of which ...
Read More »Court tosses verdict over blistered Nissan dashboards
An appeals court on Tuesday threw out a class action jury verdict against car manufacturer Nissan, saying the plaintiffs’ claims of problems with the cars’ dashboards weren’t actionable under Missouri’s consumer protection laws. The 2014 verdict, which came after a ...
Read More »Life insurance class action settles for $2.25 billion
Two Kansas City law firms played a role in a $2.25 billion out-of-state settlement for members of a class action lawsuit against The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. that alleged policy overcharges. The settlement, finalized Feb. 4, was announced by ...
Read More »Jury awards plaintiff more than $20 million in environmental tort case
A Springfield jury awarded a 27-year-old woman $20.6 million in damages in a case alleging the woman’s chronic disease was caused by an exposure to a toxic chemical dumped by a Missouri-based ball bearings manufacturer. The case arises from ground ...
Read More »Disputed health law rule would broaden transgender rights
Big companies are pushing back against proposed federal rules they say would require their medical plans to cover gender transition and other services under the nondiscrimination mandate of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Civil rights advocates representing transgender people ...
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