Judge Mark Pfeiffer heard his first case for the Court of Appeals Western District from an unusual place - the audience. Pfeiffer, who was appointed to the court on May 6, watched a court en banc argument later that month over the conviction of a man on a child molestation charge. He was in town for the court's conference that afternoon and intended merely to be a spectator. But when the court's existing eight judges split evenly over the outcome, Pfeiffer (with the attorneys' permission) was added as a ninth judge. As he said he learned, "there are no ties at the Court of Appeals."

Tagged with: Ann Mesle Cindy Reams Martin Gary D. Witt Hal Lowenstein John Miller Joseph Dandurand Karen King Mitchell Mark Pfeiffer Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Paul Spinden Ron Holliger

Two judges on the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District say it might be time for the Missouri Supreme Court to reconsider the state’s doctrine of sovereign immunity. The appeals court on Tuesday overturned a $68,000 jury verdict in favor ...

Tagged with: Columbia Demotion Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Missouri Supreme Court Sovereign Immunity

To understand why the parameters of HIPAA have caused so much trouble for the plaintiffs’ and the defense bar alike, you have to think fourth dimensionally. Sixteen years ago, before the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was a twinkle ...

Tagged with: Hans van Zanten HIPAA Jana V. Richards Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Missouri Supreme Court Sanders Conkright & Warren Yonke & Pottenger

The bankruptcy process offers certain protections, but they aren’t necessarily automatic. That’s the upshot of a decision last week by the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District, which said a woman is responsible for a $200,100 judgment against her despite ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Chapter 13 Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Sherri Porter

A Kansas City firm this month convinced a judge to toss out a criminal judgment he approved 13 years ago. All it took was a foreign birth certificate and a few citations to the Vienna Convention. Cuong Huy Phan was ...

Tagged with: Cuong Huy Phan Dennis Owens Jackson County Jackson County Circuit Court Jay Daugherty Jonathan Sternberg Missouri Court of Appeals Western District

An appeals court affirmed the conviction of a Kansas City man for the murders of six women. In the process, the court rejected an invitation to create a rule that interviews by police be recorded – something that a new ...

Tagged with: Jackson County Circuit Court Matt Bartle Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Terry Blair Zel Fischer

The latest nominees for the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District are no strangers to the process. All three were previous panel members to fill recent vacancies on the same court. The Appellate Judicial Commission on Monday nominated Circuit Judge ...

Tagged with: Cynthia L. Reams Martin Gary D. Witt Jacqueline A. Cook Missouri Court of Appeals Western District

A Missouri appeals court upheld a man’s convictions for second-degree murder and armed criminal action, rejecting the defendant’s claims of a conflict in the Adair County prosecutor’s office. James McFarland had been represented by Kristen Coffman, an assistant public defender, ...

Tagged with: conflict of interest James McFarland Missouri Court of Appeals Western District public defender

In a move that surprised few, Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed his longtime aide, Karen King Mitchell, to the Western District Court of Appeals. Mitchell was one of three finalists for a vacancy on the Kansas City-based appellate court. That ...

Tagged with: Jay Nixon Karen King Mitchell Mark Pfeiffer Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Paul Spinden

Two circuit judges and the director of the Missouri Department of Revenue are the finalists for the second of three vacancies on the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District. The Appellate Judicial Commission on Wednesday nominated Judge Jacqueline A. Cook, ...

Tagged with: Appellate Judicial Commission Gary D. Witt Jacqueline A. Cook Karen King Mitchell Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Paul Spinden

An appeals court on Tuesday denied a constitutional challenge to the Kansas City Council's controversial repeal of a voter-passed light-rail initiative. A committee led by light-rail activist Clay Chastain (pictured on Jan. 16, 2008, prior to filing a challenge to Kansas City's repeal of a voter-approved light-rail plan) had sued Kansas City after the City Council voted in November 2007 to repeal a light-rail plan passed a year earlier. The voters had enacted an ordinance that extended the city's three-eighths-cent transportation sales tax to build, operate and maintain a light-rail system.

Tagged with: charter Clay Chastain Kansas City light rail Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Valerie Chastain