Overlawyered » Missouri http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 November 23 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-23-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-23-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:02:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25696
  • Big win for Ted Frank against cy pres slush funds [CCAF, Fisher, Zywicki, CL&P, @tedfrank ("Ninth Circuit rules in my favor ... but I still think I'm right".)]
  • “Can the Vatican Be Subject to ICC Prosecution?” [Ku/OJ]
  • “Tennessee: ATS Sues City Over Right Turn Ticket Money” [The Newspaper]
  • “Law firms dominating campaign contributions to Obama” [WaPo]
  • Does that mean it’s an entitlement? Punitive damage limits face constitutional challenges in Arkansas, Missouri [Cal Punitives]
  • Businessman sues to silence critical blogger, case is dismissed, now files suit #2 [Scott Greenfield]
  • Going Hollywood? “The Supreme Court should move to Los Angeles” [Conor Friedersdorf]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-23-roundup-4/feed/ 2     Feds seek $90,000 fine for illegal bunny-selling http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/feds-seek-90000-fine-for-illegal-bunny-selling/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/feds-seek-90000-fine-for-illegal-bunny-selling/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 05:08:18 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23156 They say John Dollarhite of Nixa, Missouri “sold rabbits and guinea pigs without a license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.” Dollarhite says he can’t afford the fine and says the business was started by his son, then a child; it “made about $200 in profit from April 2008 to December 2009 from selling rabbits for $10 or $12 apiece.” [Springfield News-Leader]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/feds-seek-90000-fine-for-illegal-bunny-selling/feed/ 2     Claim: Starbucks tip jars too tempting to thieves http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/claim-starbucks-tip-jars-too-tempting-to-thieves/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/claim-starbucks-tip-jars-too-tempting-to-thieves/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:43:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21988 Crestwood, Mo.: “The Starbucks coffee shop here should have known it was inviting trouble by placing a tip jar on an open counter, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the estate of a customer who died defending it.” Customer Roger Kreutz saw a teenager grab the jar and gave chase on foot; he was killed when the miscreant backed his car over him. Kreutz’s estate has now filed a suit alleging “that Starbucks ‘did not employ security to prevent the perpetration of such crimes’ and that it ‘invited the act of perpetration of said crime’ by having a tip jar.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/claim-starbucks-tip-jars-too-tempting-to-thieves/feed/ 10     St. Louis: A much-sued museum talks back http://overlawyered.com/2010/05/st-louis-a-much-sued-museum-talks-back/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/05/st-louis-a-much-sued-museum-talks-back/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 05:02:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17206 The City Museum in St. Louis is not your usual assemblage of annotated exhibits: it’s a thrill-seeker’s delight, with a giant jungle gym and slides, described as a cross between “a playground and a theme park,” and a huge success that draws 700,000 visitors a year. It also has been sued numerous times by patrons who managed to get hurt on its determinedly non-soft surfaces, and unlike the great majority of defendants, it has chosen not to clam up when sued. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch relates, the quirky museum used its Facebook page to call out by name some plaintiffs who have sued after taking (in its view) inadequate care for their own safety and, somewhat more acerbically, the lawyers who prosecute the suits. Its news release has more:

    Just to give you a quick glimpse into what we go through at the City Museum, a couple of years ago our rock fell 4 feet. The next day we had over 12 people call and tell us they were injured when the rock fell. To investigate these claims, we reviewed the video of the rock falling and we posted the video clearly showing that there was no one next to the rock when it fell on our website. When this was brought to several of the caller’s attention they either hung up or changed their stories.

    From a Wall Street Journal account (attorneys “take the fun out of life”):

    A sign near the admission gate gives the names and phone numbers of law firms that have represented people who sued the museum, blaming them for a 9% surcharge recently added to the cost of a ticket.

    More: Shield of Achilles (”naming and shaming”), Free-Range Kids (with reader comments).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/05/st-louis-a-much-sued-museum-talks-back/feed/ 7     “Kansas man sues Royals claiming hot dog injury” http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/kansas-man-sues-royals-claiming-hot-dog-injury/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/kansas-man-sues-royals-claiming-hot-dog-injury/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:18:50 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16253 He says a flying wiener thrown into the stands by the team’s mascot, Sluggerrr, nearly put his eye out. [AP/Joplin Globe] On the demise of flying peanuts in Boston and flying tortillas in San Antonio, see this post and this, respectively. More: Lowering the Bar.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/kansas-man-sues-royals-claiming-hot-dog-injury/feed/ 8     Employee holiday party lesson http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/employee-holiday-party-lesson/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/employee-holiday-party-lesson/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:25:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15232 Don’t phony up invoices in order to pay for an unauthorized off-site Christmas party for your staff. And if you do, and get fired, don’t file a lawsuit claiming it was all the fault of age discrimination. [Gorman v. Missouri Gas Energy, W.D. Mo., via Siouxsie Law]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/employee-holiday-party-lesson/feed/ 4     October 30 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/october-30-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/october-30-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:10:33 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14455
  • Annals of discrimination lawsuits: a Tennessee cop contests his firing [Chattanooga Pulse]
  • New book on lawsuits against universities: Amy Gajda, “The Trials of Academe: The New Era of Campus Litigation” [Harvard University Press via Stanley Fish, NYT]
  • Bernard Kerik’s bail revoked because he used Twitter to promote a website put up by his friends flaying the prosecution? [Scott Greenfield] Plus: More complicated than that, says Bill Poser in comments;
  • Another big setback for birther litigation [Wasserman/ Prawfsblawg, Little Green Footballs, earlier]
  • “I won’t be able to function,” says Missouri woman after judge rules her monkey is not a service animal [On Point News, Molly DiBianca] More: service ferret gets owner kicked out of North Carolina mall [DigTriad]
  • Eleventh Circuit agrees that U.S. cannot prosecute criminal defense lawyer Ben Kuehne for money laundering charges for having written opinion letter saying untainted money was available for legal fees [WSJ Law Blog, coverage (and update) at Scott Greenfield's site, Miami Herald]
  • One for the Coase Theorem literature? Cranky neighbor forces closure of famed South Carolina recording venue [Ribstein]
  • Hallowe’en is safe [BoingBoing, earlier on Pennsylvania town's trick-or-treating ban] “Toronto schools: Hallowe’en insensitive to witches” [four years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/october-30-roundup-3/feed/ 1     “Attorney urges court to ban drunken possession of guns” http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/attorney-urges-court-to-ban-drunken-possession-of-guns/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/attorney-urges-court-to-ban-drunken-possession-of-guns/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:16:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14014 A Missouri statute raises various civil-liberties and Bill of Rights problems. [Columbia, Mo. Tribune]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/attorney-urges-court-to-ban-drunken-possession-of-guns/feed/ 0     Tales of contingent-fee tax collection http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/contingent-fee-tax-collection/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/contingent-fee-tax-collection/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:05:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=12517 A St. Louis lawyer has won big in contingency-fee tax collection by teaming up with class action firm Korein Tillery to challenge cellphone companies’ claims not to be subject to municipal taxes on landline telephone providers. At the same time he’s been town attorney for the suburban community of University City, which now finds itself in the position (with many other Missouri municipalities) of paying its share of $65 million in proposed fees. [Paul Hampel and Margaret Gillerman, "U.City lawyer wins big in class-action case", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jul. 23]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/contingent-fee-tax-collection/feed/ 1     10 year old on ATV swerves into truck’s path http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/10-year-old-on-atv-swerves-into-trucks-path/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/10-year-old-on-atv-swerves-into-trucks-path/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:17:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=10574 Police did not file charges last year against 61-year-old Richard L. Robertson of Sedalia, Missouri, after his pickup truck struck and killed a 10 year old girl riding an all-terrain vehicle. “Law enforcement officials said they determined [Jordan Keith] swerved out in front of Richardson and he couldn’t stop in time.” Parents Michael and Lesli Keith have sued Richardson anyway, accusing him “of being negligent and failing to drive more carefully or sound a warning”. [AP/Columbia Missourian]

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