JD Journal » Missouri

Arkansas Supreme Court Upholds $48M Verdict Against Bayer Like ‘White on Rice’

rebneely — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:23:50 +0000

According to the December 8th law360.com article, “Bayer Told To Cough Up $48M In Rice Contamination Suit”, the Arkansas Supreme Court this week upheld a $47.9 million verdict against Bayer AG and its affiliates in a suit brought by rice farmers who claimed they had sustained large financial losses following the contamination of their crops, via Bayer’s genetically modified rice. The verdict that the state’s $1 million punitive damages cap was unconstitutional was also upheld.

Over 10,000 rice farmers have filed Bayer and its CropScience unit with lawsuits over the contamination. They say this hindered rice exports to the European Union, Mexico, Russia and other countries averse to importing genetically engineered crops.

In July, Bayer announced in would pay $750 million to settle a multidistrict litigation in Missouri and other long-running suits over tainted rice crops in state and federal courts. The farmers in the Arkansas suit were not included in that settlement.

The Arkansas Supreme Court shot down Bayer’s attempt to undo a Lonoke County jury’s award of nearly $6 million in compensatory damages and $42 million in punitive damage to rice farmers. It also knocked off the state’s $1 million cap on punitive damages, which applied to all cases except for those in which the purpose of the defendant’s conduct was to harm the plaintiff.

Scott Powell, a Hare Wynn Newell & Newton LLP attorney representing the farmers, was quoted as saying: “It is a wonderful victory for our clients who have struggled mightily over the loss of the world rice markets and continue to struggle. They are very deserving of this victory, and I could not be more proud of and for them.”

Bayer CropScience was quoted as having said in a statement: “At this time, we are studying the court’s opinion and considering our options.”

Bayer claimed that the rice farmers had not provided enough evidence to show the company had behaved with malice or reckless disregard and as a result, owed punitive damages. The court rejected this claim.

In its challenge of the lower court result, Bayer also contended that the $42 million punitive damages award should be reduced, or that the company should be granted a new trial because the verdict was “grossly excessive” under both Arkansas law and the U.S. Constitution.

Although Bayer put forth that it had taken steps to guard against the risk of contamination by establishing a stewardship program to achieve compliance with federal regulations and contractually requiring those handling the genetically engineered rice to comply with containment measures, the court was more focused on the critical injury that had occurred, and that the injury had occurred because Bayer continued its conduct in spite of knowing it would naturally result in injury.

Per the article, the court was quoted as having said: “The fact that Bayer employed some measures to prevent the release of [genetically modified rice], standing alone and without regard to other facts and attending circumstances, does not absolve it of liability for punitive damages.”

Late-term Abortions Ban Approved in Idaho and Kansas

aostler — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:22:56 +0000

On Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Idaho and Kansas both approved similar bills in their respective senates that would ban abortions after 20 and 21 weeks of gestation, respectively, except in situations where the mother’s life is in jeopardy or facing serious injury. The bill is expected to be passed in Idaho when it is sent to the House for approval and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback is expected to be signing their similar bill into law very soon. Titled the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” in Idaho, both bills have come about because of medical evidence that pain can be felt by an unborn child after 20 weeks of development. Similar bills were approved in Missouri and Oklahoma last week and in Nebraska last year.

Not everyone is in favor of these recent Unborn Child Protection Acts, however. They claim that these acts violate a previous Supreme Court ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which gives women the right to have abortions up until the fetus can survive realistically out of the womb, which is usually around 22 or 23 weeks.

If the new laws are approved in both Idaho and Kansas, then any doctors that perform abortions after the 20^th week in Idaho and the 21^st week in Kansas would be subject to prosecution, but the woman having the abortion after the specified week would not receive any penalty.

Chicago Based SmithAmundsen Opens Office in St. Louis

joshua — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:56:52 +0000

The 128-lawyer firm headquartered in Chicago, SmithAmundsen LLC, announced today the opening of a
new office in St. Louis, Missouri.

Brad Goss and Marvin Lindmark, well known members of the St. Louis legal community, will lead the office.

Glen Amundsen, the firm’s Chairman and CEO, was quoted in the press release at the firm’s website as saying: “As part of our commitment to serve our clients in the Midwest, SmithAmundsen is pleased to open an office in St. Louis. 2010 has been a banner year for the firm with considerable expansion of both the scope of services we are able to offer our clients and the geographic footprint of the firm’s operations. The opening of our office in Missouri with these two great lawyers is another important step in implementing our strategic vision to be the first and best choice of our business clients in the Midwest. It is a privilege to welcome Brad and Marvin to SmithAmundsen.”

SmithAmundsen-St. Louis will serve the firm’s clientele with a mixture of both litigation and corporate/business services. The firm already serves the business community with legal professionals operating from its offices in Chicago, Rockford, St. Charles, and Woodstock, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Larry Schechtman, SmithAmundsen’s Managing Partner, was quoted as saying: “This expansion enables us to better serve our clients in the St. Louis region and surrounding areas of Missouri and Illinois and acquire new opportunities. We look forward to becoming a part of the St. Louis community and offering clients the added convenience and service of a St. Louis location.”

One of Chicago’s premier firms, SmithAmundsen LLC has grown to 128 attorneys with offices in Chicago, Rockford, St. Charles, and Woodstock, Illinois, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and St. Louis, Missouri. SmithAmundsen professionals offer competencies in a broad range of practice areas involving most aspects of contract, property and tort law.

Littler Mendelson Add 4 to Roster

sara — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:51:01 +0000

Littler Mendelson, P.C. announced today that 4 shareholders joined their Kansas City, Missouri office. Denise K. Drake, Daniel B. Boatright, Jeanine M. DeVeney, and Jeffrey M. Place all come to Littler from Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP.

Drake, Boatright and DeVeney specialize in employment law with an emphasis on complex cases including class and collective actions, wage and hour litigation, multi-plaintiff and multi-defendant cases, cases involving alleged harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, contract matters and Family and Medical Leave Act violations.

Place has extensive experience handling collective bargaining negotiations, labor arbitrations, counter-union campaigns, administrative matters before the National Labor Relations Board and related litigation in federal and state court.

Littler Mendelson is the largest U.S. based firm focused on representing management in employment and labor law matters. Founded in 1942, the firm has more than 750 attorneys in 48 offices.

Tipster: Husch Blackwell Laying Off More Lawyers

Erik Even — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:15:07 +0000

Husch Blackwell laid off 17 lawyers and 45 staff in March, and 10 lawyers two weeks ago.

Now a JDJournal tipster says the firm has laid off an undisclosed number of additional attorneys.

More attorneys were laid off last week at the St. Louis Husch, Blackwell office, including well respected partners and associates. [They] also demoted equity partners, cut salaries, etc. No one knows until the very last minute. Possibly more to come?

Thanks for the tip!

If you know anything about layoffs or salary cuts at Husch Blackwell, please send us a confidential tip!

Husch Blackwell Sanders is a multinational litigation and business services law firm based in St. Louis, Missouri. It has approximately 675 attorneys in 13 cities. The firm was formed in 2008 as a combination of two regional law firms, Husch & Eppenberger and Blackwell Sanders. The firm also merged with Welsh & Katz of Chicago.

Bradshaw & Herrington Merges With White Goss

Erik Even — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:11:03 +0000

Kansas City, Missouri law firm Bradshaw & Herrington is merging into local firm White Goss.

With the four lawyers from Bradshaw & Herrington, including name partners Tom Bradshaw and Daniel Herrington, the combined firm will have 22 lawyers.

Founded in 2000 by five Polsinelli Shughart lawyers, White Goss Bowers March Schulte & Weisenfels focuses on real-estate, land-use law, municipal law and corporate litigation.

Spencer Fane Lays Off 8 Staff

Erik Even — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:25:26 +0000

Kansas City, Missouri-based law firm Spencer Fane has laid off eight staff members.

The lay-offs targeted three in tony Clayton, Missouri, and five in Kansas City.

In addition to its Kansas City headquarters and Clayton office, the 130-attorney Spencer Fane Britt & Browne has offices in Omaha, Nebraska and Overland Park, Kansas.

Polsinelli Shughart Lays Off 9 Attorneys, 16 Staff

Erik Even — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:20:27 +0000

Kansas City law firm Polsinelli Shughart, the result of a merger last month, has laid off nine attorneys and 16 staff members.

Chairman Russell Welsh said the layoffs were from various practices, and were both “economy related” and the result of redundancies due to the merger.

Four of the lawyers laid off were the firm’s Kansas City HQ.

Polsinelli Shughart PC is the result of a merger between Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus and Shughart Thomson & Kilroy. The firms had combined revenue of about $174 million in 2008. Polsinelli ranked fifth and Shughart sixth on the Kansas City Business Journal’s most recent list of the top area law firms.

Armstrong Teasdale Lays Off 30 People

Erik Even — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:45:15 +0000

Last week, Armstrong Teasdale let go of about 30 people, including seven attorneys.

Further details are not available at this time. If you have any pertinent info, please send us a confidential tip!

Armstrong Teasdale LLP is a law firm headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in 1901 by Thomas Harper Cobbs and John E. Bishop. Since its founding, the firm has grown to nearly 269 lawyers with 11 national and international offices in Jefferson City and Kansas City, Missouri; Belleville and Edwardsville, Illinois; Overland Park, Kansas; Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada; San Francisco, California; Washington, DC; and Shanghai, China.

Stinson Morrison Hecker Lays Off 30 Staffers

Erik Even — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:36:59 +0000

Kansas City’s Stinson Morrison Hecker let 30 people go on Monday.

No attorneys were affected.

“We were going to do this over a period of time, but we decided that with the economy the way it is, there was no reason to prolong it,” said managing partner Mark Foster.

Foster said those laid off included secretaries, record clerks and people responsible for billing and collections. The layoffs were spread out among the firm’s offices in Kansas City, Overland Park, St. Louis, Wichita and Phoenix.

Stinson, which has no plans for further layoffs, is the fourth largest firm based in Kansas City with about 340 attorneys.

Missouri Legislator Grill Joins King Hershey

Erik Even — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:30:19 +0000

Democratic Missouri State Representative Jason Grill of Parkville has joined Kansas City law firm King Hershey.

Grill represents Missouri’s 32nd District, which covers southern Platte County. He will serve as of counsel for the development law firm.

He comes to King Hershey from Kansas City’s Holtsclaw & Kendall, where he did personal injury work. Before that, he worked with his father at the Grill Law Firm.

“Jason is a top-notch attorney and a passionate, hardworking legislator who is committed to helping move Kansas City, Platte County and Missouri forward,” King Hershey President Mike Burke said in a written statement Friday.

Grill attended the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he earned an Advanced Certificate in Dispute Resolution, and was a member of the Deans List three times.

King Hershey also named Christopher Lemke as a partner.

Founded in 1988, King Hershey is a practice emphasizing real estate development, public finance and complex commercial transactions and litigation.

Ex-Congressman Joining Polsinelli-Shughart Firm

Erik Even — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:31:12 +0000

Former Republican Missouri US Representative Kenny Hulshof is joining the law firm that will emerge from the pending merger of Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus and Shughart Thomson & Kilroy.

The firms announced that Hulshof will join the combined firms’ public policy practice when the merger is expected to be completed in February. Hulshof will shuttle between Missouri and Washington.

Hulshof served six terms in Congress, representing Missouri’s 9th District in the House from 1997 to January 2009. Most recently, he was the Republican nominee in the Missouri governor’s race, losing to former Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.

Hulshof will become the second congressman to join the firm; former Democratic Representative Jonas Martin Frost III of Texas joined Polsinelli in 2006, and works in the firm’s public policy group in Washington.

The combination of Polsinelli and Shughart will create a firm with more than 480 lawyers, making it one of the biggest law firms in Missouri. Both firms are based in Kansas City.

19 States Consider Uniform Bar Exam

Erik Even — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:18:06 +0000

Nineteen US states are positioned to implement the uniform bar exam, or UBE. The exam, designed to create a consistent competency measure for admission to practice, would be a three-component test, all with the same questions, administered in each jurisdiction.

Although many states historically have held onto their testing autonomy by developing some of their own exam questions and by using their own pass scores, legal professionals say that a single exam – such as those utilized for physicians, architects and accountants – is an increasing likelihood for lawyers.

The three components, all developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, are: the MBE; the Multistate Performance Test; and the Multistate Essay Examination. The uniform test score would include performance on these components only and would not incorporate a state law portion.

Each state would continue to do its own grading and, at least initially, each state could set its own minimum pass score. Individual states would continue to conduct their own character and fitness screening for bar admission.

The 19 jurisdictions that could most readily begin using the uniform exam already include the three components developed by the National Conference on their bar exams. Illinois, Missouri and Colorado are among those states.

Proponents of a uniform bar exam assert that it would relieve states of the costs of developing their own tests and could provide higher-quality questions than on state-developed tests. They also say that a uniform exam would help ensure that attorneys from different parts of the country had the same level of competency.

Via TaxProf Blog.

State Senator Joins Lathrop & Gage

Erik Even — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:43:18 +0000

Republican Missouri State Senator Jack Goodman has joined the Springfield office of Kansas City’s Lathrop & Gage LC.

Goodman is in his second term in the Senate and currently is assistant Senate majority leader. He serves the 29th district, which includes Barry, Lawrence, McDonald, Ozark, Stone and Taney counties.

At Lathrop & Gage, Goodman will focus his legal practice on corporate, real estate and wealth strategies. He will split his time between the firm’s Springfield office and his office in Mount Vernon.

Goodman has 10 years of experience practicing law and was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Dade County from 1997-2002. He has a bachelor’s degree and a juris doctor degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He also is past president of the 39th Judicial Circuit Bar Association.

Goodman has been in the Missouri General Assembly since 2003. He served two terms in the House of Representatives and was elected to the Senate in 2005.