Kansas City’s White Goss Bowers March Schulte & Weisenfels has recently added two high profile Kansas City attorneys and civic leaders to its team.

Mark Bryant and Michael P. “Fuzzy” White joined the firm on April 16th and January, 2012 respectively.

Mr. Bryant, formerly of SNR Denton, joins the firm’s Real Estate, Public Law, and Economic Development Incentives practice.

Mr. White joins the firm’s Real Estate practice.

Bryant formerly served as a Member of the City Council of Kansas City, Missouri and was  a strong supporter [...]

Kansas City’s Husch Blackwell recently represented Duke Energy Renewables in its $330m closing of a joint financing arrangement with Sumitomo Corporation of America.

The arrangement will finance two wind farm projects in Kansas: the 131-megawatt Cimarron II Project in Gray County and the 168-megawatt Ironwood Project in Ford County.

Husch Partner John Crossley led Husch’s energy and infrastructure team on the project.  Husch attorneys working on the project from its Kansas City office included Partner John Brungardt, Senior Counsel Gaylord Smith, and Associate Ellen Pantaenius.  Partner Bob Wilkinson and Associate Megan Fuchs from Husch’s St. Louis office also participated.

The [...]

By an 89-50 vote, Missouri House Republicans have passed legislation requiring the losing party in a civil action to pay the victor’s attorney fees in suits whose judgment will be “significantly less favorable” than the proposed settlement offer.

In such a case, the victor “must” recover litigation costs from the party that rejected the settlement.

A “significantly less favorable” judgement occurs when the award is less than 50% of the rejected settlement offer for claimants and if the award is more than 150% of the rejected [...]

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Charles Atwell will hear testimony to determine B.B. Andersen’s ownership share of West Edge’s ownership group, VA West Properties, LLC.

That share could be worth anywhere from $2m up to $12m.

The trial is set to take place for a week starting June 11th.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: Andersen sued Cecil Van Tuyl in 2011, claiming that Van Tuyl cut his longtime business partner out of their arranged partnership structure for VA West soon after the company bought [...]

The City of Kansas City and the Kansas City Firefighters Union, Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, have reached a new accord.

The new agreement will last for three years and entails a $7.6m cut to the Fire Department.

Local 42 hopes to avoid excepted layoffs through the agreement.

It appears that Local 42′s membership has voted to approve the deal.

According to the Kansas City Star: The City Council still must approve the contract after a public hearing next week.

But the [...]

The City of Kansas City’s proposal to institute a special taxing district to fund a proposed street car has been approved.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Charles Atwell approved the proposal finding no legal defect or illegality.

While some business owners within the district fear that the tax will be an undue burden, Judge Atwell ruled otherwise.

The City has argued that because the district will be most benefited by the streetcar, it should bear the burden.

According to the Kansas City Star: The new taxes still must be [...]

The Missouri House of Representatives has passed two pieces of legislation aimed at curbing workplace rights.

One bill would restrict protections for whistleblowers.

The other legislation would prohibit lawsuits against co-workers for injuries that occurred on-the-job.

Governor Jay Nixon has vetoed similar legislation, once already this year.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: The current bill would restrict when to bestow whistleblower status, limit who can receive the reports and cap punitive damages if an employer retaliates, the newspaper reports.

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From the Kansas [...]

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights officials have asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether the State of Kansas is in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act.

The HHS Office of Civil Rights Regional Manager, Ralph Rouse, sought the investigation after determining the impossibility of a voluntary agreement between the State and HHS.

Prior to making the request with the Justice Department, Rouse met with Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and other State officials.

According to the Kansas City Business [...]

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil approved a settlement as part of a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corp. yesterday for allegedly perpetrating a nation wide “hot fuel” scam.

Attorney Robert Horn of Kansas City’s Horn Aylward & Bandy, along with attorney Thomas Girardi of Girardi and Keese in Los Angeles,  represent the plaintiffs.  Attorney Tom Bender of Kansas City’s Walters Bender Strohbehn & Vaughan PC serves as liaison counsel.

As part of the settlement, Costco has agreed to convert gas pumps that will compensate for [...]

Polsinelli Shughart has announced its recent addition of attorney Aaron M. Kroll to its Overland Park office.

Kroll will focus his practice on real estate transactions, zoning, land use and development, and incentive financing matters.  He will work closely with Polsinelli Shareholder John D. Petersen, who chairs that practice area.

Kroll received his juris doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 2001.  He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Laura Denvir Stith when she served as a Judge for the [...]