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’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 [...]

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 [...]

As Legal Sonar previously reported, Missouri’s Second Injury Fund has arrived at the precipice of insolvency, unable to serve its purpose: funding victims with pre-existing health conditions whose workplace injuries preclude them from continuing their jobs.

According to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, the caretaker of the Fund, the Fund is running out of cash.

Koster quit paying awards a year ago.  Now, 169 permanently disabled Missouri workers are owed more than $11.8m in first-time payments.

Such delinquent payments are subject to [...]

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has been ordered by Jackson County Judge Ann Mesle to turn over records to attorneys representing Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese.

Judge Mesle ruled that Bishop Finn’s defense was entitled to decades of SNAP’s information on repressed memory of those abused by priests.  The information would be limited to broad categories related only to abuse of priests in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

Defense lawyers requested the documents to discover whether SNAP was coaching plaintiffs to state that they repressed their memories of abuse for several [...]

Developer Michael Atcheson received bad news from a Jackson County jury who awarded a $280,650 against him in favor of his former business partner, Major Hammett, II.

Attorney Mark Bredemeier, principal of the The Law Offices of Mark Bredemeier in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, represented Atcheson.

Hammett filed the lawsuit in 2011 relating to a development project in Bolivar, Missouri that had been stalled.  He argued that Atcheson used funds from the Simon Square development project for political contributions and overpayments to construction companies that he owed.

Attorney [...]

Lifetime Wellness, LLC, a Kansas City-based wellness company, served as a front for steroid distribution.

Yesterday, Scott Lofquist of Lifetime Wellness pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute approximately 1.3m units of steroids through the store from 2008 until 2010.

Lofquist and a co-manager sold steroids and other non-controlled substances, such as human growth hormone.

The U.S. Attorney’s office has estimated that the retail value of the steroids was approximately $1.3m.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: Rodney Baltazar of Elkton, Md., is scheduled to plead [...]

Missouri has joined a lawsuit against Apple Inc. alleging that that company and three book  publishers, Penguin Group, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster, also defendants in the suit, have conspired to raise the price of electronic books (ebooks).

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has joined the suit with 14 other states and Puerto Rico.

The suit aims to recover money for those consumers who were allegedly overcharged.

Koster alleges that buyers paid $100m more after Apple entered the ebook market than otherwise would have been the [...]

A Georgia woman has plead guilty in a national tax fraud scheme in which over $100m in fraudulent refunds were pursued.

Jennifer Wilson pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City yesterday to seeking to obtain fraudulent tax refunds for herself and for others.

So far, five people in the Kansas City area and eleven others nationwide have been indicted for the scheme.

The scheme spread nationwide through the internet and at meetings in homes and hotels, according to federal prosecutors.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: [...]

Kansas City’s UMB Bank recently settled a class action lawsuit alleging that it gouged its customers through various fees.

In addition to placing tighter restrictions on overdraft fees, UMB paid $7.8m to settle to suit.

While UMB continues to deny the allegations of gouging, it claims to have settled in order to avoid further distraction and expense.

The Allen v. UMB Bank $7.8m settlement was reached under Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Charles Atwell.

The class was represented by Patrick Stueve and Barrett Vahle of Kansas [...]