Kansas City Municipal Judge Elena Franco filed a complaint alleging discrimination based on a city investigation into her residency status.

Judge Franco claims that the investigation, which occurred last year, represents retaliation for her opposition against a prosecutor’s office restructuring.

Since returning from last summer’s suspension, Judge Franco alleges that the retaliation continues.

Judge Franco filed the discrimination complaints against the City of Kansas City Missouri, Kansas City City Manager Troy Schulte, and Kansas City Court Administrator John Franklin.  She has filed the complaints with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights.

According to Judge Franco, the city hired a private [...]

The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC), a utility regulator, recently upheld an earlier decision upbraiding the Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCPL) for poor management of legal fees in a 2009 lawsuit.

The KCC decried KCPL’s lax management, depicting over 90 attorneys and consultants who logged over 25,000 hours, most of which were spent refuting a single witness criticizing cost overages for the Iatan project.

KCPL attempts to use local attorneys, but also brought in outside national firms for this particular case.

Poslinelli Shughart, one of the participating firms, billed KCPL $1.5m.

SNR Denton billed KCPL approximately $60,000.  However, due [...]

Kansas City’s Nicholas Spaeth, age 62, received good news today for his suit alleging age discrimination against Georgetown University Law Center.

Last July, Spaeth brought a federal suit against six law schools alleging that those school violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act by not offering him a tenure-track teaching job upon his application for employment.

A federal judge split up that lawsuit, sending four of those claims to the home districts of those respective schools.

Yesterday, Georgetown’s efforts to have Spaeth lawsuit dismissed failed.

According to U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle’s opinion, “It… remains plausible that Georgetown could [...]

Two Missouri law firms filed suit in federal court last Friday alleging that Missouri’s newly proposed Senate districts give more weight to urban voters than to rural voters and should therefore be invalidated.

The Ashcroft Firm–former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s lawfirm–was one of the the two firms.  Catherine Hanaway, former Republican Missouri House Speaker and U.S. Attorney, also works at the Ashcroft Firm.

The suit alleges that the proposed senate map violates equal protection rights and Missouri equal protection regulations.  Instead of using this map, the firms hope [...]

Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. agreed to pay a $10m settlement in a suit alleging that St. Joseph-based Prime Tanning, a tannery to which Burns & McDonnell was a technical consultant, allegedly provided Northwest Missouri farmers with a fertilizer containing hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.

Burns & McDonnell agreed to pay the $10m settlement to 18 families listed as plaintiffs to the suit.

Kansas City-based Wagstaff & Cartmell filed the class action lawsuit in 2009, including farms in Buchanan, Clinton, DeKalb, and Andrew counties.  [...]

Norm Siegel, partner at Kansas City’s Stueve Sigel Hanson LLP, argues that attorneys are strategically filing frivolous objections in droves to send the firm away from a potential $25m settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Ferrellgas Partners LP.

Siegel is also lead class counsel for the suit and has asked a federal judge to post a $25,000 appeal bond.

Ferrellgas, based in Overland Park, KS, agreed to such a settlement in October 2011, admitting to underfilling its propane tanks.

Siegel has observed at least two of the “professional objectors” each receive $17,500 from attorneys representing the class in a related [...]

McCollum and Griggs, LLC of Kansas City represents plaintiffs who have filed wrong death charges against Saint Luke’s Health System.

Civil motion hearings are set to begin on Friday morning.  The proceedings involve an alleged connection with eight other wrongful death charges filed against Saint Luke’s over the last four years.

Kansas City’s Wagstaff and Cartmell, LLP represents Saint Luke’s.

According to the Chillicothe News: David C. Gann, Sherri L. Harper, and Sally Boland each filed wrongful death civil charges against Saint Luke’s Health System. Gann’s [...]

Lexington, Missouri attorney Daniel DeFeo represents the family of a deceased teen who died while detained at Jackson County’s juvenile detention center.

DeFeo is the shareholder and director of The DeFeo Law Firm, P.C.

The deceased was named as 16-year-old Kathia Casseus of Kansas City.

DeFeo told the Kansas City Star Casseus had no know health problems and suffered an unexpected, sudden death.

Investigation continues into the cause of Casseus’ death.

According to the Kansas City Star: According to a Kansas City police report, staff at the facility noticed something was wrong about 11:40 a.m. Saturday when Kathia fell to [...]

 A lawsuit filed yesterday in Jackson County Circuit Court alleges that a former Kansas City Catholic priest, John Tulipana, abused four boys from the same family.

Tulipana left the priesthood in the mid-1990s.

The suit alleges that Tulipana abused the four Independence, Missouri boys during his service at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

According to the suit, Tulipana’s sexual abuse started in 1976 and continued occurring thereafter on camping trips and even at the boys’ home.

While the plaintiffs in [...]

As we recently reported, Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green ruled that the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, or MOSIRA, failed state laws setting out how bills are adopted.  Judge Green ruled the law unconstitutional because it violated the no contingent bill rule.

Now, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster will appeal that decision with the Missouri Supreme Court.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: “The Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act is an important economic development tool that can bring high-tech jobs to [...]