8th Circuit Court

Suspended lawyer gets 5 years in money-laundering case; man who gave him the money gets 30 months

A suspended Minnesota attorney was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for using his law firm to launder money from a brother-in-law who sold marijuana. Robert Boedigheimer, 52, needed loans to fund his lavish lifestyle. So the personal injury lawyer gave his brother-in-law, Brandon Lusk, a no-show job…

Mar 10, 2015 9:35 AM CDT

Federal judge: NFL commissioner and arbitrator erred in suspending ex-Vikings player Adrian Peterson

Agreeing with the NFL Players Union that a new personal conduct policy for the football league did not apply retroactively, a federal judge on Thursday said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and an arbitrator erred by indefinitely suspending Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson last year over his misdemeanor child-abuse conviction.…

Feb 26, 2015 1:40 PM CST

Res judicata bars bias suit by convicted law prof, 8th Circuit rules

The doctrine of res judicata bars a fired law professor from suing Hamline University a second time, a federal appeals court has ruled. The law professor, Robin Magee, was fired in 2011 after her conviction on four misdemeanor counts of failure to file state tax returns, according to the Jan.…

Jan 14, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Former judge pleads guilty, admits taking bribe to cut jury verdict from $5.2M to $1M

A former Arkansas judge waived indictment and pleaded guilty Friday to a federal criminal information (PDF) charging him with accepting a bribe for reducing a nursing home negligence verdict from $5.2 million to $1 million. Michael A. Maggio, 53, admitted being “improperly influenced” in the nursing home case by campaign…

Jan 12, 2015 12:05 PM CST

Judge blasts disbarred lawyer for paying no restitution in $837K client fraud, gives her 4-year max

A disbarred Iowa lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum prison term for wire fraud by a federal judge who expressed “extreme disappointment” that Susan Hense has so far paid nothing toward restitution for more than one dozen victims. That amounts to over four years behind bars for Susan Hense,…

Jan 9, 2015 9:35 AM CST

Law grad convicted of bank robbery gets another 45 years in related state case

Already sentenced to 24 years in a federal bank robbery case, a Washington University law graduate got another 45 years Thursday in a related Missouri case over the shooting of a state trooper during a getaway attempt, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful possession of an illegal weapon.…

Oct 30, 2014 3:20 PM CDT

EEOC sues Honeywell, says wellness program medical testing violates ADA

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal lawsuit against Honeywell Corp., alleging that medical testing of workers required under the company’s wellness program violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. It seeks a court order putting a halt to a biometric testing program that could reveal lifestyle and health…

Oct 29, 2014 5:30 PM CDT

Disbarred lawyer takes plea in federal wire-fraud case, agrees to pay $837K restitution

A disbarred Iowa lawyer with an admitted gambling problem has taken a plea in a federal wire fraud case, but still faces a state-court theft case. Susan Hense, 54, misappropriated a total of $837,011 from 15 clients, according to her Monday plea and confessions of judgment she filed in state…

Oct 21, 2014 11:42 AM CDT

Disbarred lawyer who stole from his own mother and others gets 44 months in federal prison

A now-disbarred Missouri lawyer who fled the U.S. last year, leaving his law practice in disarray, was sentenced Thursday to three years and eight months in federal prison for stealing $234,000 from his own mother and others. Jeffrey Witt, now 40, had been hit with a legal ethics case, a…

Oct 16, 2014 5:40 PM CDT

Lawyer who robbed 3 banks and shot state trooper gets 24 years

A Missouri lawyer admitted to shooting a state trooper who pulled him over last year as the attorney was attempting to make a getaway after a bank robbery. On Thursday, Warren Gladders was sentenced to over 24 years in federal prison in the St. Louis case. The 65-year-old still faces…

Oct 16, 2014 12:40 PM CDT

Missouri carries out its 8th execution this year; four SCOTUS justices would have granted stay

Missouri executed convicted double murderer Earl Ringo Jr. early Wednesday, its eighth execution this year. The U.S. Supreme Court issued four orders refusing to stay the execution, though one of the orders (PDF) said Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan could have granted the…

Sep 10, 2014 9:18 AM CDT

Woman sues after family dies at local Home Depot in Joplin tornado; retailer cites ‘act of God’

A Missouri woman whose husband and two young children died when they took shelter from a massive Joplin tornado at a local Home Depot in 2011 has filed a wrongful death suit against the store, the company that designed it and the property owner. Edie Howard Housel contends that the…

Aug 5, 2014 6:30 PM CDT

Jesse Ventura wins $1.8M in actual-malice defamation trial over best-selling memoir

Jesse Ventura said it wasn’t about the money, but he has nonetheless won what many would consider big bucks. After five days of deliberation, a federal jury in Minnesota on Tuesday awarded $1.8 million to the former state governor in a defamation case over a best-selling memoir by a former…

Jul 29, 2014 9:10 PM CDT

2 lawyers who rejected $9.5M attorney fee in Prempro case will get $21.8M

Two lead lawyers in long-running litigation over Pfizer’s Inc.’s Prempro menopause drug have more than doubled their own payout by challenging a plan to allocate them less than $10 million of a $62 million common-benefit fund for attorney fees. Federal court filings in Little Rock, Arkansas, say fellow plaintiffs lawyers…

Jul 23, 2014 8:20 PM CDT

8th Circuit rejects argument to dismiss federal child pornography indictment involving morphed image

A child pornography distribution indictment stands for a Nebraska man who digitally edited a photo of a naked adult woman having sex, replaced her face with that of an 11-year-old girl and sent the girl the photo. Jeffrey Anderson, who entered a conditional guilty plea for one count of distributing…

Jul 18, 2014 4:15 PM CDT