8th Circuit Court

2nd lawyer avoids conviction in case related to developer’s bankruptcy

Initially convicted by a federal jury in a bankruptcy fraud case related to a client real estate developer’s financial collapse, an Arkansas attorney is now in the clear. After the trial, the district court reversed attorney Kenneth Vaughn Knight’s conviction on a false statement count and granted him a new…

Nov 4, 2015 11:35 AM CST

8th Circuit finds that signing birth-control waiver is substantial burden; opinion splits circuits

The birth-control mandate under the Affordable Care Act amounts to a substantial burden for a residential-care facility that claims to have an integral Christian identity, a three-judge panel from 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday from St. Louis. The opinion conflicts with a separate finding from the Denver-based…

Sep 18, 2015 11:41 AM CDT

Parents don’t have right to public-school choice, 8th Circuit rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that parents have no constitutional right to send their children to the public school of their choice. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) on Monday in a suit by parents in northeast Arkansas who wanted to move their children…

Sep 2, 2015 10:06 AM CDT

Training-video sanction for deposition interruptions by Jones Day partner is tossed on appeal

A Jones Day partner won’t have to make a training video explaining the impropriety of excessive deposition interruptions as a result of a ruling by a federal appeals court. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. The decision…

Aug 31, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

8th Circuit strikes down strict abortion law but questions fetal viability standard

A federal appeals court has questioned the Supreme Court’s abortion standards while striking down a strict North Dakota abortion law that generally banned abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was bound by Supreme Court precedent in…

Jul 24, 2015 7:34 AM CDT

Federal judge’s order banning man from having unprotected sex is overturned

A federal judge exceeded his authority when he ordered a defendant to refrain from unprotected sex after his release from prison, a federal appeals court has ruled. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the “novel” condition of supervised release in a July 21 opinion (PDF), report…

Jul 22, 2015 7:12 AM CDT

Appeals court rules for Womble Carlyle in disability suit by former employee

A former employee who claimed disability discrimination by Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice won’t be able to pursue her case, according to a federal appeals court. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed dismissal of the suit by Charlesetta Jennings, a service center worker in…

Jul 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT

8th Circuit grants immunity to cops who shot at driver of backfiring van

When Philip Ransom told Kansas City, Missouri, police that his van had been backfiring, they didn’t believe him. “No, it’s not. Our window’s shot out!” responded officer Tyrone Phillips. But, in fact, Ransom’s van can be seen on a police dashcam video, shooting sparks out its tailpipe as it backfires,…

Jun 23, 2015 2:00 PM CDT

Two men who met at Ferguson protests admit plan to blow up police chief, top prosecutor

Two men who met during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police slaying of Michael Brown admitted Tuesday in federal court in St. Louis that they planned to blow up the county’s top prosecutor and Ferguson’s police chief. Neither target was injured, but federal agents and local police obtained phone…

Jun 3, 2015 3:50 PM CDT

Insurers seek $47M from 2 men convicted in airline billing-fraud scheme

Two men stole tens of millions of dollars from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines over a 20-year period through a relatively simple billing fraud, authorities say. Now two insurance companies that covered the loss to the airline companies, less a $1 million deductible, are suing the imprisoned pair in…

May 12, 2015 12:05 PM CDT

On-the-lam ex-attorney wanted in client ‘charity’ and tax-fraud case is captured

After five years on the lam, a former Iowa lawyer wanted in a federal fraud case has been captured in Colorado. Dennis Bjorklund, 50, was federally indicted in Iowa in 2010. He is accused of defrauding clients he represented in drunken-driving cases by persuading them to donate to a “charity”…

Apr 23, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Ex-judge gives up law license after taking plea in federal bribery case over jury verdict

A former Arkansas judge who pleaded guilty earlier this year in a federal bribery case concerning his reduction of a jury award from over $5 million to $1 million has given up his license to practice law. Michael Maggio requested in March to voluntarily surrender his license and the motion…

Apr 17, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

Employer ordered to pay $270K plus $2.1M in attorney’s fees, federal judge rules

A federal judge has ordered a Minnesota employer to pay a monster $2.1 million in legal fees for work by its opposing counsel in an employment discrimination case. That’s in addition to the $100,000 for emotional distress and another $170,000, representing double the amount of lost wages, owed to the…

Apr 14, 2015 12:20 PM CDT

8th Circuit lets Larry Flynt intervene to seek access to court records in death-penalty cases

Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt said he had a special interest in sealed records in federal death-penalty litigation in Missouri–the man who admittedly shot Flynt outside a state courthouse in 1978 was on Missouri’s death row. But that fact apparently wasn’t key to a federal appeals court panel ruling in…

Apr 8, 2015 9:30 AM CDT

Federal jury awards $491M in trial over prepaid funeral scheme

A federal jury in St. Louis on Monday awarded $491 million in damages concerning a failed prepaid funeral operation that has been described by prosecutors as a Ponzi-like scheme. During the more than 15 years that National Prearranged Services Inc. was in operation, the money paid in for funerals was…

Mar 10, 2015 10:30 AM CDT