Missouri

City’s indecent exposure ordinance violates First Amendment, ACLU suit says

Two breast-feeding moms have sued the city of Springfield, Missouri, asserting constitutional violations to the free speech, due process and equal protection rights over its indecent exposure ordinance. Also represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri as a plaintiff in the federal civil rights suit is the advocacy…

Oct 28, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Kicked off a grand jury, former ACLU lawyer seeks reinstatement

A former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has filed legal action seeking reinstatement as a St. Louis County grand juror after a judge allegedly kicked him off at the request of the prosecutor. The petition for a writ of prohibition, filed with the Missouri Court of…

Oct 19, 2015 7:14 AM CDT

Ex-judge is awarded $7M by St. Louis jury in disability suit

A former administrative law judge who wanted to work despite his muscular dystrophy but says he was forced by a hostile work environment to go on long-term disability instead was awarded $7 million last week by a St. Louis jury. The award to Matthew Vacca, 55, includes $3 million in…

Oct 2, 2015 4:40 PM CDT

Law prof sues university over concealed-carry ban

An associate law professor has filed suit against the University of Missouri, contending that its ban on having firearms on campus contradicts a new state constitutional provision. Royce de R. Barondes, who teaches a class on firearms law, seeks a court order declaring that the ban is unconstitutional under an…

Sep 28, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

Murder rate is way up in dozens of US cities, but why?

The murder rate is way up, so far this year, in dozens of U.S. cities, and federal and local law enforcement officials aren’t sure why or what to do about it. Some blame the so-called Ferguson effect, a theory that the rioting and racial tension that followed the slaying of…

Sep 1, 2015 2:35 PM CDT

Judge dismisses suit over purple swing set said to violate HOA color regs

A judge has ruled against a Missouri homeowners association in a dispute over the color of a backyard swing set. Guidelines of the Raintree Lake Neighborhood Homeowner’s Association require playground equipment to be “subdued and within harmony with other colors of the community.” The swing set in the backyard of…

Aug 31, 2015 10:35 AM CDT

Woman sues over eye injury from tossed roll at restaurant that touts its ‘throwed rolls’

A Missouri restaurant known for tossing dinner rolls to customers is being sued by a pastor who says she suffered an eye injury as a result of the practice. The suit by Troy Tucker, a 67-year-old St. Louis pastor, says she suffered a torn cornea last September when a tossed…

Aug 17, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Lawyer’s double-murder trial delayed over use of subpoena rather than warrant for cellphone search

A Missouri lawyer accused of wielding a power of attorney as a lethal weapon in the murder of her father has sidestepped a second trial over his slaying. Jury selection had been scheduled to begin Monday in the double-murder trial of Susan Elizabeth Van Note, who is also accused in…

Aug 14, 2015 2:35 PM CDT

Bankruptcy trustee seeks clawback of bonuses paid before before law firm closed

A bankruptcy trustee claims a Missouri law firm paid bonuses to its shareholders and employees before a $10.5 million malpractice judgment that led the law firm’s closure in December 2014. The law firm, Green Jacobson of Clayton, Missouri, paid a total of about $3.78 million in “bonus payroll” payments after…

Aug 13, 2015 12:23 PM CDT

Reporters covering Ferguson unrest last year are charged with failing to quickly leave McDonald’s

Two reporters arrested at a McDonald’s last year while covering the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, have learned they are being charged in the incident. Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post and Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post have been issued summonses to appear in court on charges of trespassing and…

Aug 11, 2015 9:37 AM CDT

57 arrested at federal courthouse in Ferguson anniversary protest; state of emergency declared

Nearly 60 people were arrested Monday at the federal courthouse in St. Louis in what authorities called a peaceful protest by approximately 200 people. Additional protests by some 1,000 people over the weekend of the one-year anniversary of the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police in nearby Ferguson…

Aug 10, 2015 5:24 PM CDT

Fired over racist emails, former Ferguson clerk gets part-time job at nearby court

A municipal court clerk in Ferguson fired over racist emails that came to light during a federal investigation of the racial conflict that ignited in the St. Louis suburb last year wasn’t jobless for long. Mary Ann Twitty has a three-day-a-week position as municipal court clerk in Vinita Park, a…

Aug 10, 2015 12:20 PM CDT

Man seeking state police job takes polygraph test, gets 20 years in prison

A pre-employment polygraph examination for a state police job did not go well for Cedric Lovejoy. He not only wound up without the Missouri State Highway Patrol position he was seeking but, as of Thursday, was sentenced to a 20-year term in federal prison, the Kansas City Star reports. During…

Aug 7, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Defendant is fatally shot outside courthouse while awaiting hearing with his lawyer

Updated: A defendant in a drug case was killed outside a Mississippi courthouse Monday morning when a former firefighter with no criminal history walked up to him and fatally shot him in the chest, authorities said. A lawyer for Kendrick Armond Brown, 37, was with him at the time for…

Aug 3, 2015 3:15 PM CDT

New credit union seeking to serve pot businesses sues after an adverse decision

A credit union created to handle money from Colorado’s pot businesses is suing after a Federal Reserve Bank refused to open a master account that the financial institution needs to operate. South Carolina litigator Mark Mason sued on Thursday on behalf of the Fourth Corner Credit Union. The defendants in…

Jul 31, 2015 1:35 PM CDT