Sovereign immunity has been recognized in Missouri since 1821 and official immunity has been recognized since 1854. Southers v. City of Farmington, 263 S.W.3d 603, 611 (Mo. 2008). Both types of immunity derive from the British common law. Sovereign immunity reflects the British common law idea that the “King can do no wrong.” In Missouri, […]

The Missouri Legislature issued new rules last year with more requirements for a written demand to be put into evidence in a bad faith case. A bad faith case is when an insurance company should settle a case, but does not and leaves its insured subject to personal liability. It happens often. An insurance company […]

Still filing a lot of lawsuits. We pride ourselves in representing clients for a lot more than only car and truck crashes. I. Bad Faith Claim – Missouri We have two bad faith vexatious refusal petitions we filed in Missouri. The first is only over property damage. Our client gave her daughter permission to drive […]

In 1979 the Illinois Legislature enacted the Joint Tortfeasor Contribution Act (“JTCA”). 740 ILCS 100/2. The goal was to promote 2 policies: encouraging tortfeasors to settle disputes and equitable apportionment of damages among tortfeasors. It’s a complicated law – mostly because its brief and does not give a lot of direction. It also affects other […]

We also filed a case for corrections nurses. They have to do the same pre and post shift work that corrections officers have to and do not get paid. The case is not against the State, but against a private employer – Corizon. It is an FLSA claim and we will seek class certification as […]

The State is installing timeclocks at its prisons – but not at the front door of prisons. Here’s from the article: “What they’re doing instead is putting these timeclocks back in the bowels of the institution,” Burger said. Instead of one timeclock at each prison, the Missouri Corrections Officer Association said it could take as […]

We have been filing a lot of lawsuits lately. Often, I talk about settlements in these newsletters, but thought I would mention some new suits that cover a wide variety of legal issues. We pride ourselves in representing clients for a lot more than only car and truck crashes. Wrongful Death against Pam Hupp We […]

The Court of Appeals affirmed the Trial Court’s judgment and denied all six points raised by the Missouri Department of Corrections. Here is a link to the opinion. Here’s a link to the Post article on the opinion. Here are my 16 favorite quotes from the opinion: Here, viewing the facts in the light most […]