News

June 24, 2009

Lawsuit Against Missouri Governor’s Administration Alleges ALJ Cuts were Illegal

Three dismissed administrative law judges have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration, arguing that the move was illegal under state statute.

The three former judges – Henry Herschel, Matthew Murphy and John A. Tackes – are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court. The petition alleges that Nixon’s administration and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations unlawfully dismissed the judges.

Missouri Lawyers Media reported last week that the three plaintiffs and a fourth ALJ, June Doughty, would be dismissed effective July 1. In addition, the position of a retiring judge won’t be filled. Neither Doughty nor the retiring judge, Ron Harris, are parties to the lawsuit.

February 5, 2009

Judgment of $23.3 Million with Interest Entered for SP

Federal District Judge Carol E. Jackson signed the order Tuesday for Structural Polymer Group to collect $23,306,462 plus $3,160.74 daily interest since Dec. 7, 2008, after winning a breach of contract verdict against Zoltek.

Structural Polymer was represented through the trial and appeal process by Tom Walsh, Jim Bennett, Ed Dowd and Lou Bonacorsi.

June 26, 2008

Riverfront Times Names Bennett Best Lawyer of 2008

Jim Bennett has made a name for himself defending some of this town’s more notorious folk. In 2004 the attorney asked the Missouri Supreme Court to toss out drunk-driving charges against St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little. (The court refused, but Little was eventually acquitted of the charges following a jury trial.) In 2006 Bennett represented former American Equity Mortgage cofounder Ray Vinson in his nasty divorce from his wife and business partner, Deanna Vinson. (Despite courtroom testimony about Vinson’s aberrant behavior, Bennett convinced the judge to award Vinson 32 percent of the couple’s multimillion-dollar estate and receive another $16 million to walk away from the company.) But Bennett’s biggest claim to fame ought to be that he single-handedly sent former Metro president Larry Salci packing with a one-way ticket out of town last fall.

March 24, 2008

Comerford Named to Missouri Veterans’ Commission

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt appointed several St. Louis area residents to positions on state boards, commissions and councils, the governor’s office announced Monday.

John Comerford, of St. Louis, was named to the Missouri Veterans’ Commission for a term ending Nov. 2, 2011. Comerford is an attorney at Dowd Bennett LLP and has served in the U.S. Navy.

March 7, 2008

Taxpayers’ Costs Mount in Fight Over State E-mails

The continuing battle over how Gov. Matt Blunt’s office has handled government e-mails is going to be costly for Missouri taxpayers.

This week, the governor hired three members of a St. Louis law firm – at $210 to $370 per hour – to defend him against a lawsuit filed by a fired state lawyer, Scott Eckersley.

Public money also is paying for private lawyers hired by four current or former aides to Blunt who are defendants in the lawsuit, state records show.

March 7, 2008

Blunt Hires Attorneys, Demands $540,000 to Turn Over E-mail Records

The continuing battle over how Gov. Matt Blunt’s office has handled government e-mails is going to be costly for Missouri taxpayers.

This week, the governor hired three members of a St. Louis law firm — at $210 to $370 per hour — to defend him against a lawsuit filed by a fired state lawyer, Scott Eckersley.

Public money also is paying for private lawyers hired by four current or former aides to Blunt who are defendants in the lawsuit, state records show.

January 23, 2008

Metro in Missouri to Pay $6M, Instead of $27M, in Attorneys’ Fees

Metro agreed in a settlement with the fired builders of its light-rail extension to Shrewsbury to pay just $6 million in attorneys’ fees. The Cross County Collaborative, which in November won a case filed by the transit agency, had sought $27 million in attorneys’ fees. “This is it. They’re paying us $6 million,” said Ed Dowd, a Dowd Bennett attorney who represented STV Inc., one of the four contractors Metro sued in 2002 on claims of fraud and mismanagement. “We hope [the settlement] helps Metro to continue to expand its light rail service for the people of St. Louis,” he said.

January 23, 2008

Metro to Pay Firms $6 Million

The Metro transit agency and the MetroLink designers it unsuccessfully blamed for cost overruns and delays on the Shrewsbury extension have reached the end of the line in their long-running legal battle.

Metro and the four design and construction management firms declared Tuesday that they had reached a $6 million settlement that includes the $2.56 million judgment a St. Louis County jury awarded the firms in November.

The settlement appears to save Metro from reimbursing tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and costs amassed by the defendant, the Cross County Collaborative, as well as its own additional costs if it appealed the verdicts. Metro told the Post-Dispatch onTuesday that its costs for pressing the lawsuit were $21.4 million through Dec. 31.

December 24, 2007

Bennett Named One of Ten Best Lawyers of 2007 by Missouri Lawyers Weekly (link opens a PDF)

Jim Bennett was an integral part of two of the biggest jury trials in St. Louis over a 12-month span ending in November.

In the first case, Bennett co-represented Structural Polymer Systems, Ltd., a British building material manufacturer. After a five-week jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, his client won a $36 million verdict in its breach of contract case against Zoltek Corp., a St. Louis-based carbon fiber manufacturer.

December 15, 2007

Winners in MetroLink Suit Seek $27 Million in Legal Fees

Thirty-seven lawyers who defeated the Metro public transportation agency’s efforts to hold their clients responsible for light rail construction woes have submitted claims for $27.3 million in fees and expenses against the transit agency.

If St. Louis County Presiding Judge Carolyn C. Whittington approves the bills at a hearing Wednesday, it would bring the liability for taxpayers or transit riders to almost $30.7 million. The figure includes a $2.6 million judgment and almost $770,000 in interest.

But that’s without counting Metro’s own legal expenses in the failed suit against the Cross County Collaborative. Metro attorneys say its costs have not been calculated yet.