Judge sides with renter in counterclaim 
A judge awarded a woman over $1 million in her slip-and-fall counterclaim against her apartment complex.
Donna Downing filed a counterclaim against WLA Quail Run in Platte County after the apartment complex filed a rent-and-possession action against her.
“We were researching the claim at the time when she lost her job due to her injuries,” said Downing’s [...]
Jury awards $11M over hog farm
Jackson County Judge Jay Daugherty repeated 13 times the figure “$825,000″ Thursday afternoon as tearful farmers from Berlin, Mo., sat on the edges of the seat cushions they’d warmed for four weeks.
A jury awarded $825,000 each to 13 plaintiffs, farmers and their family members, with lesser amounts going to two other plaintiffs for a total [...]
Jury finds for contractor in dispute over leakage
A heating and air conditioning contractor was awarded $137,000 in its negligent inspection claim against a distributor, but a jury found the contractor was 75 percent at fault.
Rock Hill Mechanical’s lawsuit primarily made product liability claims against manufacturer Liebert Corp. and its distributor Electronic Support Systems, alleging that the Mini-Mate 2, a dehumidifier, was defective.
But [...]
Jury awards $11 million to farmers
A jury awarded $825,000 each to 13 plaintiffs, farmers and their family members, with lesser amounts going to two other plaintiffs for a total of more than $11 million. During a trial in Jackson County Circuit Court over a hog processing plant, defense attorney Jon Harmon [left], of Virginia-based McGuireWoods, pulls out a white board to illustrate the difference in how doctors came to their conclusions about the safety of hog farm smells.
Real Property: Easement - Extinguishment - Adverse Possession
Buckner v. Castro (MLW No. 60303/Case No. SD29780 - 17 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Barney, J.)
Where neighboring landowners disputed ownership of a pathway, any easement that had been created was extinguished by 10 years of non-use, and the trial court did not err in finding that appellants’ interest in the property was [...]
Real Property: Tax Sale - Set Aside - Statute Of Limitations
Collector of Revenue, City of St. Louis v. Drury Development Corp., et al. (MLW No. 60297/Case No. ED93518 - 5 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Ahrens, J.)
Where the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission acquired real property through a condemnation, but the collector of revenue continued to assess taxes against the original owner of [...]
Jury finds county liable for road project overruns
A St. Louis County jury awarded nearly $308,000 to a construction company that said the county was responsible for the increased costs to build a North County road.
The county awarded to JRW Construction Co. a contract in 2000 to build a mile-long stretch of Shackelford Road for $3.4 million.
In the course of excavating the road, [...]
Real Property: Annexation - County Road - Easement
Orla Holman Cemetery, Inc. v. The Robert W. Plaster Trust, et al. (MLW No. 60275/Case No. SC90133 - 15 pages) (Supreme Court of Missouri, Price Jr., C.J.; all concur)
Where a road that provided access to a county-owned cemetery was expressly excepted from a deed that transferred property around the cemetery to a trust which then [...]
Real Property: Zoning - Denial Of Petition - Reasonableness
JGJ Properties, LLC v. City of Ellisville (MLW No. 60251/Case No. ED92896 - 14 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Odenwald, P.J.)
Where a city council denied property owners’ application to rezone their property from residential to commercial, the city’s decision to continue residential zoning was not arbitrary and unreasonable, and the evidence did not [...]
Real Property : Driveway Dispute - Injunctive Relief - Joint Easement
Dohogne v. Counts, et al. (MLW No. 60250/Case No. ED92911 - 15 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Sullivan, J.)
Where a trial court ordered the removal of a fence erected by defendants to obstruct use of a driveway shared with plaintiffs, substantial evidence supported the court’s finding that the plaintiffs showed a reasonable necessity [...]