Missouri Lawyers Media Missouri legal news and public notices
Where plaintiffs brought an action against a title company alleging that the company failed to reimburse customers for excess money collected at real estate closings for recording fees, the district court properly relied on the large number of transactions in controversy to find that the damages exceeded the jurisdictional amount, so the motion to remand to state court was properly denied, and the court did not abuse its discretion in denying the plaintiffs leave to amend their petition to assert a punitive-damages claim since the plaintiffs were not diligent in seeking to amend their complaint.
Judgment is affirmed.
Hartis v. Chicago Title Insurance Company (MLW No. 64167/Case No. 11-2552 – 22 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Smith, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Whipple, J. (Kirk T. May, Kansas City, Missouri, argued for appellant; William D. Beil appeared on the brief) (Mark G. Arnold, St. Louis, argued for appellee; James D. Griffin, Michael S. Hargens, Dennis R. Rose, Steven J. Mintz, Steven A. Goldfarb and Kelly A. Kosek appeared on the brief).
Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)
