Civil Cases

We would like to think that one measure of the respect for this firm was when a judge with 24 years experience asked this firm to help him out, when his democratic opponent tried to get a recount after losing in the primary election.

Reeves v. Bockman

On two occasions trial courts thought we should not be allowed to proceed with our cases. Both times the Missouri Court of Appeals of for Southern District disagreed, reversed the trial courts and ordered that the cases should proceed to trial. 

The first case involved an elderly woman who died in a house fire. Because of her ill health the family had hired a Senior Care, Inc. to provide in home around the clock nursing services. The family brought suit when it learned the fire started because someone stacked magazines up next to a baseboard heater. It seemed unlikely that the daughter's mother had stacked the magazines next to the heater because the magazines were in a corner, behind a chair and their mother used a walker. The court agreed and allowed the case to go to trial.

Daniels v. Senior Care, Inc.

The second time a trial court threw out a case our clients were the surviving children of Robert Jones. Mr. Jones was killed by a person delivering newspapers and we felt the person delivering newspapers worked for the newspaper. The appellate court agreed that a jury could easily conclude a the delivery person worked for the newspaper company and order the trial court to let the case proceed to trial.

Jones v. The Daily American Republic

In what is surely the most often cited case this firm participated in does not involve an automobile accident but Missouri's prevailing wage law. We know it is the most cited case because every letter sent out by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations giving notice to a workman that he has been underpaid specifically mentions this case. It is important because it stands for the proposition that underpaid workmen can look to not only their employer but also to the prime contractor and the bonding company to recover their unpaid wages.

Board v. Eurostyle, Inc.

We have very recently convinced an appellate plane that prevailing wage law extends to every workman, laborer or mechanic on the job site. The prime contractor claimed a subcontract had sub-subcontracted its labor.  The court held that the prevailing wage law applied workmen regardless whether they were employee or independent subcontractors.

Laszewski v. R.L. Persons Const. Inc.