Lawsuit

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- On a winter's night in late January 2010, Rhonda West was run over and killed near her hometown of Waynesville.  She died on Missouri 17.   On Thursday, West's daughter, Renee West, sued the top brass in Waynesville's Police Department.  The lengthy document accuses them of a cover-up and hiding evidence from loved ones about the hit-and-run crash. The lawsuit claims Waynesville Police Officer Gary Don Brankel struck and killed Rhonda West as he purportedly raced to the scene of a burglary.  Brankal is called a 'prime suspect' in the allegations.  It also states Waynesville's dogcatcher knew what really happened.

A county clerk takes her own county to court. One year ago the Stone County Clerk was in a accident she believes could have been avoided. On Wednesday, Clerk Judy Berkstresser filed this lawsuit.  Judy was on Billy Joe Road, turning left onto Marble Road, heading toward Crane.  She has a stop, but there are no stop signs in the north or southbound lanes of Marble. The lawsuit claims this intersection has been designated a dangerous intersection, and that it should have a three-way stop.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The City of Springfield and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (now known as "AT&T Missouri") have reached an out-of-court settlement to end a lawsuit regarding the City's business license gross-receipts tax. Under the settlement agreement signed Tuesday, AT&T Missouri will pay the City of Springfield $7.45 million for back taxes. AT&T Missouri will pay attorneys' fees associated with the settlement directly to the City's outside legal counsel. AT&T Missouri has been paying gross-receipts tax on its landline operations, but now also will voluntarily pay additional taxes to reflect that the scope of the taxable base is greater than the base on which it has been paying.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Customers of Reliable Automotive could get a free gift card to spend at the dealership.  Reliable is accused of improperly collecting a processing fee from customers who bought a car between May 9, 2003 and July 30, 2009. According to the settlement notice, the plaintiffs and defendants disagree about whether the processing fee was proper, but Reliable agreed to resolve the case with a settlement.  About 51,000 customers are eligible for a gift card worth either 50 or 75 percent of the amount of the processing fee.  Those processing fees ranged from $150 to $400.

A school district is responding to claims it did not properly handle a rape allegation. In a 19-page answer to a lawsuit filed by a former student, attorneys for the district deny every allegation or claim immunity against what's presented by the former middle school student. The Republic School District attorneys say the claims by the student are "frivolous. " The original lawsuit alleges this former student was sexually assaulted and raped at the middle school by another student.  It goes on to accuse school officials of not believing her allegations.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Greene County circuit judge heard arguments on Tuesday on a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Missouri State High School Activities Association by Christian Kirk, a senior at Kickapoo High School.  MSHSAA's governing board ruled this month that Kirk can't play for the varsity basketball team this season.  Judge Michael Cordonnier said he would issue a ruling on Wednesday. The TRO, if it's granted, would allow Kirk to play without penalty to him or Kickapoo while Kirk's lawsuit against MSHSAA proceeds.

WARSAW, Mo -- A business venture by a couple in Warsaw has now turned into a lawsuit against a local bank.  At the base of the lawsuit--how much did the bank know about the property before selling it and did they hide potential problems? Paul and Jennifer Curzon bought the Grand River Resort as a retirement plan.  They wanted to fix the place up, live on location, and enjoy the rest of their lives there. Soon that plan fell horribly apart. "Our dream," Paul Curzon exclaimed, "this was our dream.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A judge held the first hearing on Thursday for a lawsuit that aims to stop the city's voter-approved smoking ban.  The owner of Ruthie's Bar on Commercial Street is trying to overturn it. Both sides agreed to have another hearing next week to allow the city more time to prepare for arguments. The plaintiff believes she has a good shot at winning the whole thing. "My mother and my aunt opened this bar in the late 1970s," said Ruthie's Bar owner Jeannie Doublin.

WARSAW, Mo. -- The City of Warsaw sued an engineering firm for $500,000 in federal court. The lawsuit says an engineering firm from Bonner Springs, Kan., recommended cedar timbers for the decking of the Joe Dice Bridge.  The renovation project wrapped up in 2007, but the bridge is now closed after the boards rotted.  The lawsuit basically says the engineering firm should have known cedar timbers wouldn't last. Delich, Roth & Goodwillie responded to the lawsuit by saying, "DRG denies that cedar timbers were used in this project, but, admits that the materials that DRG specified were suitable for the intended use as decking material on the bridge...

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A former Kanakuk Kamp leader who is serving prison time for sexually assaulting male campers is now named in a civil suit, as is K-Kamp Inc., and Kanakuk Ministries of Branson.  Attorneys filed a civil petition late last month in Taney County on behalf of a former camper who says Peter Newman sexually abused him when he was 12 years old, and for several years after. The plaintiff accuses the camp and Newman of ignoring reports of abuse, causing him emotional distress, fraud and failing to act as a reasonable person would expect camp staff to act in the place of a parent.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A lawsuit by a church that wants to sell its property to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for a grocery store caused a judge to cancel a special citywide election scheduled for Aug. 6.  Opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market at the corner of Grand Street at Campbell Avenue gathered petition signatures that led the Springfield City Council to schedule the election.  The opponents want voters to overturn an ordinance that rezoned...

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- On a winter's night in late January 2010, Rhonda West was run over and killed near her hometown of Waynesville.  She died on Missouri 17.   On Thursday, West's daughter, Renee West, sued the top brass in Waynesville's Police Department.  The lengthy document accuses them of a cover-up and hiding evidence from loved ones about the hit-and-run crash. The lawsuit claims Waynesville Police Officer Gary Don Brankel struck and killed Rhonda West as he purportedly raced to the scene of a burglary.  Brankal is called a 'prime suspect' in the allegations.  It also states Waynesville's dogcatcher knew what really happened.

Springfield, Mo. -- A Missouri man says his worst fears are confirmed with revelations that confidential information about 163,000 Missourians with conceal and carry permits was shared with the feds two different times. Eric Griffin's court case in Stoddard County is at the center of a growing guns and privacy controversy.  His court claim contends his rights were violated when he went to a southeast Missouri license bureau to finalize his conceal and carry permit.  He had already been approved by the sheriff's department and wanted to update his license, and Griffin's attorney said that's when the DMV worker requested personal documents from Griffin.  "His birth certificate, his Social Security card, a utility bill that proved his residence, his conceal carry permit itself," said Griffin's attorney Russell Oliver.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The widow of a man from Macon who died when a tractor- trailer caused a chain reaction crash in Republic sued the driver of the big rig and his company.  Mary Gresham's husband, Corey , was killed in the crash around 9 a.m. March 27.  Lawrence Coan of Kimberling City also died in the crash.  Gresham is seeking damages from the driver, Lei Sun, 31, of Alhambra, Calif., and the Daniel Orchard Transportation...

BRANSON, Mo. -- The city of Branson settled a lawsuit in which a disabled 54-year-old man charged a police officer with using excessive force while trying to handcuff him.  KY3 News got video of the arrest after filing a Sunshine Law request with Branson. The following is from the video camera in the officer's cruiser: Branson Police Officer Thad Torix: "You were driving pretty aggressive.  You were speeding, cutting in and out of traffic, cutting people off.  Let's see your driver's license.

WARSAW, Mo. -- The City of Warsaw sued an engineering firm for $500,000 in federal court. The lawsuit says an engineering firm from Bonner Springs, Kan., recommended cedar timbers for the decking of the Joe Dice Bridge.  The renovation project wrapped up in 2007, but the bridge is now closed after the boards rotted.  The lawsuit basically says the engineering firm should have known cedar timbers wouldn't last. Delich, Roth & Goodwillie responded to the lawsuit by saying, "DRG denies that cedar timbers were used in this project, but, admits that the materials that DRG specified were suitable for the intended use as decking material on the bridge...

JOPLIN, Mo.-- A trial is scheduled for the Fall of 2014 in a wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart, following the Joplin tornado. The suit claims that Wal-Mart prevented a customer from leaving the store last year as the Joplin tornado was approaching the store.  That customer, 62 year-old Stan Kirk, wanted to make a run for his home, but instead died inside the Wal-mart. Kirk's family is suing Walmart, saying the store failed to properly protect him, saying he was forced to stay in the store and was directed to an unsafe location.

SPRINGFIELD -- The first ten minutes of police dash-cam video from a Springfield patrol car recorded on November 1, 2011, illustrate another routine traffic stop. But what one Sprinfield man said happened after those first minutes has become the basis of a civil lawsuit filed by Peter Anselmo on October 31, 2012. Springfield police officer Brian Reeves issued Anselmo tickets for speeding and driving without proof of insurance after he pulled him over a year ago. When the officer started to pull away, Anselmo opened his door and leaned out to ask the officer if his name was on the ticket.

LEBANON, Mo. -- The maker of the powdered baby formula Enfamil faces a lawsuit over the death of a 10-day old baby from Lebanon.  Avery Cornett contracted a rare bacteria that led to his death nearly one year ago.  Now two other families have joined in the family's lawsuit against formula-maker Mead Johnson. "Something was terribly wrong, I just didn't know what," said Vicky Ledrahl, the baby's grandmother. Ledrahl said Cornett was a happy, active newborn baby, with no health problems detected at his one-week checkup.  However, the next morning, the baby stopped eating, and his skin turned a grayish color.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The City of Springfield reached an agreement with plaintiffs (Positronic Industries, Oke-Thomas & Associates, Stenger Management, and Joe Robles) in a lawsuit over the City's controversial E-Verify ordinance approved by voters last February.   The plaintiffs contended the ordinance, proposed by the Ozarks Minutemen by initiative petition, was unconstitutional and in violation of federal and state law. The parties filed an offer of judgment and an acceptance of judgment.  The agreement leaves intact only a small part of the ordinance, and orders that what remains are provisions that may only be enforced consistently with state and federal law. City attorney Dan Wichmer said his office defended what they thought were legal portions of the ordinance.