Editor’s noteSpringfield Business Journal is pleased to present the third annual installment of Cornerstone Casework, designed to shed light on the work of local attorneys. We invited area law firms to outline significant cases or transactions completed within the last year.
We rely on the participation of local law firms to put together this feature, and we’re planning the next installment in spring 2014. Email Features Editor Emily Letterman,
eletterman@sbj.net, to ensure your firm’s contact information is included in our files for future Cornerstone Casework editions.
Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown PCCase: Fraudulent wire transfer dispute between BancorpSouth and Choice Escrow & Land Title LLC
In April 2009, Choice Escrow & Land Title LLC set up an escrow/trust account with BancorpSouth that included the ability to make electronic wire transfers. BancorpSouth typically required its customers who made electronic wire transfers to use “dual control,” where one authorized user would enter and approve a wire transfer using their user ID and password, and a second user was required to release the wire transfer using a separate user ID and password. Choice Escrow declined the dual control and signed a memorandum agreement. On March 17, 2010, BancorpSouth received a wire transfer request in the name of Choice Escrow requesting a wire transfer of $440,000 to a bank in the Republic of Cyprus and processed the payment order. On the morning of March 18, 2010, Choice Escrow determined the transfer was not associated with any of its closings and was fraudulent.
Choice Escrow sued BancorpSouth claiming the bank was liable for the loss. Represented by Rodney Nichols and John Price of Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown PC, U.S. District Court ruled in favor of BancorpSouth.
Nichols
Price
Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson PCCase: Unconstitutional search and seize claim
Represented by Ransom Ellis III and Laura Johnson of Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson PC, the Springfield R-12 School District won an unconstitutional search and seizure case and appeal filled by Doug and Mellony Burlison.
In the case, the Burlisons challenged a drug detection activity at Central High School where drug dogs handled by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, and accompanied by employees of the school district, were allowed to sniff student possessions left in randomly selected classrooms while the students waited in the hallway.
The Burlisons filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri challenging the drug detection activity on the grounds it was an unconstitutional search and seizure.
The court found in favor of the school district, finding the activity to be constitutional. The Burlisons appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the district court’s judgment in favor of the school district.
The case was the first time the Eighth Circuit considered the validity of a drug detection activity, like the one conducted by the school district.
Ellis
Johnson
Husch Blackwell LLPTransaction: American Airlines Inc. aircraft deal with Boeing Co.
Concluding six months of negotiation by a Husch Blackwell LLP team led by Springfield attorney David Agee, American Airlines Inc. obtained court approval and subsequently closed in February 2013 multiple interrelated aircraft, engine and maintenance agreements with the Boeing Co. and certain aviation affiliates of General Electric Co.
Highlights of the multibillion-dollar agreements, which were a key step in American’s plans to exit bankruptcy, include: Acquisition of 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with GE’s Leap 1B engines; restructuring of existing purchase agreements for Boeing 777, 787 and 737 aircraft; separate commitments for financing support for the Boeing 787 aircraft; assumption of existing purchase agreements covering Boeing 757, 767 and MD82/83 aircraft; restructuring of agreements with GE for spare engines and spare parts in regards to various Boeing and Airbus aircraft engines; a long-term agreement for the maintenance support of GE90 engines on Boeing 777 aircraft; and resolution of all claims between American and Boeing as well as between American and GE.
Husch Blackwell further provided support to American’s lead bankruptcy counsel in obtaining necessary creditor committee support and court approvals. In addition to Agee, other Springfield team members included Amanda Tummons and paralegal Cathy Latona.
Agee
Lathrop & Gage LLPTransaction: Acquisition of Summer Fresh supermarket chain
Representing RPCS Inc., Lathrop & Gage LLP closed on the acquisition of the 10-store Summer Fresh supermarket chain during the week of Nov. 19, 2012. Summer Fresh was also in the process of acquiring another store from a third party when the firm became involved.
In the course of three weeks, the purchase of all 11 stores was closed, negotiations were made for the early payoff and retirement of existing notes of RPCS, and new supply agreements for one of the new stores were negotiated with Save-A-Lot, a limited-assortment grocery supplier.
The client, owner and operator of Ramey’s, Price Cutter, Country Mart and Pyramid Foods supermarkets, was able to take possession of the stores on schedule and before Thanksgiving. Randell Wallace, James Jeffries and Michael Held worked on the closing of the transactions with assistance from Jessie Merrigan, in the firm’s Kansas City office.
Held
Jeffries
Wallace
Neale & Newman LLPCase: Missouri Human Rights Act and Fair Labor Standards Act settlement
In October 2010, Oronogo City clerk Lorinda Southard made a request before the Board of Aldermen that the overtime hours she had banked be paid to her in the form of overtime compensation. She also complained that the city’s overtime pay policy discriminated against females.
In May 2011, the Board of Aldermen failed to reappoint her as city clerk, even though the mayor recommended her reappointment. Southard brought suit against the city of Oronogo, in Jasper County, for retaliation under the Missouri Human Rights Act, as well as the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Daniel Wooten and Amanda Dumey of Neale & Newman LLP represented Southard, and the case settled for $180,000 at mediation two weeks prior to trial. Prior to settlement, the court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, wherein the defendant argued that Southard was required to file a complaint with the Department of Labor rather than an internal complaint with the employer in order to sustain a claim for retaliation under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Dumey
Wooten
Polsinelli PCCase: Custody appeal from a nonbiological father
Late last year, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s judgment dismissing a child custody appeal and recognizing a nonbiological father’s claim to custody of a minor child. The judgment, initially affirmed by the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District, held a recognized father, who the mother, for several years, held out as the child’s biological father but who was later determined not to be the biological father – had no standing to claim custody or visitation despite his willingness to support and care for the child and the questionable fitness of the mother and unknown natural father.
Represented by John Holstein and Jennifer Growcock of Polsinelli PC, the court concluded the child’s best interest is always the critical factor in custody matters, surpassing blood relationship. The court determined Missouri law was sufficiently broad to allow the putative father’s claim and that the petitioner sufficiently alleged the elements necessary to establish third-party custody.
While the decision is consistent with other court’s interpretations of similar statutes in other states, this is the first Missouri Supreme Court decision directly authorizing third-party custody, a groundbreaking step for child custody law.
Growcock
Holstein
