Supreme Court of Missouri

The Court held that an untimely amended post-conviction motion creates a presumption that appointed counsel abandoned the movant, requiring the motion court to conduct an independent inquiry before adjudicating the amended motion.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed a circuit court judgment voiding both of Patricia Watson's post-dementia trust amendments, her changes to bank-account, IRA, and CALSTRS-pension beneficiary designations, and her vehicle retitlings in favor of her husband Arnold Smith.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the denial of McLaughlin's Rule 29.15 post-conviction motion. It held that the motion judge was not disqualified, counsel's challenged decisions were reasonable or caused no prejudice, several claims were waived or noncognizable, and the death-penalty challenge could not be…

The Court held that Myrna Roberts, an at-will division vice president who was neither an officer nor director and was not subject to a non-compete agreement, did not owe Western Blue a fiduciary duty under the circumstances.

The Court held that the mandatory filing deadlines in Rules 29.15 and 24.035 cannot be waived by the State because an untimely filing produces the complete waiver specified by the Rules, and the motion court therefore lacks authority to decide the claims on their merits.

The Supreme Court of Missouri held that the verdict directors violated the defendant's state constitutional right to a unanimous jury verdict because they allowed jurors to rely on different underlying acts of hand-to-genital contact.

The Court affirmed Nash’s capital-murder conviction and life sentence, holding that the 1978 murder statute remained applicable to a murder committed before the effective date of the 1983 replacement statutes.

The Court affirmed summary judgment for the City, holding that the governing firearm-range statute barred Goerlitz's requested injunctive relief based on nuisance or trespass. Goerlitz also failed to provide admissible, personally supported evidence that bullets physically injured her or her property, and her…

The court affirmed summary judgment on most claims but reversed the judgments against Renaissance on its express-warranty claim and against Uhlmann on his negligent-misrepresentation claim.

The Court affirmed reinstatement of White's driving privilege, holding that the director bore both the burden of proof and the burden of producing evidence in the trial de novo. Because White contested the officer's testimony through cross-examination and inconsistencies, the trial court could disbelieve all or part…

The court held that an employee working under an employment contract may pursue a wrongful-discharge claim based on a clear public-policy mandate, just as an at-will employee may.

The court reversed the judgment and remanded because the trial court should have held an evidentiary hearing on allegations that a juror made anti-Semitic remarks during deliberations.

The Court held that the Farmers policy's business-pursuits exclusion did not bar coverage because its definition of business required both a business activity and use of the insured's premises, while the injury occurred on the employer's property.

The court affirmed Kevin Johnson’s convictions and death sentence, rejecting challenges to juror non-disclosure, the State’s peremptory strike, jury instructions, admission of his interview and victim-impact evidence, the aggravating and mitigating circumstance instructions, and the indictment.

The court affirmed Baumruk's first-degree murder conviction and death sentence, rejecting challenges to his competency, denial of self-representation, jury selection, voir dire restrictions, juror qualification, expert reliance on an unwarned statement, indictment sufficiency, and penalty-phase argument.

The court affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief from Zink's first-degree murder conviction and death sentence. It held that counsel's challenged strategic and litigation decisions did not satisfy ineffective-assistance requirements, that several claims were procedurally barred or noncognizable, and that the…

The court held that the circuit court possessed both subject matter and personal jurisdiction and that Missouri recognizes no separate category of jurisdictional competence. It treated the arrearage-bond requirement as a statutory limit on relief, not a jurisdictional bar, but required a judicial determination of…

The court affirmed summary judgment for the individual officers because their emergency-pursuit, supervisory, and policy-related conduct was protected by official immunity and the public duty doctrine.

The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed summary judgment for the City on the plaintiff's age- and disability-discrimination claims under the Missouri Human Rights Act. It held that the plaintiff presented genuine factual disputes concerning whether age or perceived disability contributed to his termination, whether the…

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment granting MUSIC’s motion, holding that the 1998 policy’s definition of “Occurrence” unambiguously excludes coverage for the substitute teacher’s intentional assault, and that the policy is not ambiguous.

The court held that Chase could be liable for fraudulent nondisclosure because it had superior knowledge of the EPA investigation, Hess could not reasonably have discovered that investigation, and contractual disclaimers did not waive Chase’s pre-contractual duty to disclose.

The Court held that Seeck's insurance policy was ambiguous because its other-insurance clause reasonably appeared to provide excess underinsured-motorist coverage, despite other provisions suggesting that coverage was unavailable or reduced to zero.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed Johnson's convictions and death sentence for murdering six-year-old Casey Williamson after abducting her, attempting to sexually assault her, and repeatedly striking her with a brick and boulder.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the trial court's findings on the guilt phase but reversed the denial of post‑conviction relief on the penalty phase, holding that trial counsel’s failure to strike a juror who expressed a fixed preference for death constituted structural error requiring a new sentencing hearing…

The Court affirmed Forrest’s convictions and three death sentences after rejecting claims concerning evidentiary rulings, closing arguments, jury instructions, juror qualifications, the sufficiency and consistency of aggravating-circumstance findings, and the constitutionality of the first-degree-murder statute.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the denial of Michael Worthington's post-conviction motion after concluding that his counsel made reasonable strategic decisions and that none of the alleged errors created a reasonable probability of a different result.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission's final award of permanent and total disability benefits to an ironworker whose workplace fall aggravated previously asymptomatic degenerative disc disease.

The court held that Lafarge's contract claims against Dunn Industrial Group, Inc. were subject to arbitration and that the equitable mechanic's lien statutes did not displace the parties' arbitration agreement. The October 2000 change order preserved, rather than rescinded or modified, the broad arbitration clause.

The Court affirmed Edwards's convictions and death sentence, rejecting challenges to jury selection, voir dire, admission of his statements and other evidence, trial continuances, prosecutorial argument, the penalty-phase instructions, the aggravating circumstance, and proportionality review.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the lower court's dismissal, holding that the 1998 303(d) impaired waters list is not a rule under MAPA and therefore the court lacks subject‑matter jurisdiction to issue a declaratory judgment; the case was also deemed unripe for review.

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the denial of Barnett's Rule 29.15 motion without an evidentiary hearing and left his two death sentences undisturbed. The court held that Barnett's ineffective-assistance allegations were inadequately pleaded, refuted by the record, procedurally barred, or failed to establish…

The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Michael A. Tisius' convictions and death sentences, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting rap‑song evidence, striking a juror, or denying discovery, that sufficient evidence proved deliberation for first‑degree murder, and that the death sentences…

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed restoration of Hinnah's driver's license because the trial court was entitled to find that the arresting officer lacked probable cause to believe Hinnah was driving while intoxicated.

The court reversed the denial of post-conviction relief insofar as it rejected Deck's ineffective-assistance claim concerning the penalty-phase mitigation instructions, and remanded for a new penalty phase.

The court held that the evidence was insufficient to prove that Whalen purposely attempted to cause serious physical injury to Officers Taylor and Edler because it did not establish that he was aware of their presence when he fired.

The court affirmed the denial of all proposed interventions because none of the applicants demonstrated an interest that the settlement impaired or impeded, and it affirmed judgment on the pleadings against the taxpayers' challenge to the special-counsel fee arrangements.

The court affirmed denial of Edward Moss's post-conviction motion without an evidentiary hearing. It held that counsel was not ineffective regarding the challenged hearsay because one statement was admissible under the co-conspirator exception and any error concerning the other statement caused no prejudice; failure…

The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed Middleton's first-degree murder conviction and death sentence after rejecting his challenges to identification evidence, searches, jury selection, trial rulings, penalty-phase evidence, and proportionality review.

The court affirmed Deck’s convictions and sentences, including two death sentences. It held that the trial court properly denied the change-of-venue motion, admitted the seized evidence and statements, rejected the gender-based and for-cause jury challenges, and allowed the challenged penalty-phase evidence and…

The court held that the policy's coverage for an offense that disparages a person's services is not limited to a formally labeled claim for injurious falsehood. Because the underlying complaint alleged statements that potentially disparaged Bennett's services and contributed to his termination, American Guarantee had…