Homeless man wins $150,000 judgment against St. Louis County plus attorney’s fees
A homeless man took on St. Louis County and won big after a federal judge ruled the county’s laws against asking drivers for money are unconstitutional. “It is legal to beg for money, just as it’s legal to ask for money if you’re running for office, to support your church group, or the Elks Lodge,” said attorney Hugh Eastwood. “The ordinance and the police were targeting an unpopular speaker for his speech and standing there with a sign that said, ‘God Bless, Homeless, Anything Helps.’” In his ruling, Judge Stephen Limbaugh noted Fernandez has been cited 64 times and arrested four times since 2017 for violating St. Louis County laws requiring a solicitor’s license, restricting panhandling in traffic, and banning vagrancy. Limbaugh said all three laws violate 1st and 14th amendment rights to free speech and due process.
Pam Hupp victim Russ Faria settles for $2.05 million
Russ Faria, who was wrongfully convicted and served two and half years for the brutal murder of his wife Betsy, accepted a $2.05 million settlement from insurers for Lincoln County, its prosecuting attorney, and three detectives who ran a reckless investigation. The real—and obvious—killer, Betsy’s friend Pam Hupp, stayed free and subsequently killed two others in a case that achieved national attention.
Co-counsel for a $2.25 million judgment including a jury verdict and attorney's fees for four survivors of serial sexual abuse by a law enforcement officer
Co-counsel for a $300,000 jury verdict for a survivor of sustained sexual harassment by her husband’s supervisor
An attorney for a former 911 dispatcher said more should have been done to stop a Warren County sheriff’s deputy from harassing his client while at work.
Warren County Emergency Services, the county’s 911 dispatching agency, was ordered to pay $300,000 to Crystal Holifield, its ex-employee, at the conclusion of a three-day jury trial Jan. 13.
City of St. Louis ends Project 87 search policy
Hugh led the mediation phase of a lawsuit that ended Project 87, a decades-old unconstitutional building search policy. His client had been the victims of a SWAT team raid that went to the wrong house. Nevertheless, pursuant to policy, a City official demanded written consent for a warrantless building inspection on pain of condemnation and loss of the family home if consent was withheld. The City agreed to pay Hugh’s clients $160,000 and not to seek consent for future searches absent an immediate threat to life, health or safety.
Lead counsel for a $175,000 jury verdict for a St. Louis crime lab scientist whistleblower
A jury decided Wednesday to award $175,000 to a former St. Louis police chemist who claimed she was fired from her 25-year job because she blew the whistle on drug testing errors in the crime lab.
The verdict was announced after about five hours of deliberations in a trial that ran longer than a week in St. Louis Circuit Court.
The plaintiff, Margart Owens, told a reporter she held no animosity toward the department, but felt it was important to clear her name and prevent future errors.
Lead counsel for a family who protected in mediation their family name and business reputation, predating the Civil War, from false endorsement by a foreign newcomer to market
Respected for decades, then badly tarnished last year, the Selkirk brand is returning to the art auction business in St. Louis, under new ownership from Ohio.
But the name may not stick. The Selkirk family, which sold the business in 1998, wants its name back, and family members filed suit to get it.
They expect bids from as far as China, delivered by Internet and telephone, as well as from the crowd at their McPherson Avenue gallery in the Central West End.
It’s the latest twist in the tale of a 185-year-old business known for selling off the art treasures of St. Louis’ upper crust.
Won three Missouri Supreme Court victories in one day striking down red light camera and speed camera schemes by cities colluding with private contractors
Getting caught on camera running a red light in St. Louis will no longer result in a fine.
In a 6-1 opinion issued Tuesday, the court called the city's ordinance governing red-light cameras unconstitutional because it assumes the owner of the car was the one driving the car at the time of the violation.