Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC

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ABSTRACT: The Missouri Supreme Court recently issued a significant discovery decision in the case of Hill and Hill v. Wallach. The Court ruled that a car crash settlement is discoverable in a separate and unrelated negligence claim for an alleged injury caused by a malfunctioning hospital bed. In determining the discoverability of the settlement materials, the Supreme Court succinctly outlined the differences in ordinary work product and opinion work product and provided practitioners additional guidance as it relates to the protections of work product and waiver of those protections in Missouri personal injury cases.

Plaintiffs Kristine and Dennis Hill

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Continue Reading Square peg, round hole. Ordinary work product claims not enough to keep settlement agreement from disclosure.

ABSTRACT: A term, condition, or privilege of employment is affected by sexual harassment when the harassment either creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment, or results in a tangible employment action. A recent decision from the Missouri Court of Appeals – Eastern District bravely tackled two tough issues: (1) whether a subjectively hostile work environment also qualified as an objectively hostile work environment as a matter of law at the summary judgment stage; and (2) whether an employer’s delay in processing a request for medical leave and its alleged failure to investigate a complaint of discrimination qualified as “tangible…
Continue Reading Summary judgment found appropriate, in part, because hostile work environment was subjectively hostile, but not objectively hostile.

ABSTRACT: Last summer the U.S. Supreme Court denied, without explanation, an invitation to review a 9th Circuit opinion[1] that affirmed the denial of preemption for brokers. On April 13, 2023, the 11th Circuit, in Aspen American Insurance Company v Landstar Ranger, Inc. 2023 U.S. App. Lexis 8845 ___ F. 4th ___, 2023 WL 2920451, affirmed the district court’s application of preemption, barring a claim against a broker. Will these opinions be reconciled before the U.S. Supreme Court?

Tessco Technologies Inc. (Tessco) hired Landstar Ranger Inc, (Landstar) as a broker to transport a load. Landstar mistakenly turned the load…
Continue Reading The 11th Circuit Has Ruled in Favor of Preemption for A Broker’s Role. Will the Supreme Court Grant Certiorari?

ABSTRACT: The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, high-earning professionals may only be treated by an employer as exempt from overtime pay requirements if they are paid on a salaried basis.

In Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc., et al. v. Michael J. Hewitt, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that highly compensated professional employees who were not paid a fixed salary could not be treated as overtime-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The FLSA provides that employees with a total annual salary of $107,432 or more, with “at least $684 per

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Continue Reading Do high-earning professionals always qualify for overtime exemption?

ABSTRACT: The Greater St. Louis Construction Laborers Welfare Fund, an employee benefit plan, along with three other employee benefit plans, appealed a grant of summary judgment to RoadSafe Traffic Systems, Inc., where the funds’ trustees had claimed that RoadSafe owed them unpaid contributions and supplemental dues and associated penalties, costs, and interest, in violation of ERISA section 515. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal below. Greater St. Louis Constr. Laborers Welfare Fund v. RoadSafe Traffic Sys., 55 F.4th 609 (8th Cir. 2022).

The Greater St. Louis Construction Laborers Welfare Fund is an employee benefit plan that receives contributions under

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Continue Reading Eighth Circuit Upholds Ruling that Pension and Welfare Fund Contributions were Properly Made

ABSTRACT: After a string of opinions expanding the scope of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act in favor of plaintiffs, the Illinois Supreme Court recently determined that Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act preempted a BIPA claim brought by a plaintiff against his former employer. This opinion is a welcome development for employers with employees subject to collective bargaining agreements and provides them with a potential avenue to avoid BIPA lawsuits in Illinois state court. 

As discussed here, in February 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court issued two important decisions regarding the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). 

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Continue Reading The Illinois Supreme Court Finds BIPA Claims Preempted by Federal Labor Law

ABSTRACT: The Western District of Missouri has refused to dismiss a coverage dispute brought by Scottsdale Insurance Co. seeking a declaratory judgment absolving it of any duty to pay out on a $57 million FCRA judgment.

A pending declaratory relief action brought by Scottsdale Insurance Co. (“Scottsdale”) in the Western District of Missouri has the potential to send tremors throughout the financial and insurance industries. The litigation relates to a coverage dispute regarding a $57 million arbitration award arising from alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Scottsdale filed its declaratory relief action on May 4, 2022 against American

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Continue Reading Western District refuses to dismiss coverage dispute after material change in circumstances.

ABSTRACT: The National Labor Relations Board has overruled multiple 2020 decisions, and restored prior precedent now holding that an employer violates the National Labor Relations Act when it proffers a severance agreement with confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-disparagement provisions.

In McClaren Macomb and Local 40 RN Staff Council, the National Labor Relations Board overruled seminal 2020 decisions in Baylor University Medical Center and IGT d/b/a International Game Technology and held that an employer interfered with its employees’ Section 7 rights by proffering a severance agreement containing confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-disparagement clauses. Baylor and IGT had instituted a test that looked

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Continue Reading National Labor Relations Board Restores Precedent that an Employer Acts Unlawfully by Proffering Severance Agreements Conditioned Upon Waiver of Statutory Rights

ABSTRACT: Affirming the District Court’s grant of summary judgment, the Eighth Circuit rejected claims of sex discrimination and a hostile work environment made by a college instructor, who referred to a student’s actions as “retarded” and engaged in other inappropriate conduct. See Walker-Swinton v. Philander Smith College, et al., Case No. 22-1547 (March 13, 2023).

The Underlying Incident with Her Student (“John Doe”)
After the college instructor observed a student using his cell phone during a quiz, she confiscated his quiz, and he left the classroom in frustration. She then told her class that it was “retarded” for anyone

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Continue Reading Eighth Circuit Rejects College Instructor's Claims of Sex Discrimination and Hostile Work Environment

The NLRB has charged Apple with violating the National Labor Relations Act by maintaining and enforcing facially-neutral policies against soliciting and distributing literature in the workplace during a union organizing campaign. In this case, the General Counsel has signaled her intent to continue expansion of worker rights.
Apple was recently charged with violating the NLRA by enforcing a facially-neutral policy against solicitation and distribution in the workplace, which General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has alleged has the effect of violating workers’ rights to solicit union membership and distribute union literature. Furthermore, the GC alleged enforcement of the policy, along with interrogation…
Continue Reading With Charge against Apple, NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Expand Scope of Protected Concerted Activity

When enacted, BIPA left many unanswered questions due to a lack of certain provisions and terms in the Act. One such question was which statute of limitations governed BIPA lawsuits.  Since BIPA contains no statute of limitations provision, the question has been left to the courts to resolve.  Similarly, BIPA does not indicate whether a violation occurs, and thus a claim accrues, every time an entity scans or transmits a person’s biometric information, or only upon the first scan or first transmission.  After much anticipation, the Illinois Supreme Court determined that the Illinois five-year “catchall” statute of limitations applies to…
Continue Reading Time Is On My Side: The Illinois Supreme Court Decides Which Statute of Limitations Governs BIPA Lawsuits and When BIPA Violations Occur

The EEOC continues to focus on the application of the federal employment laws it enforces to the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and other automated systems in employment decisions. Most recently, the EEOC held a public hearing on January 31st. The stated goal of the hearing was two-fold: (1) educate a broader audience about potential civil rights implications from the use of AI and automated systems; and (2) to identify the EEOC’s next steps to prevent and eliminate unlawful bias so that this technology does not become a pathway to discrimination.

The EEOC’s continues to prioritize its focus on the

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Continue Reading EEOC continues to prioritize its focus on the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions.

In a wrongful death lawsuit alleging medical malpractice, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District reversed the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of several medical defendants and ruled a telephone consultation between an emergency medicine physician and an on-call physician concerning the decedent’s medical condition created a physician-patient relationship and duty of care.

In Blagden v. McMillin et. al., 2023 IL App (4th) 220238, the decedent came to the emergency department of a hospital in central Illinois in the summer of 2017 complaining of severe pain in his neck, upper back, and swelling in his…
Continue Reading Illinois Expands Patient-Physician Relationship Expanded Related to an On-Call Physician

In a wrongful death lawsuit alleging medical malpractice, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District reversed the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of several medical defendants and ruled a telephone consultation between an emergency medicine physician and an on-call physician concerning the decedent’s medical condition created a physician-patient relationship and duty of care.

In Blagden v. McMillin et. al., 2023 IL App (4th) 220238, the decedent came to the emergency department of a hospital in central Illinois in the summer of 2017 complaining of severe pain in his neck, upper back, and swelling in his

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Continue Reading Illinois Rules Telephone Consultation Created Physician-Patient Relationship

Our Insurance Law Blog 2022 year-end review encapsulates significant jury verdicts and decisions affecting insurance cases across the nation. View the post for a non-exhaustive list of insurance cases with national and regional implications that deserve attention.

Missouri
  • M.O. v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., 2023 Mo. LEXIS 4 (Mo. banc. 2023).

A couple’s back seat dalliance became the basis of an insurance claim that attracted national attention in 2022. The plaintiff alleged that she contracted HPV after engaging in sexual activity with defendant in his vehicle, which was insured by GEICO.  After making an insurance claim, the plaintiff and

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Continue Reading Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas 2022 Notable Insurance Law Decisions

In Crum & Forster Specialty Ins. Co. v. Spike’s Pub & Grub, No. 3:21-CV-1722-NJR, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1360 (S.D. Ill. Jan. 4, 2023), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois found that an insurance company owed no duty to defend a pub for a stabbing that took place on its premises, but denied the insurance company’s request for a declaration that it owed no duty to indemnify the pub.

In the underlying action, Devin Elliott filed a lawsuit against Spike’s Public House in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County, Illinois, alleging that Spike’s…
Continue Reading Illinois Federal Court Re-Affirms Insurance Coverage Exclusions Matter