Law Office of Camron Hoorfar, PC

A plea offer is not a confidential or privileged communication, so plea counsel violated no rule of professional conduct in contacting movant’s parents for their help in persuading movant to take the plea offer. The motion alleges that movant would have accepted the State’s plea offer but for plea counsel’s disclosure of the plea deal to movant’s parents, but the record refutes that allegation, by showing that movant never even considered the plea offer.

Marcus Greer, Appellant, vs. State of Missouri, Respondent.
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District – ED109340

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In an action against a public governmental body for penalties under the Sunshine Law, the elements include receipt of the request by the body’s custodian of records. For the prosecuting attorney’s office, statute provides that the prosecuting attorney or a designee is the custodian, and substantial compliance with that element is not sufficient. Evidence showed that the recipient of appellant’s request was a paralegal, who assembled documents in response to Sunshine Law Requests, but not the custodian. “[S]imply serving as the contact person on prior Sunshine Law requests is an insufficient basis to find apparent authority.” Judgment for respondent affirmed.

Patrick Starr, Maurice Charles, and Lee Francis vs. Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District – WD83634

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For the ninth year in a row, attorney and owner Camron Hoorfar has been named as a Missouri and Kansas Rising Star by SuperLawyers. Camron Hoorfar is featured in the SuperLawyers magazine for Missouri and Kansas in the 2020 and 2021 editions. This honor is reserved for lawyers who exhibit excellence in their practice.  Only 2.5% of attorneys in Missouri and Kansas receive this distinction.

You can read the most recent publication here.

A statute provides that medical records are discoverable by the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts in litigation before the Administrative Hearing Commission without regard to any privilege. That statute is within HIPAA, prevails over the physician’s duty of confidentiality, and constitutes a specific exception to the statute generally requiring the Board to have patient consent or a subpoena. Interrogatories may discover the identities of persons with knowledge of the facts, and even a witness list eventually, but the “subject and substance of [such person’s] knowledge” is attorney work product. On a writ of prohibition, when circuit court granted a preliminary writ but denied a permanent writ, the circuit court’s judgment is subject to appeal.
State of Missouri ex rel. John L. Putnam, M.D. vs. State Board of Registration for The Healing Arts and The Administrative Hearing Commission
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District – WD84394

Statutes bar benefits to claimant who quits work without good cause, which includes a medical condition, but only if related to work. Claimant ceased to return contacts from employer, though employer held claimant’s job for claimant, which constituted quitting. Claimant’s cause for quitting was a medical condition, but claimant did not show that the condition was work-related, so the Court of Appeals affirms the denial of benefits.
Michael Menley, Claimant/Appellant, vs. JJF & C, LLC., Employer/Respondent, and Division of Employment Security, Respondent.
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District – ED109507

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Missouri statutes and United States statutes allow an interlocutory appeal from circuit court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration. But no such order exists, because appellants sought none; appellants sought only an abeyance of circuit court action pending litigation in United States District Court in Massachusetts.

Joseph Elyachar and Michael Elyachar vs. Big Bob’s Flooring Outlet of America, Inc., and Floors & More, LLC and Vincent Virga
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District – WD84118

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A Canadian court ordered Cineworld Group PLC to pay 1.29 billion Canadian dollars, equivalent to about $1 billion, in damages for walking away from a merger agreement with Cineplex Inc. after the COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted the movie theater industry worldwide. Cineworld argued that Cineplex violated the terms of a planned merger between the two companies when it took steps to conserve cash by deferring payments to landlords, vendors and film studios after box offices shut down in the early days of COVID-19’s global spread. However, an Ontario judge rejected the arguments. Cineworld, which operates the Regal cinema chain in the U.S., said it would appeal the decision and “does not expect damages to be payable whilst any appeal is ongoing.” It reported about $450 million in cash holdings as of June and previously said it expected “no material liability” to arise from the Cineplex lawsuit. The U.K.-based company warned earlier this year there was doubt about its viability as a business after it posted a $3 billion loss for 2020 because of the pandemic’s impact. Cineplex had sought US$2.2 billion in damages from Cineworld for backing out of the acquisition.

If you would like to speak with an attorney call us at 816-524-4949 or visit our website to schedule a consultation.

USA Gymnastics, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and their insurers have agreed to fund a $380 million settlement with victims of longtime national team physician Larry Nassar, drawing to a close a five-year legal battle that has upended American Olympic sports governance. This settlement is among the largest ever recorded for victims of sex abuse and includes hundreds of athletes who were assaulted over 30 years. The final holdout insurer, TIG Insurance Company, made the decision to pay a substantial share of the settlement was confirmed in a hearing in bankruptcy court in Indianapolis. The settlement will include claims from Olympic gold medalists such as Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, who were treated by Nassar during his time as the U.S. women’s squad doctor. It also includes gymnasts competing gymnasts competing for local clubs who sought treatment from Nassar on the strength of his national reputation, and a handful of victims of abusive coaches who had been pursuing claims against the sport’s governing bodies.

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Paul Ricky Mata, a former financial advisor, was sentenced to 168 months in federal prison for a real estate investment con that caused his clients to lose more than $12 million. Mata pleaded guilty to 17 felonies: 11 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, one count of making a false statement in a bankruptcy proceeding, one count of concealing assets in bankruptcy, and one count of making a false oath and accounts in bankruptcy. Mata failed to disclose his lengthy disciplinary history, which includes a one-year suspension, a $10,000 fine, and a three-year suspension, to his clients. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner has also ordered him to pay $12,560,385 in restitution to his victims.

In financial trouble? Call us at 816-524-4949 or visit our website to schedule a consultation with an attorney to determine your best option.

Warden directed subordinates “to figure out how to stop employees from using Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave.” Plaintiff was concerned that the directive constituted unlawful disability discrimination, reported the directive to her superiors, and received discipline. Whether that directive was unlawful or not, Human Rights Act protected plaintiff’s report from retaliation as long as plaintiff made the report with “reasonable good faith.” Defendant’s agreement with, or failure to object to, an instruction waives error. Defendant waived error in awarding attorney fees, and applying the lodestar calculation and a multiplier, by failing to raise the same issue on appeal as it did in circuit court. Remanded to determine attorney fees on appeal.

Shelley Gray vs. Missouri Department of Corrections
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District – WD83739