Legal Articles

Harmless Error

To prevail as the appealing party on an appeal, you must demonstrate that there is reversible error. Very generally, “reversible error” is an error which affects the outcome of a case and prejudices the losing party. State v. Buamruk, 280 S.W.3d 600, 614 (Mo. 2009). This can be a tall hill to climb. For instance, if an appellant…

Ripeness

Ripeness and standing are related concepts. Both must be present for a plaintiff to bring a lawsuit. To have “standing,” the party seeking relief must have a “legally cognizable interest” and a “threatened or real injury.” Manzara v. State, 343 S.W.3d 656, 659 (Mo. 2011). Assuming standing exists, a court will not reach the merits…

Future Lost Profits

The purpose of damages (i.e., a money award from a judge/jury) is to make a plaintiff whole. With a contract case, for instance, the goal is to “restore a plaintiff to the position he would have been in had the contract not been breached.” Lipton Rlty v. St. Louis Housing Authority, 705 S.W.2d 565, 569 (Mo….

Proving Damages in Defamation

Defamation is a very difficult, amorphous claim. Most potential defamation claims are not pursued because it can be very difficult to prove damages. A “plaintiff must prove actual damages in all defamation cases.”  Nazeri v. Mo. Valley Coll., 860 S.W.2d 303, 313 (Mo. 1993) . Stated differently, “[p]roof of actual reputational harm is an absolute…

Daubert Challenges

A “Daubert Challenge” generally means a request to exclude a potential expert’s testimony. In most courts, an expert is one who possesses knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education and testifies in the form of an opinion about scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge. There are five important considerations. First, the evidence must be scientific, technical,…

Real Party in Interest

Missouri Civil Procedure Rule 52.01 requires that “every civil action shall be prosecuted by the real party in interest.” But who or what is a “real party in interest”? The real party in interest is a party having a “justiciable interest susceptible of protection through litigation.” Perkinson v. v. Burford, 623 S.W.2d 30, 34 (Mo….

Comity

Sounding similar to “comedy,” comity comes up when there are multiple similar lawsuits pending. In an intrastate context, there are specific rules, like ademption or the pending action doctrine, which deal with how successive, similar lawsuits may be addressed. Comity, however, usually comes up in an interstate context. Comity is where one state court defers…

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