Walsh Law Firm LLC

October 16, 2018: Drug charges dismissedlocal police violate Body-Cam Policy. On 16th day of October, 2018 the Butler County Prosecuting Attorney's Office dismissed charges against defendant after the Presiding Judge Pritchett sustained Steve Walsh's Motion to Suppress. The suppression hearing was conducted on September 18, 2018 and Walsh attacked the officer's basis for a search. At the hearing it was revealed that the local officers only activated their body-cam after they... gained entrance to the defendant's apartment. The body-cam policy of the PBPD clearly states they must activate their body-cam as soon as they come into contact with a citizen and keep it on throughout the encounter. The failure to activate results in an independent report by the officer stating why all of the search was not captured on body-cam video. There was no report generated. Defendant had been charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. The defense contended this was not a consensual search and that the officers just bullied their way past defendant and his girlfriend at the apartment door. The Prosecutor failed to meet his burden of proof so the evidence was suppressed and charges dismissed. See more

October 18, 2018: A Butler County jury awarded $100,000.00 to Plaintiff, Honda Huster after a slip and fall she sustained while working at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in June of 2011. Household Housekeeping Systems, LLC was the defendant and they have contracts to clean 400 hospitals in 35 states as well as other businesses. The Plaintiff was an RN on the Labor and Delivery floor of the old hospital when she fell after entering a soiled linen room that had just be...en mopped. Plaintiff landed on her knee and ultimately had to have a knee replacement. The safety rules dealt with failure to train and supervise housekeepers, failure to use the thinner Swiffer mops as opposed to the old string loop mops and failure to follow the company policy to put wet floor signs on the outside of the door and inside the room. (The housekeeper only had one outside the room). The pre-trial offer at mediation was $2,000.00. See more

Walsh & Walsh LLC is seeking men and women of all ages who would be interested in participating in a focus group on Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. at our office located at 635 North Main Street, Poplar Bluff, Missouri. If you are interested, please contact B.J. at 573-712-2909. Compensation will be provided for your time.

Oral Argument before the Missouri Supreme Court: Last week, Senior Partner, Steve Walsh, argued his Appeal before the Missouri Supreme Court on behalf of client, Michael Conner. Michael is a quadriplegic from Mt. View, Missouri who was severely injured in December of 2007 after being electrocuted, thrown off an above ground platform severing his spinal cord. The case is filed in Wright County Circuit Court. It is a co-employee lawsuit and, since Michael’s injury, the law ...has been unsettled and uncertain. The Circuit Judge granted the Defendant’s Co-Employees Motion for Summary Judgment. Walsh & Walsh appealed to the Southern District Court out of Springfield, Missouri which affirmed the Trial Court’s decision wherein we successfully filed a Motion to Transfer the case to the Missouri Supreme Court. There are six other co-employee cases from around the State that were argued. The Court is expected to hand down its decision in the next 60 days. Missouri Supreme Court Case No: SC95995. See more

Medical Malpractice Confidential Settlement: Client was a widow of a 34 year old man who entered a Southern Central Missouri Emergency Room with classic signs of heart attack. The EKG tests ran on him confirmed this as well as a blood test. After being in the ER for four hours the doctor diagnosed him as having pleurisy and sent him with medication to treat the same. Six hours later he died in his bed at home. The case was mediated in Springfield, Missouri and resolved to all the clients satisfaction. The decedent’s minor child and the decedent’s mother were also part of the lawsuit. All parties agreed to an apportionment of the funds.

On May 1, 2014, a 31 year old male and a local resident was found in his isolation cell dead as a result of hanging/strangulation. The Firm filed suit against Butler County on behalf of the decedent's mother and father. After extensive discovery and numerous depositions, the case was successfully resolved in mediation. The specific terms of the settlement are confidential. The decedent's parents were extremely pleased with not only the monetary settlement but also in the non-economic terms of the settlement directed towards safety of future inmates in the Butler County Jail.

On October 6, 2015, the Firm, representing a female passenger from Advance, Missouri successfully mediated a personal injury suit. The client was a passenger in a parked car at a convenience store in Advance when the Defendant--who was intoxicatedhit the rear end of the car in which the client was sitting. The unusual feature of this case was that there was no visible damage on the bumper of the client's car, no property damage/repairs. The Firm brought in a focus group of s...ix (6) local citizens to review the case and to give their opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of each side. The intoxication issue was huge for the focus group and drove up the damages. A 15 minute edited version of the focus group was shown to the defense at the mediation. This case was featured in a national trial lawyers newsletter because of the lack of property damage and the amount of the settlement. See more

November 4, 2015A Poplar Bluff, 5 man, 7 woman jury took only 20 minutes in deliberation to find our client not guilty of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute. The case was tried in our local courthouse and featured Chief Trial Lawyer for the Prosecutor’s Office, Paul Oesterreicher, Steve and Kyle Walsh, defending with the case presided over by the Honorable Michael Pritchett. The State placed into evidence two (2) bags of marijuana, a scale, aluminum foil cont...aining hash oil and numerous photographs. The firm’s client and his two witnesses testified that he did and does not sell pot. Deputy Randle Huddleston of the Butler County Sheriff’s Department testified that he was given permission to enter into the client’s home on Alice Street and sawin plain viewthe marijuana, scale and hash oil residue; further, that the Defendant had admitted that he sold marijuana and, in fact, had sold a pound just before the deputy’s arrival. Under intense cross examination by Steve Walsh, Deputy Huddleston admitted that he did not take a camcorder, a voice recorder or even pen and paper into the home to take notes of the interview. Deputy Huddleston based his report done 7 hours after the arrest at 3:00 a.m. on his memory. The theme of the defense was found in the Safety Rule which was repeatedly read to the jury: A law enforcement officer must always record his interviews with citizens to protect us all and preserve the accuracy and truthfulness of the facts. The firm’s client was charged with a Class B Felony which carries a minimum of five (5) years and a maximum of fifteen (15) years in prison; the client had been offeredin plea bargaininga Suspended Imposition of Sentence (SIS) and supervised probation to a reduced a Class C Felony. The client rejected the offer and thus, the jury trial. After the jury acquittal verdict Steve Walsh, speaking for the firm, stated, It took a lot of guts for our client to turn down the offer of probation and to choose to go to trial. Obviously, he had faith in our firm. It helped that our client had a clean record, college degree and presented himself well before the jury as did his girlfriend and his former roommate. It confirms my long held belief that jury’s usually do the right thing. See more

June 23, 2015We received great news this past week. The Federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld our 2012 verdict of $1,000,000.00. Attached you will find the article from the DAR. In summary, this dealt with the wrongful death of a young State parolee who was shot in the back by a State Parole Officer. Zachary Snyder was a young father of four who had problems with the law and was facing some prison time. Rather than going voluntarily with the parole officer he ran ...and the parole officerusing excessive forceshot and killed the young unarmed man. I tried this case when I was with my old firm and my former partner, John Albright, did the appeal writing and argument. This was a no offer case which means there was no money offer from the State of Missouri to settle the case. I believe anyone who violates the law is accountable for their actions.

April 2015: Medical Malpractice Verdict Against Poplar Bluff Doctor

November 2014: Mediation settlement. Senior Partner, Steve Walsh, successfully mediated a vehicular collision case for husband and wife clients who received a total of $312,500.00. The clients were involved in a car accident in 2013 in which both were injured when their car collided with a government owned vehicle. Liability was strongly contested by the parties. The firm hired an accident reconstructionist to support their theory that the government vehicle was responsible for the rural accident and for the clients’ injuries.

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