May 2016 Updates

Joseph Blanton, Rachel Harris and Shaun Hanschen received a favorable ruling in May 2016 from the Missouri Court of Appeals in a case styled Lawson Estate v. Murphy. The case involved a challenge to a ruling made by the Probate Court of Dunklin County, Missouri relating to a conservatorship estate which owns a large farm. The Court of Appeals affirmed the actions taken by the firm’s clients with respect to the farming operation.

Joseph Blanton, Shaun Hanschen and John Cozean recently obtained a summary judgment for a firm client in a lawsuit against a large insurance company that had denied liability under a life insurance policy. The case was styled Price v. Prudential Life Insurance Company of America. The U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division, ruled that the firm’s client should recover the face amount of the policy, $173,000, after finding that the client was entitled to reformation of the policy’s beneficiary form.

Joseph Blanton and Lewis Blanton recently settled a boundary line dispute case for the firm’s clients, which include a national drugstore chain and its landlord in Dexter, Missouri. The case involved complicate land title and surveying issues.

The National Academy of Jurisprudence has selected Joseph C. Blanton, Jr. as a Premier Trial Attorney for the State of Missouri.