Missouri Attorneys Granted Motion to Dismiss for Municipal Public Works Client

Litchfield Cavo’s Kansas City Partner Michael Kopit and St. Louis Attorney Ben W. Hohenstein recently obtained a Motion to Dismiss in defense of our municipal public works client in the St. Louis County Circuit Court.

In July 2022, Plaintiff’s heating and cooling company property flooded with water. Following the incident, Plaintiff alleged property damages and claimed that our client was negligent in supervising and inspecting pipeline work performed near Plaintiff’s property, and subsequently filed an action against our client. In response to Plaintiff’s claim, our Missouri attorneys, Michael Kopit and Ben Hohenstein, filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Petition for Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief may be Granted.

Our attorneys argued before the Court that our municipal public works client had sovereign immunity, and also that Plaintiff failed to plead a waiver of the sovereign immunity, or otherwise state any facts demonstrating that the two limited exceptions to sovereign immunity were applicable in this occurrence.

In February 2024, the St. Louis County Circuit Court granted our attorneys’ motion based on our Defense’s legal arguments and their citations raised, and our municipal public works client was dismissed with prejudice.

Michael Kopit handles insurance coverage issues, breach of contract and bad faith claims. He has experience working with public and private entities, as well as clients in the transportation, retail, hospitality, insurance, real estate, and food and beverage industries.

Ben Hohenstein focuses his legal practice on insurance defense litigation and has experience handling insurance coverage matters. His experience includes defending claims involving premises liability, products liability, personal injury and toxic torts/asbestos.