Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. of U.S. District Court in St. Louis

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Jul 28, 2008 by Donna Walter

Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr.'s last week on the federal bench will be a busy one.

Limbaugh, a senior judge in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis, will leave the court Thursday to make room for his son, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., who will join the court in August. Federal law prohibits relatives from serving on the same bench.

Ten years ago a fleet of barges were set loose on the Mississippi River when a towboat hit the Eads Bridge. The lawsuits spawned from that accident may come to an end this week.

A number of the 15 barges towed by the Anne Holly hit the Admiral, which is owned by the President Casino and permanently moored on the Mississippi River. Casino patrons and employees filed lawsuits in this case, as did the casino and four of the barge owners. Just a few personal injury claims have yet to be settled.

The list of parties and attorneys alone take up 157 pages of the PACER docket. The full docket consists of 317 pages and 1,892 documents.

Last week, Limbaugh determined the casino was entitled to $4.5 million on its claim of business interruption, plus prejudgment interest beginning on June 1, 1998, at 6.4 percent compounded annually. The casino and American Milling Co., which owned the towboat at the time of the accident, had already stipulated to the interest rate and date from which it should be calculated.

Limbaugh, who has been overseeing this case for the last 10 years, said the casino was not entitled to recoup the wages and tips it paid to its employees while it was closed for repairs. Nor was the casino entitled to collect $76,348 in costs to advertise the reopening of the casino or $214,362 in cash coupon redemptions, Limbaugh said.

The judge said the casino's total damage award is to be reduced by 20 percent to reflect its portion of fault. The casino should have built a steel wall around the Admiral to protect it from this type of accident, Limbaugh said five years ago. Had it done so, it may not have had to close down.

Still to be decided is whether the casino or the four barge owners have a priority interest in the $2.2 million limitation fund to cover their property damages.

In a document filed in March, the parties stipulated that the casino's damages are close to $3 million, which includes its $100,000 insurance deductible. That number also does not reflect the 20 percent comparative fault reduction.

Two of the damaged barges were owned by Pinnacle Barge Co. and Pinnacle Transportation Inc. Their total damages are just shy of $300,000, according to the stipulation.

Brennan Marine Co., which owned the other two damaged barges, accrued close to $223,000 in damages, the court filing said.

None of these amounts include prejudgment interest.

Another long-running case on Limbaugh's docket is Federal Trade Commission v. Neiswonger et al. The case began in 1996 when the FTC alleged Richard C. Neiswonger and others deceptively marketed training and business opportunities. The suit was settled Feb. 28, 1997, when Neiswonger agreed to abide by a permanent injunction prohibiting from using misrepresentations to market programs to consumers.

Two years ago, the FTC reopened the suit, alleging Neiswonger broke his promise. According to the FTC's motion for civil contempt, Neiswonger, William S. Reed and Asset Protection Group Inc. market a one-day program for people to learn how to hide assets from the government. The FTC's filing alleges the defendants charge $9,800 for the program.

In a document filed in April, the FTC urged Limbaugh to order the appointed receiver to pay $3.2 million of Neiswonger's proceeds to the federal agency. It also asked that certain assets be turned over to the receiver.

The FTC said Limbaugh should hold APG and Reed jointly and severally liable for close to $5.8 million. The agency also urged the court to order Reed and APG to turn over assets to the receiver and to order Neiswonger's and Reed's assets to remain frozen until they comply with the judge's order.

In addition to these two cases, Limbaugh has in front of him the Express Scripts multidistrict litigation, which includes ERISA claims and allegations that the company inflated drug prices and violated patient privacy. He is also presiding over a murder trial and has six sentencing hearings scheduled for this week.