A-1 Premium Acceptance, Inc. v. Hunter

Opinion handed down October 16, 2018

A-1 Premium Acceptance, Inc. (“A-1”) gave high interest loans to Meeka Hunter in an amount totaling $800.[1]  Hunter eventually defaulted on the loans when she owed over $7,000.[2]  A-1 filed a lawsuit against Hunter and she counterclaimed.[3]  The loan contracts contained an arbitration provision that required the borrower to use the National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”) to settle disputes.[4]  However, the NAF was unable to arbitrate her dispute after it was prosecuted by the Minnesota Attorney General and required by the court to stop arbitrating commercial disputes.[5]  A-1 motioned to compel arbitration and have the court assign another arbitrator.[6]  The circuit court did not compel arbitration and the Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed because the language of the arbitration provision contemplated that the parties would arbitrate before only the NAF.[7]

State Conference of NAACP v. State

Opinion handed down October 30, 2018

On September 14, 2016, the Missouri General Assembly successfully overturned Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of House Bill 1631 (“HB 1631”).[1]  HB 1631 replaced the then-existing voter identification requirements in Missouri with more stringent standards (“Voter ID Law”).[2]  The Missouri State Conference for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of Women Voters of Missouri, and Christine Dragonette (collectively, “Plaintiffs”), sued the State of Missouri and the Missouri Secretary of State (collectively, “Defendants”), alleging that the funding provisions of the Voter ID Law were not satisfied, and therefore the voter identification requirements should not be enforced.[3]  The Circuit Court of Cole County granted the Defendants’ motion for a judgment on the pleadings, effectuating a dismissal without prejudice of the Plaintiffs’ complaint.[4]  The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District reversed the judgment and remanded for further proceedings.[5]