Jungle Law sued Kansas City sports bar over worker complaint. Now bar sues Jungle Law - Kansas City Star
The high-flying Jungle Law Group has swung into the business end of a legal action.
The owners of The Blue Line, a River Market sports bar, allege in a lawsuit that the law firm acted in an improper and malicious manner by bringing a previous suit against the bar.
That lawsuit, initiated in January 2020, was filed on behalf of two former Blue Line employees, Morgan Humphrey and Ashley Clark. In it, they alleged that one of the bar’s owners, Steve Stegall, used racial slurs to refer to Black customers and asked them to acquire Black customers’ credit cards before they ordered their meals. The suit also alleged that Stegall made inappropriate sexual advances toward Clark.
Humphrey and Clark claimed they were fired after reporting these actions to Blue Line co-owner Leticia Stegall, Steve Stegall’s wife. They sought damages for gender discrimination and retaliation against The Blue Line under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
Both Humphrey and Clark’s claims were dismissed with prejudice in October 2020, meaning they cannot file the same claim in court again. Earlier, the judge had dismissed Humphrey’s case after Jungle Law attorney Tristen Woods failed to respond to a motion to dismiss. Woods, who calls himself Tarzan the Lawman on television and billboard ads, then petitioned the court to have the case put back on the active docket. Humphrey’s claim was then dismissed on the grounds that her suit was filed too late under the state human rights act’ statute of limitations.
Clark’s claim was dismissed after Woods wrote to the court that Jungle Law was unable to get a response back from her. She had also failed to bring her claims within the required time period, the judge ruled.
In the suit, filed Nov. 8 in Jackson County Circuit Court, Blue Line Productions, the operator of the bar, accuses the Jungle Law Group of making false claims of sexual harassment, racist comments, and employee retaliation at The Blue Line. Woods, Clark, Humphreys and Jungle Law attorney Lauren Kruskall are also named as defendants.
“None of that happened,” said Michael Gunter, attorney for Blue Line Productions. “Their allegations were completely false.”
The bar’s owners also allege that Jungle Law and the other defendants “knew or should have known” that there was no cause of action to be taken in Humphrey and Clark’s cases due to the fact that the statute of limitations had expired.
Noting that Blue Line “has paid $15,000 in attorneys fees and costs and still owes another $25,000 in attorney fees in defending itself in the (2020) lawsuit,” the bar’s owners are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Reached Thursday afternoon, Woods with Jungle Law told The Star, “I don’t have a comment right now. I had no idea that was even filed.”
Blue Line, named for its ice hockey theme, made news last year when it sued Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Jackson County Executive Frank White for imposing emergency health orders in response to the pandemic. In March, the bar dropped the lawsuit without explanation.
source: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article255942992.html
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