Municipal Law
Sarah Mullen serves as regular labor and employment counsel for a number of municipalities, including the City of Kirkwood, City of Florissant and City of Maplewood, among others. She counsels on day-to-day employment matters, including FMLA, ADA, EEO, FLSA and Police Bill of Rights issues. She also has served as lead counsel on behalf of cities in negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Firefighters. Sarah has counseled municipal clients through internal workplace investigations. She has defended multiple municipalities and County governments against employment discrimination claims in both the administrative phase and litigation in State and Federal Court. Sarah also serves as employment litigation counsel of the University of Missouri, St. Charles Community College, Saint Louis University, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Sarah also has served as city attorney and litigation counsel for local municipalities. She successfully defends cities in disputes relating to planning and zoning. Sarah successfully defended a large municipality against a civil rights lawsuit based on alleged police misconduct. She achieved the dismissal of claims brought by taxpayers against a City, claiming the City had improperly collected a local tax, and Sarah successfully defended the dismissal before the Missouri Court of Appeals. Over her years of practice, Sarah has worked with St. Louis County and the Cities of Chesterfield, Crestwood, Florissant, Frontenac, Kirkwood, Maplewood, St. Charles and Wildwood.
Case Studies
Dismissal of Two Class Action Lawsuits
In 2014, individual taxpayers and businesses in the City of St. Charles brought two putative class action lawsuits against the City, its officials and its City Council members, claiming the City had failed to properly collect license taxes that were designed to promote local tourism. Before the litigation proceeded into the discovery phase, Sarah Mullen and Rob Golterman successfully secured dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims for writ of mandamus and money damages at the trial level. Plaintiffs then appealed. On appeal, Sarah and Rob again defended the City, and the Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of all the plaintiffs’ claims in their entirety. Click here to read the opinion in this case.
