2025 YEAR IN REVIEW: Missouri Attorney General’s Office

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Today, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office recapped the 2025 year serving as the People’s lawyer and fighting for openness and justice.

“I am incredibly proud of what the Attorney General’s Office accomplished for Missourians in 2025,” said Attorney General Hanaway. “The dedication our team has to the State of Missouri has protected children, obtained restitution for ripped-off consumers, and brought justice for victims alongside local law enforcement. We will continue fighting for and protecting Missourians in the years ahead.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office landed several wins in court this year, including:

• Obtained a court order dismissing in full a lawsuit brought to strike down Missouri’s longstanding parental consent laws protecting minors from secret abortion procedures
• The Cole County Circuit Court entered final judgment in Fitz-James v. Hoskins, delivering a complete legal victory for the State of Missouri and clearing the way for HJR 73 to move forward to the ballot as Amendment 3
• Ousted Alfred Montgomery the corrupt City of St. Louis Sheriff after a court ruled he was unfit to serve per the Office’s writ of quo warranto
• Halted the Biden Administration’s illegal diversion of more than $40 million in taxpayer funds away from the Southern Border Wall

The Office also filed several lawsuits to fight for the people of Missouri, including:

The Office opened notable investigations, including:

The Office assisted local prosecutors in obtaining justice for victims, including:

• Life without the possibility of parole for a murderer secured in partnership with the Polk County Prosecutor’s Office
• Conviction secured of child molester prosecuted in collaboration with the Osage County Prosecutor’s Office
• Indictment secured in collaboration with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office against a Kansas City funeral home for fraud
• Cold Case Conviction secured alongside Taney County Prosecutor’s Office for crimes committed more than 32 years ago

The Office obtained notable settlements/judgments, including:

• $24 billion judgment against the Chinese Communist Party for unleashing the COVID-19 pandemic – six times more than the previous largest judgment in Missouri history
• $149.6 million settlement with Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC and Mercedes-Benz Group AG for violating states’ laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices

Other notable work:

• Promulgated a regulation requiring pornographic sites to implement robust age-verification measures to ensure minors cannot access prohibited material. Within hours of the rule taking effect, Pornhub announced it would shut down access to its website in Missouri rather than comply with the regulation

A further breakdown by Attorney General’s Office section can be found below:

Consumer Protection

• Obtained more than $61.1 million in judgments/settlements for the State of Missouri
• Recovered more than $14.9 million in restitution for Missouri citizens
• Handled 66,808 consumer complaints and inquiries

Public Safety  

• Received guilty verdicts from a jury in 6 cases, 12 charges total
• Obtained guilty pleas in 29 cases
• Entered in 55 assist cases across the state
• Closed 27 post-conviction relief cases
• Received 200 habeas referrals
• Closed 152 habeas cases
• Obtained 10 sexually violent predator commitments

Medicaid Fraud

• Handled 13 civil settlements that totaled more than $3.5 million
• Obtained 34 indictments (27 fraud indictments, 1 abuse and neglect indictment, and 6 cases referred to local prosecutor’s office)
• Obtained 28 convictions (26 fraud convictions and 2 abuse and neglect convictions) that totaled restitution of more than $1.8 million

Criminal Appeals 

• Filed 434 appellate briefs
• Opened 495 new cases
• Closed 647 cases
• Argued 16 cases before the Missouri Supreme Court
• Argued 72 cases before the District Court of Appeals

Governmental Affairs 

• Provided 57 Sunshine Law public training sessions
• Closed or resolved 233 total Sunshine Law complaints, including issuing dozens of warning letters that may include mandatory training sessions or compliance plans to reduce future compliance concerns
• Ensured that foster children who were abused and neglected are placed with loving, stable families
• Defended the Secretary of State in multiple cases involving various aspects of election law
• Sought discipline of professional licensees who violated the law
• Successfully defended the constitutionality and validity of Missouri statutes and rules in numerous cases (in both state and federal court)
• Defended the state in bid protests and other contractual disputes
• Protected Missouri farmers and Missouri’s natural resources in litigation on behalf of the Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Opened 985 new matters
• Closed 1,043 matters

Litigation

• Opened 313 new cases
• Closed 171 cases

Labor

• Closed 2,840 Second Injury Fund claims and 67 Central Accident Reporting Office (CARO) claims. The total closed files represent an approximate total of more than $7.7 million in savings for the Second Injury Fund and an approximate total of more than $1.5 million in savings for CARO.
• Settled 673 cases with a total of $19.9 million in relief
• Argued 18 cases before the Labor & Industrial Relations Commission
• Argued 4 cases at the Missouri Court of Appeals
• Argued 3 cases before the Missouri Supreme Court

Financial Services

• Reviewed and closed 1,193 modification referrals to existing child support orders, ensuring Missouri children get the correct amount as stipulated by Missouri Supreme Court guidelines
• Processed over 4,030 payments totaling more than $13 million
• Closed 2,867 matters

Constituent Services

• Satisfied 21,820 concerns from Missourians
• Referred over 4,000 constituents to the Consumer Protection Division
• Top cities with Constituent Correspondence were St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve the State of Missouri in 2025, and I am eager to see what our Office will accomplish for Missourians in the New Year,” said Attorney General Hanaway.