044104P.pdf   06/16/2006  The Baker Group, et al.  v.  Burlington Northern
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  04-4104
                          and No:  04-4150
                          and No:  04-4124
   Western District of Missouri   
   [PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Hansen and Melloy, Circuit Judges]
   Civil case - contracts. Doctrine of claim preclusion barred the Baker
   Group from relitigating issues decided in a Kansas state court action, and
   the district court did not err in granting the railroad judgment as a matter
   of law at the close of the evidence; district court did not err in dismissing
   Baker's tort claims as Baker had elected to waive the tort claimss and sue
   for breach of contract; breach of contract claims were properly decided in
   railroad's favor as Baker had failed to comply with conditions precedent
   to recovery under the contract; district court did not err in denying motion
   to dismiss without prejudice which was based on a late claim that a third
   party was an indispensable party; the claim was a clear case of abusive
   forum shopping and the appeal of the issue is frivolous; attorneys' appeal
   to expunge critical comments the district court made in 1999 must be
   dismissed as untimely.