Henry Iwenofu fancies himself a statesman. But he has spent a great deal of time in the courtroom as well, at great cost and frustration to those who have to deal with him. This trait ought to particularly concern those who consider placing Iwenofu in any position of authority.
In 2010, Mr. Iwenofu was the subject of an In Quo Warranto suit by the St. Louis County Prosecutor. Unfortunately, the electronic court records at that time do not include documents, and the court itself has not preserved those documents. Suffice it to say that such suits are extremely rare, and for serious cause. However, nine months after it was filed, in May 2011, the suit was dismissed.
In 2011, Iwenofu, along with the rest of the board, was the defendant in a lawsuit, Lindsey v. Harlan Smith et. al., seeking damages arising from Lindsey’s allegation that she was raped by an Uplands Park police officer after being arrested at a traffic stop. Details of this case, which was later moved to federal court, will be laid out in a separate article.
In 2012, Iwenofu filed a suit against the St. Louis County Board of Elections, and Charlotte Graham of the Village of Uplands Park. The court records in this case lack detail to determine the purpose of the case.
In September 2012, it appears that Iwenofu’s colleagues voted to remove him as chairman of their board. He went to court and obtained a restraining order against other board members, declaring him to be the rightful chairman of the board.
In November 2012, Iwenofu filed another lawsuit against several of his fellow board members. Again, the online court records do not provide any details of the nature of the suit. They do, however, show us the attorney who represented Iwenofu: Elbert Walton Jr. Several years later, Walton would be suspended from the practice of law, and subsequently disbarred.
In August 2013, a lawsuit was filed against the village and its trustees by Phillip Ayers. Ayers was, at the time, the judge of Uplands Park Municipal Court.
In December 2013, a lawsuit was filed by four members of the village board, represented by Elbert Walton Jr., against the two other members, Iwenofu and Hugh McAdoo. McAdoo would later become an advocate for disincorporation of the village. That suit was dismissed in August of the following year.
That is seven times that his city ended up in court when Mr. Iwenofu was a member of the board. If you don’t think that’s a lot, consider that Uplands Park only has 300 residents. These residents had to bear the cost of this litigation.
In 2025, Mr. Iwenofu again filed a lawsuit, this time in Ferguson. In that case, he seeks to have his only opponent in the election for city council removed from the ballot. Details of that case will be provided in a separate article.
