Robertson, Weaver named Lawyers of the Year

It had become almost routine for juries in St. Louis to issue massive verdicts on behalf of groups of plaintiffs from across the country who picked Missouri as the place to fight their corporate adversaries. But after a Missouri Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, that era may be at an end.

Missouri Lawyers Media’s 2020 Lawyers of the Year — Susan Ford Robertson of the Robertson Law Group and Thomas B. Weaver of Armstrong Teasdale — led the appellate teams for two separate defendants in a series of lawsuits alleging harmful effects from the plaintiffs’ use of talcum powder. Several have resulted in verdicts totaling tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Weaver represented Johnson & Johnson, and Robertson represented co-defendant Imerys Talc America.

Missouri lawmakers had pushed for years to rewrite the state’s venue and joinder rules to try to prevent out-of-state plaintiffs from bringing such suits to Missouri. Then last February, the Missouri Supreme Court issued State ex rel. Johnson & Johnson v. Burlison, in which it ruled that a plaintiff couldn’t use joinder to establish venue in a place where it otherwise wouldn’t exist.

Lawmakers quickly adopted many of the ruling’s provisions into a bill signed into law in July. As a result, mass tort cases that had been underway were forced to change tactics. And under a related precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court, appellate courts have thrown out many of those earlier verdicts. Most recently, the Court of Appeals Eastern District threw out a $110 million verdict against Robertson and Weaver’s clients that had been the state’s second-largest plaintiffs’ win of 2017.

They were among 31 attorneys who were celebrated for their legal accomplishments in 2019 at the Missouri Lawyers Awards luncheon on Jan. 24 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St. Louis-Chesterfield in Chesterfield.

“Venue and joinder rules might seem like a dry and obscure topic,” Missouri Lawyers Media Publisher Liz Irwin said in her introduction of the Lawyers of the Year.

“But in case after case, those principles determine where a case will be heard, and perhaps how successful it will be,” Irwin said. “As Susan put it, ‘Venue has always mattered.’”

Also recognized at the event were 60 attorneys who handled Missouri Lawyers Media’s Top Verdicts & Settlements in 2019.

Lawyers of the Year

Susan Ford Robertson of the Robertson Law Group, and Thomas B. Weaver of Armstrong Teasdale, for their precedent-setting defense appellate work in talcum-powder litigation.

Influential Lawyers

Awarded to the newsmakers — the Missouri lawyers who made substantial contributions to the legal community this year.

Kirk Presley of Presley & Presley, fought to uphold the constitutional rights of a teenager who was severely injured by a police officer’s Taser.

Gary C. Robb of Robb & Robb, whose long career of aviation litigation includes a recent record-setting settlement for the victim of a medical helicopter crash in Colorado.

Norman E. Siegel of Stueve Siegel Hanson, who helped to achieve a historic settlement stemming from a massive data breach of the credit bureau Equifax.

Philip L. Willman of Brown & James, who recently was elected president of the DRI, a national organization for the defense bar.

Legal Champions

Awarded to plaintiffs’ or defense lawyers, not based on the size of verdicts, but the importance of the principle or policy at stake.

Grant C. Boyd of Sindel Noble, who has steered his practice toward representing child sexual-abuse victims.

Doug Gentile of Rouse Frets White Goss Gentile Rhodes, whose career has been devoted to fighting for better child safety car seats.

Michael A. Kahn of Capes Sokol, who won a copyright-infringement claim for Christian recording artists who said pop star Katy Perry lifted a beat they wrote.

Lisa G. Moore of Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, who represented the mother of a transgender child whose father did not accept the child’s self-identification as a girl.

Matthew Mueller of the Missouri State Public Defender System, who won a landmark ruling that prevents state courts from making criminal defendants pay directly for the costs of their incarceration.

Russ Riggan of Riggan Law Firm, who persuaded jurors to award a hefty verdict to a St. Louis County Police Department sergeant who said he was denied promotions because he is gay.

J. Stan Sexton of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, who helped bring about a settlement that will give Kansas Medicaid recipients more access to drugs to treat Hepatitis C.

Blake Strode of ArchCity Defenders, who leads one of Missouri’s most active nonprofit civil-rights operations.

Denyse L. Jones, Sarah L. Zimmerman, Jordan T. Ault and Matthew D. Knepper, all of Husch Blackwell, who helped to win an overhaul of Missouri’s parole process for inmates sentenced to spend their lives in prison for crimes they committed as juveniles.

Influential Appellate Advocates

Awarded to the lawyers behind the most significant appellate decisions of the year.

Michael Abrams, William G. Beck and Alex T. Brown of Lathrop GPM, who won an important insurance victory on behalf of the families of three wrongfully convicted men who spent decades behind bars in Mississippi.

Marie L. Gockel of Bratcher Gockel Law, who has won several cases in the Court of Appeals Western District that clarified employment discrimination law in Missouri.

S. Todd Hamby of Carmody MacDonald, who persuaded the Missouri Supreme Court to overturn a decades-old precedent that had made it hard for homeowners to effectively govern their communities.

Scott A. McCreight of Ketchmark and McCreight, who successfully defended a massive jury verdict for the family of a worker crushed to death at an auto-manufacturing plant.

Law Firm Leaders

Awarded to chairpersons, managing partners or other law firm executives who demonstrated extraordinary vision, innovation and leadership during the year.

Cameron Garrison of Lathrop GPM, who is leading the law firm into a major combination with a Minneapolis-based firm.

James Scott Kreamer of Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, who has overseen growth, including a recent merger, that has nearly doubled the size of the firm.

Chase Simmons of Polsinelli, who has seen the fast-growing firm achieve long-held growth goals during his first year in office.

Timothy R. Thornton of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, whose leadership and long service was cut short by his tragic death in a bicycling accident in June.

Stuart J. Vogelsmeier of Lashly & Baer, who serves as executive vice president of the firm and leads a newly formed health care advisory team.

Lawyers with the largest reported plaintiffs’ verdicts of the year (by ranking):

Todd Bartels, E. Benton Keatley and Robert Spake Jr. of Polsinelli; Russ Riggan and Samuel Moore of the Riggan Law Firm; John G. Simon, Timothy Cronin and Johnny M. Simon of The Simon Law Firm; J. Michael Ponder and Kathy Wolz of Cook, Barkett, Ponder & Wolz, and Thomas Jones and Tim Gaarder of Davis, Bethune & Jones; and Christopher Layloff and Jason Steinmeyer of The Gori Law Firm

Lawyers with the largest reported settlements of the year (by ranking):

Jerome Schlichter, Troy Doles and Heather Lea of Schlichter Bogard & Denton; Timothy Cronin and John G. Simon of The Simon Law Firm, Jamie Boock and Nathan Davis of Rossiter & Boock, Mark Bronson and Lauren Bronson of Newman Bronson & Wallis, Thomas Neill of Gray, Ritter & Graham, J. Brad Wilmoth of Page Law, Melissa Griffeth of The Hester Group and Timothy O’Mara of Spector, Wolfe, McLaughlin & O’Mara; Derek Ankrom and Jason C. Smith of Spencer Fane; Anthony S. Bruning, Ryan L. Bruning and A.J. Bruning of The Bruning Law Firm, Richard S. Cornfeld of the Law Office of Richard S. Cornfeld, Kevin Green and Thomas P. Rosenfeld of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, Fernando Bermudez of Bermudez Law STL and David Bohm of Danna McKitrick; and David L. Grebel of Niemeyer, Grebel & Kruse

Lawyers with the top plaintiffs’ judgments or bench awards (by ranking):

Robert T. Adams, Ann M. Songer and Eric M. Anielak of Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Maurice Graham of Gray, Ritter & Graham; Brandon Boulware and Erin Lawrence of Boulware Law; Jason Scheiderer and Megan Carroll of Dentons; and Steve Six and Austin Moore of Stueve Siegel Hanson

Lawyers with the top defense wins (by ranking):

W. Perry Brant of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Bruce Keplinger and Courtney McCray of Norris Keplinger Hicks & Welder, and Tim Frets and John Witten of Rouse Frets White Goss Gentile Rhodes; Ronald D. Marney II, Michael J. Rudd and Jeffrey L. Dunn of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard, and Brian L. Burge and Jana V. Richards of Sanders Warren Russell & Scheer; Steven E. Ward of McAfee & Taft; and Kristie Crawford of Brown & James.

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