Top Verdicts & Settlements 2021: Defense wins

Staff Report//February 4, 2022

NOTE: Defense wins include jury- or judge-tried cases that resulted in a victory for the defense. Also counted are cases in which the plaintiffs’ award was far less than what was sought or was significantly reduced by comparative fault. Cases are listed in chronological order. All reported defense wins for 2020 are listed here.

Demand	Offer	Claimed Damages	Jury Request	Award to Plaintiff	Award to Defense	Date	Venue	Type of Action	Caption	Defense Attorneys
$975,000	$225,000	$1,475,000 – $2,495,000	$8,543,000			3/11/2021	Greene County	Medical Malpractice	Bond v. Mercy Clinic Springfield Communities	Kent O. Hyde and David E. Overby, Hyde, Love & Overby, Springfield
$2,338,635		$1,180,000	$4,564,131			3/12/2021	Greene County	Medical Malpractice	McCord v. CoxHealth	Jeffrey T. Davis and Bethany G. Parsons, Turner, Reid, Duncan, Loomer & Patton, Springfield
$1,500,000	$0		$1,600,000			5/6/2021	Greene County	Motor Vehicle Collision	Hoffman v. Rahman	Brian D. Malkmus and Jared Robertson, Malkmus Law Firm, Springfield
$120,000	$20,955	$29,950	$2,000,000			5/12/2021	Platte County	Consumer	Pilch v. Premier Coach Services LLC	Blake Smith, Spencer Fane, Kansas City; George Flanders, Kessinger Law Firm, Gladstone
		$3,000,000	$8,500,000			5/12/2021	St. Charles County	Medical Malpractice	Miltenberger v. Hsu	Andrew M. Luther and Kim Roger Luther, Luther & Associates, St. Louis; Brian Burge and Stacey Dowd, Sanders Warren Russell & Scheer, Overland Park, Kansas and St. Louis
			$1,300,000			7/16/2021	U.S., Eastern District of Missouri	Medical Malpractice	Simms v. Anesthesia Partners Ltd.	Greg Minana and Tanya Maerz, Husch Blackwell, St. Louis
$2,000,000		$2,000,000				8/20/2021	Clay County	Medical Malpractice	Sharp v. Meritas Health Corporation	Bruce Keplinger and John Hicks, Norris, Keplinger, Hicks & Welder, Leawood, Kansas
$2,000,000 – $1,950,000	$5,000	$591,842 – $781,138	$3,000,000			8/30/2021	Bates County	Motor Vehicle Collision	Zerpa v. Chambers	James Jarrow, Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, Kansas City
$550,000	$250,000		$4,200,000			9/24/2021	Chariton County	Wrongful Death	Underwood v. Chariton Park Health Care Center LLC	Diane Lewis, Brown & Ruprecht, Kansas City
			$923,000,000			9/28/2021	St. Louis County	Product Liability	Giese et al. v. Johnson & Johnson	Beth Bauer and Alexandra Haar, HeplerBroom, Edwardsville, Illinois and St. Louis
		$5,600,000				10/15/2021	Jackson County	Eminent Domain	JTC Oil Inc. v. City of Grandview	Kenneth McClain, Colin McClain and Timothy Kingsbury, Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, Independence; Joe Gall, City of Grandview
$1,000,000 – $3,750,000	$100,000 – $225,000		$5,000,000 – $10,000,000			10/15/2021	U.S., Eastern District of Missouri	Motor Vehicle Collision	Holt v. Qualified Trucking Service Inc.	Steven Hughes and Joseph Hoffman, Hughes Lawyers, St. Louis
		$725,068	$2,350,068.00			10/22/2021	Clay County	Medical Malpractice	Collier v. Caresio	James Myers and Rachael Longhofer, Shaffer Lombardo Shurin, Kansas City
$1,914,177 – $2,523,188				$0	$172,774	10/29/2021	Arbitration	Contracts	Murphy Company Mechanical Contractors & Engineers v. Pro Insulation Inc.	John Cooney, Brown & James, St. Louis
$675,000		$935,451	$1,000,000			11/5/2021	St. Louis County	Medical Malpractice	Schroeder v. Cronin	Philip Willman and David Perron, Brown & James, St. Louis
$975,000 – $7,000,000	$40,000			$75,000		11/22/2021	St. Louis County	Premesis Liability	J.G. v. City of Sunset Hills et al.	Michael Maguire, Brown & James, St. Louis; Michael Hufft; Hufft & Maginn, Kansas City
		$4,637,562				12/22/2021	U.S., Western District of Missouri	Insurance	Concord Baptist Church of Jefferson City v. Church Mutual Insurance Company	Robert W. Cockerham and Ryan T. Knopf, of Cockerham & Associates (St. Louis)