Missouri Lawyers Media Top V&S winners of 2022 announced

Missouri Lawyers Media tracks verdicts, settlements, judgments and arbitration awards from around the state and beyond. These are the largest Missouri cases that we reported for 2022. We will honor the attorneys in these cases at our Missouri Lawyers Awards at the 2023 Missouri Lawyers Awards on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Top plaintiffs’ verdicts:

1

Dugan v. Hyatt Corporation

$177 million

A St. Louis jury awarded $28 million in compensatory damages and $149 million in punitive damages to a hotel guest sexually assaulted in her room by a security guard.

Scott S. Bethune, Wes Shumate and Kevin Buchanan, Davis, Bethune & Jones, Kansas City; Rich McLeod, The McLeod Law Firm, Kansas City

2

Scott v. Dyno Nobel Inc.

$46.75 million

A federal jury sided with a man who suffered severe throat injuries when a cloud of noxious gas was released from a northeastern Missouri plant, awarding $16.75 million in compensatory damages to as well as $30 million in punitive damages.

Brad Lakin and Rob Schmieder, SL Chapman, St. Louis

3

Wolk and Meyer v. Lumber Dealers LLC

$29 million

A St. Francois County awarded $24.5 million in compensatory damages, $500,000 in punitive damages and $4 million in loss of consortium damages to two workers injured when the wooden trusses they were installing collapsed under them.

Joseph T. Neely and Ryan M. Hyde, Behr, McCarter, Potter, Neely & Hyde, Clayton

4

Karr v. Kansas City Life Insurance Company

$28.36 million

A Jackson County jury found that a life insurance company had overcharged thousands of Missouri who had flexible premium adjustable life insurance policies.

Patrick Stueve, Ethan Lange, Lindsay Perkins, David Hickey and Ben Stueve, Stueve Siegel Hanson, Kansas City; John J. Schirger, Matthew Lytle and Joseph M. Feierabend, Miller Schirger, Kansas City

5

Harris v. Sandri

$25.4 million

A Jackson County jury awarded $5 million in noneconomic damages, $19 million in future medical damages and $1.4 million in future economic damages to the family of a child injured at birth. The final award was reduced under the state’s noneconomic damages cap.

Joseph P. Cullan, Patrick J. Cullan and Ryan G. Terril, Cullan & Cullan, Kansas City

Top settlements:

1

In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation

$458 million

The settlement with opioid makers and distributors, part of multidistrict litigation based in an Ohio federal court, will bring $274.8 million to the state of Missouri and $183.2 million for counties and cities. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office represented the state, while a group of private counsel represented several counties that had brought their own actions against the opioid industry.

Jack Garvey, Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, St. Louis; Derrick Good, Thurman Law Firm, Hillsboro; Eric Holland, Holland Law Firm, St. Louis; Robert Blitz, Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, St. Louis; Brian J. Madden, Wagstaff & Cartmell, Kansas City; Michael Angelides and Sarah Burns, Simmons Hanly Conroy, Alton, Illinois; Matthew Dameron, Williams Dirks Dameron, Kansas City; Eric Schmitt, Jeremiah Morgan and Jay Atkins, Missouri Attorney General’s Office, Jefferson City

2

Hootselle v. Missouri Department of Corrections

$117.5 million

A Cole County judge approved a settlement that ended a long-running suit by state corrections officers who sought payment for unpaid on-the-job activities.

Gary K. Burger, Burger Law, St. Louis; Michael J. Flannery, Cuneo Gilbert & Laduca, St. Louis; Fernando Bermudez, Bermudez Law STL, St. Louis

3

Jackson County v. Trinity Industries Inc.

$56 million

A class-action settlement in Jackson County will help state and local agencies recover the costs of replacing faulty roadway safety equipment.

Patrick Stueve, Bradley Wilders and Alex Ricke, Stueve Siegel Hanson, Kansas City; John Schirger, Joseph Feierabend and Matt Lytle, Miller Schirger, Kansas City

4

Bishop v. DeLaval Inc.

$55 million

A federal judge approved a class-action settlement with a company alleged to have sold defective robotic milking machines.

Patrick Stueve, Bradley Wilders, Jillian Dent, K. Ross Merrill, Stephanie Walters, Brandi Spates and Tanner Edwards, Stueve Siegel Hanson, Kansas City

5

Ramsey-Standage v. Abbott Laboratories

$19.5 million

A Phelps County judge OK’d a class-action settlement that alleged certain brands of infant formula were inaccurately labeled.

David Steelman and Bryce Crowley, Steelman Gaunt Crowley, Rolla

Top judgments:

1

Elwood et al. v. Biscari

$32.4 million  

An arbitrator awarded damages to multiple plaintiffs after a Kansas City fire truck ran a red light, causing an accident that killed three people, injured a man and damaged a well-known Kansas City venue.

Tim Dollar, Dollar Burns Becker & Hershewe, Kansas City; David Frye, Lathrop GPM, Kansas City; David Smith, David R. Smith PC, Kansas City, Colin D. Stoner, cdstoner LLC, Kansas City; Michael Yonke, Yonke Law, Kansas City; Jarrett Johnson, The Jarrett Johnson Law Firm, Kansas City

2

Paulick v. Allinder

$6.04 million

A Clay County judge issued an award for a woman who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle rollover.

Scott S. Bethune, Wes Shumate and Jared Brown, Davis, Bethune & Jones, Kansas City

3

Smith and White v. Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission

$6 million

An arbitration panel found the highway department at fault when two members of a small-town football team went off a rural roadway and were killed.

Lynn Henry, Henry & Williams, West Plains; Brennan Delaney, Langdon & Emison, Lexington

Top defense verdicts:

1

Shelton v. Monsanto Company

$160 million jury request

A Jackson County jury found the herbicide Roundup wasn’t responsible for causing a man’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Robert Adams and Jason Zager, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Kansas City; Timothy J. Hasken, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, St. Louis

2

Vernon v. Safariland LLC

A St. Louis County jury said a body armor manufacturer wasn’t responsible for police officer’s paralysis after he was shot on duty while wearing an armored vest.

$34 million jury request

Michelle Corrigan Erikson and Renee Henson, Stinson, St. Louis

3

Alesi et al. v. Monsanto Company

$30 million jury request

A St. Louis County jury sided with the defense on claims that the herbicide Roundup wasn’t responsible for three plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Booker Shaw, Thompson Coburn, St. Louis; Erik Hansell, Kate Dickenson and Tim Larkin, Husch Blackwell, The Link (St. Louis)

4

Gion v. Southfield Apartments LP

$20 million pretrial demand, $10 million jury request

A St. Louis County jury rejected a former apartment tenant’s suit against a development company over claims of toxic mold exposure.

David Bub and Jeff Lester, Watters Wolf Bub Hansmann, St. Louis

5

Admire v. Kaspar Ranch Hand Equipment LLC

$11 million to $12 million pretrial demand, $18 million jury request

A Cass County jury found a company not liable for the death of a woman whose car was struck by a pickup truck equipped with a heavy-duty grille guard.

Jonathan Barton and Megan Oliver, Stanton | Barton, St. Louis

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Correction: An earlier version of this post misspelled Lindsay Perkins’ name from the No. 4 plaintiffs’ verdict and and omitted the names of Erik Hansell, Tim Larkin and Kate Dickenson from the No. 3 defense verdict. We regret the errors.