The POWER List 2023: John C. Aisenbrey

Stinson, Kansas City

Hallmark Cards returns to John Aisenbrey for defense again and again.

In 2013, he won a $31.3 million verdict on its behalf against an investment firm that had allegedly misappropriated trade secrets. In 2019, Hallmark hired him again after a New Jersey wholesaler claimed to own rights to the phrases “Hallmark Diamonds” and “Hallmark Rings.”

Aisenbrey represented entities of Ancestry.com against an attempted class action over private health information allegedly released without permission. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District diverted the claims to arbitration in 2019.

Aisenbrey earned his law degree from Georgetown University in 1977 before serving as an assistant U.S. attorney.

He set a brief precedent in his representation of accounting firm Mayer Hoffman McCann in a professional negligence case. In 2010, the Western District allowed the firm to claim contributory negligence, where a plaintiff who is partially at fault can’t recover damages. The Missouri Supreme Court reversed the decision in 2011.