Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC

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Latest from Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC - Page 9

For the fifth year in a row, Baker Sterchi attorneys Paul Venker and Teresa Young have earned recognition on Missouri Lawyers Media’s POWER List of Appellate Attorneys.
The POWER List features the most powerful appellate attorneys in Missouri as identified by the Missouri Lawyers Media editorial team after reviewing published appellate opinions, interviewing attorneys and other leaders around the state, and examining Missouri Lawyers Weekly archives.
Venker’s practice has always focused on trials and appeals. He has taken dozens of trials to verdict in a variety of cases ranging from employment discrimination and medical malpractice to product liability and other…
Continue Reading Paul Venker and Teresa Young Recognized on 2025 MLM POWER List of Appellate Attorneys

Baker Sterchi Member Gregorio Silva has been selected to join the board of the Hispanic Bar Association of Greater Kansas City (HBAGKC) as a social media coordinator for the 2025 term.
Silva co-chairs Baker Sterchi’s Financial Services Practice Group and has a diverse civil litigation practice defending clients in the financial services, transportation and propane industries. He is a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellows Program alumnus and serves on Baker Sterchi’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. He is also a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association.
Based in the firm’s Kansas City office, Silva earned his law degree…
Continue Reading Gregorio Silva Selected to Join HBAGKC Board as Social Media Coordinator

Lindsey Freihoff joins Baker Sterchi as an associate in the firm’s Kansas City office. Her practice focuses on insurance defense, personal injury, premises liability, municipal liability, employment law, professional malpractice and first-party claims.
Freihoff is an active member of several local and state bar associations, including the Kansas Bar Association, where she serves on the Board of Editors for the Kansas Bar Journal, and the Johnson County Bar Association, where she is a member of the Young Lawyers Division, among others.
She earned her law degree summa cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she…
Continue Reading Lindsey Freihoff Joins Baker Sterchi in Kansas City

On Feb. 27, Baker Sterchi attorney Michelle Meloche will co-present at the American Health Law Association’s (AHLA) virtual webinar, “Walking the Tightrope: When Politics and Health Care Collide.” The webinar will examine how to identify political issues that may arise in the workplace, consider stakeholders at all levels (leadership, employees, patients and medical staff), and navigate legal guardrails related to speech in health care settings.
Meloche represents health care providers, often defending against medical malpractice claims. In addition to her involvement in AHLA, she chairs the Professional Liability Defense Federation’s Healthcare Liability Committee and is a member of the American…
Continue Reading Michelle Meloche to Present at AHLA Webinar on Politics and Health Care

ABSTRACT: On March 8, 2025, a final rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) will become effective. The rule amends Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), to prohibit collection and reporting of consumer medical debt.

On January 7, 2025 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a final rule amending Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”); the new rule removes an exception to the FCRA which allowed the collecting and reporting of consumer medical debt information for credit eligibility determinations. The CFPB estimates that the new rule will impact the credit

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Continue Reading CFPB Issues New Rule Precluding Collection and Reporting of Consumer Medical Debt

Baker Sterchi member Greg Odom has been named to Law Bulletin Media’s Leading Lawyers in Illinois for his work in commercial litigation, insurance coverage and reinsurance law, products liability defense and toxic torts defense.
Odom, based in the firm’s Belleville office, is a trial attorney focusing on mass toxic tort and commercial litigation in Illinois and Missouri state and federal courts. He serves on the IDC Board of Directors and its Toxic Torts Committee and writes and edits for IDC’s Survey of Law. He also co-chairs Baker Sterchi’s Toxic Tort Practice Group.
Leading Lawyers are featured in Leading Lawyers Magazine,…
Continue Reading Greg Odom Selected to Law Bulletin Media 2025 Leading Lawyers

On Feb. 20, Baker Sterchi Member Nick Ruble will be a panelist at ALFA International’s Gig Economy Regional Seminar in Austin, Texas. The session, “Navigating the New 2025 Federal Administrative State and Predictions of State and Local Responses,” will explore regulatory changes under a new administration, including the potential impact of new regulators and increased state and local enforcement.
Ruble has extensive experience in employment and labor law. He serves as a steering committee member of ALFA’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, vice chair of Baker Sterchi’s Employment & Labor Practice Group and a member of the Society for Human…
Continue Reading Nick Ruble to Speak at ALFA Gig Economy Regional Seminar

ABSTRACT: As of January 1, 2025, Illinois employers must provide pay scale and benefit information for positions in job postings. Employers should also notify current employees of these opportunities for promotion.

In 2023, Illinois passed a pay transparency amendment to the Equal Pay Act which went into effect on January 1, 2025. To comply with this amendment, Illinois employers with 15 or more employees must provide information on compensation and benefits in certain job postings. Any job posting for a specific position that will be either completed in Illinois or report to a supervisor, work site, or management in Illinois

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Continue Reading Requirements of the New Illinois Pay Transparency Amendment

ABSTRACT: Missouri’s “points relied on” rule is often a pitfall for attorneys finding themselves in the position of drafting an appellate brief in the State, particularly for counsel not often litigating in the appellate courts or for out-of-town practitioners. In fact, Missouri is the only state that mandates attorneys lay out points to be raised on appeal in their arguments in a set, often rigid format. Deviations from the rule’s format can result in dismissal of the appeal. A group of two dozen of the State’s appellate practitioners, as well as several professional organizations, have asked the Missouri Supreme Court…
Continue Reading Missouri Appellate Practitioners Ask State's Highest Court to Change "Points Relied On" Rule for Appellate Briefs

ABSTRACT: The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the insurer, ruling no bad faith where the carrier promptly offered policy limits. The claimant’s subsequent demands for a 537.065 agreement were not sufficiently definite to constitute a “reasonable opportunity to settle.”

On December 3, 2024, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District affirmed the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of insurance carrier and against insured who was suing for bad faith failure to settle.
Within a few weeks of receiving notice of the claim, the carrier had offered policy limits to counsel for the injured party. Rather

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Continue Reading No Bad Faith Found where Carrier Promptly Offered Policy Limits and Subsequent Demands Were Not Sufficiently Definite

Baker Sterchi Members Kehl Friesen and Nick Ruble, both based in Kansas City, contributed to the Missouri section of the 2024 ALFA International (ALFA) Gig Economy Practice Group’s Compendium. Additionally, Ruble served as the editor of the compendium.
The Gig Economy Compendium is a single resource addressing key legal issues in the gig economy. Topics include transportation network company statutes, gig company liability for personal injury and arbitration in the gig economy. The Compendium is available online here, with the Missouri section here.
Ruble has extensive experience in employment and labor law. He serves as a steering committee…
Continue Reading Kehl Friesen and Nick Ruble Contribute to 2024 ALFA Gig Economy Compendium

ABSTRACT: In July 2024, the ABA released ethics guidelines regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) with a focus on competence, confidentiality, and candor to the tribunal. This post analyzes those guidelines and how, if at all, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois have addressed lawyers ethical obligations when using GAI.

The most common ethical obligations implicated when working with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) are (1) competence which includes understanding the risks/benefits of the GAI tool, (2) confidentiality which requires understanding the privacy policies of the GAI tool being used to protect client information and (3) candor to the tribunal which

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Continue Reading Exploring Generative AI Ethics in Illinois and the Broader Midwest

ABSTRACT: In July 2024, the ABA released ethics guidelines regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) with a focus on competence, confidentiality, and candor to the tribunal. This post analyzes those guidelines and how, if at all, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois have addressed lawyers ethical obligations when using GAI.

The most common ethical obligations implicated when working with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) are (1) competence which includes understanding the risks/benefits of the GAI tool, (2) confidentiality which requires understanding the privacy policies of the GAI tool being used to protect client information and (3) candor to the tribunal which

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Continue Reading Generative AI Ethics in Missouri and Beyond

ABSTRACT: In July 2024, the ABA released ethics guidelines regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) with a focus on competence, confidentiality, and candor to the tribunal. This post analyzes those guidelines and how, if at all, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois have addressed lawyers ethical obligations when using GAI.

The most common ethical obligations implicated when working with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) are (1) competence which includes understanding the risks/benefits of the GAI tool, (2) confidentiality which requires understanding the privacy policies of the GAI tool being used to protect client information and (3) candor to the tribunal which

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Continue Reading Guidelines on Generative AI Ethics for Kansas and Other Midwest States

On Jan. 14, Baker Sterchi Senior Attorney Andrew Chipperfield co-presented the session “Hot Topics: Overflow vs. Backup, Aggressive Contractors, Cosmetic Issues, Etc.” at the 2025 Missouri Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (MAMIC) Claims Seminar held in Columbia, Missouri.
Based in St. Louis, Chipperfield represents clients in cases involving personal injury, catastrophic and fatal claims, premises liability and commercial matters. He is a member of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis and has previously been recognized in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Chipperfield earned his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law and is licensed to practice…
Continue Reading Andrew Chipperfield Presents at MAMIC 2025 Claims Seminar