In an opinion handed down on January 27, the Supreme Court of Kansas affirmed a previous decision of the Court of Appeals reversing a judgment against a liability insurer. The plaintiff had taken a multi-million dollar judgment against the insured, who had only minimum coverage and assigned his claim against the insurer to the plaintiff. Following a bench trial, the District Court found that the insurer had breached its duty of good faith and reasonableness in allegedly failing to settle, thus causing the excess judgment. While refusing to hold the insurer owed no duty to the insured before the plaintiff…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Sides with Liability Insurer in Baker Sterchi's Appeal of Bad Faith Verdict

On February 9, Baker Sterchi Member Jackie Longfellow will present at a live virtual seminar on the topics of ADA accommodations, hiring and firing employees, and discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. The ”Missouri Employment Law 2023” seminar is presented by the National Business Institute, a continuing legal education provider.
The seminar will focus on current trends and best practices in employment law, from essential guidelines for accommodating employees to recent developments concerning non-compete and confidentiality agreements. Longfellow will discuss reference check considerations, discipline and termination dangers, burdens of proof, and more.
Longfellow focuses her practice on labor and employment matters.
Continue Reading Jackie Longfellow to Present at NBI Missouri Employment Law Seminar

Baker Sterchi recently obtained dismissal of an appeal from a summary judgment ruling in favor of its client, a telecommunications company. In December, the Circuit Court granted summary judgment in favor of Baker Sterchi’s client on the parties’ cross-motions for declaratory judgment on the interpretation of an LLC operating agreement. The Circuit Court found that the plain language of the operating agreement did not permit a minority LLC member to expel the other majority members. The Circuit Court had previously granted Baker Sterchi’s client a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction, prohibiting the opposing party from taking any actions in…
Continue Reading Baker Sterchi Obtains Dismissal of an Appeal of a Favorable Summary Judgment Ruling

Baker Sterchi recently obtained dismissal of all claims against its client, a publicly traded waste management and environmental services company, in a negligence and contractual indemnification action. The action arose out of a city street cave-in incident that plaintiff-employee alleged caused him permanent injuries for which he sought damages from the city. The city filed a third-party complaint asserting a contractual indemnification claim against Baker Sterchi’s client.  The client filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings and the city filed a motion for summary judgment regarding the city’s third-party claim.  The District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, held oral…
Continue Reading Baker Sterchi Obtains Dismissal for Waste Management and Environmental Services Company

In an area of law formerly left to the states, on January 5th, the Federal Trade Commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks to implement a nationwide retroactive ban on non-compete agreements, with limited exceptions. The proposed rule would supersede state laws that are less protective of employees.

Who does the proposed FTC rule apply to?
The rule would cover non-compete clauses with any worker, paid or unpaid, including employees, independent contractors, interns, externs, volunteers, apprentices, or sole proprietors. Under the rule, “employer” is broadly defined as “any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, including…
Continue Reading FTC Proposes Rule to Ban Non-Compete Agreements

Baker Sterchi Member Greg Odom’s article “Was Ford Motor Co. v. Mont. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct. Actually a Game-Changer for Toxic Tort Defendants?” was recently featured in an edition of the Illinois Defense Counsel Quarterly Magazine.
“When contesting specific jurisdiction, defense counsel should be mindful that the crux of the Ford holding is that the specific-injury causing product does not need to be purchased in the forum state for specific jurisdiction to exist,” Odom notes in the article. “After Ford, a strict causal relationship between the defendant’s forum state contacts and the plaintiff’s action may not be…
Continue Reading Greg Odom Toxic Tort Article Featured in IDC Quarterly Magazine

In a DJ action filed by a commercial liability carrier, an Illinois Appellate Court held that an insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify a self-employed driver who was operating his personal vehicle during the course and scope of employment. In the underlying negligence claim, the injured plaintiff alleged personal injury and property damage when a truck driven by the owner of a construction company struck the open door of her parked car as she was getting out. The owner’s truck was purchased by him in his own name and insured through his personal auto insurance. 
The owner’s construction company was a named insured on a CGL policy that defined…
Continue Reading No Liability Coverage for Company Owner Operating Personal Vehicle in Course and Scope of Employment (Illinois Court of Appeals)

Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice is pleased to welcome eighteen new attorneys in Kansas City and Springfield as part of its merger with Foland, Wickens, Roper, Hofer & Crawford, P.C., effective Jan. 1, 2023.
Joining as members in Kansas City are:

• Kevin Brooks, an insurance coverage and bad faith litigator. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
• Clay Crawford, a coverage, bad faith, and catastrophic defense litigator. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
• Scott Hofer, a trial attorney with a practice focused on the defense

…
Continue Reading Baker Sterchi Welcomes Eighteen New Attorneys from Foland Wickens

Our Kansas City office has an opportunity for an attorney with at least five years of experience in insurance coverage/bad faith litigation defense. View the job description here.
Continue Reading Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith Attorney, Kansas City

Our St. Louis office has an opportunity in our toxic tort defense practice group for an attorney with at least eight years of experience. View the job description here.
Continue Reading Toxic Tort Attorney, St. Louis

The Illinois Defense Counsel (IDC) recently published an article written by Baker Sterchi attorney Branden Brooks about his experience as a lawyer with a speech impediment. The article, “Diversity Comes in all Shapes, Sizes, and Silence” appears in the 2022 Fourth Quarter edition of the IDC Quarterly Magazine.
“I have had a speech impediment since childhood,” Brooks notes in the article, adding that “disabilities may not always be apparent at first glance or may be undetectable all together.” He added that the goal of any workplace should be to create an environment where everyone feels welcome to be…
Continue Reading IDC Publishes Diversity and Inclusion Article by Branden Brooks

Baker Sterchi recently obtained a favorable, complete defense judgment at trial for a real estate firm client and its independent contractor, a Missouri licensed real estate agent, on claims of misrepresentation filed against them in Missouri state court. In the suit, a home buyer alleged that the clients, a listing agent and broker, as well as a co-defendant seller of the home, knew of but failed to disclose several purported material defects in the home prior to the sale. After a bench trial, the Court found that the there was no evidence that the client had superior knowledge as compared…
Continue Reading Defense Judgment Obtained in Real Estate Misrepresentation Matter