Sarah Ruane is a partner and Chair of the Litigation Management Committee at the Kansas City-based Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP.  Sarah has served as trial counsel, including lead counsel, in 10 jury trials in federal and state court, nearly all of which were cases involving drugs, medical devices, and health care services.  As Chair of her firm’s Litigation Management Committee, she assigns and manages teams of lawyers and staff for all of the firm’s national mass tort and class action cases to ensure optimal, efficient performance for the firm’s clients.

Sarah has gained broad experience in pharmaceutical and medical device cases under the supervision and leadership of Tom Cartmell, who has served as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel and co-lead trial counsel in several large MDLs that resolved successfully.  Sarah worked extensively on trials and in discovery over the past decade in the national Pelvic Mesh Repair System Products Liability Litigation, which included In Re: C.R. Bard, Inc., MDL No. 2187; In Re: American Medical Systems, Inc., MDL No. 2325; In Re: Boston Scientific Corp., MDL No. 2326; and In Re: Ethicon, Inc., MDL No. 2327.  In these cases, Sarah assisted in general causation expert reports, briefed and argued Daubert motions, defended case-specific depositions and deposed case-specific physician, sales representative and expert witnesses.  Sarah also second-chaired the first (and only) pelvic mesh jury trial against the defendant Coloplast, which resulted in a $2.5 million verdict for the plaintiff.

In the National Opioid MDL No. 2084, Sarah helped build the liability case against the Teva defendants.  She performed all aspects of discovery in the MDL, from ESI negotiation and document review to taking depositions of corporate witnesses.  She also represented Buchanan County, Missouri, which had one of the highest rates of opioid prescriptions in the country.

Sarah’s entire career has been with Wagstaff & Cartmell, which has grown during her tenure to 34 attorneys and 52 other employees.  The firm handles complex litigation nationwide in the areas of product liability, consumer fraud, class actions, antitrust, corporate malfeasance, professional liability, and representation of public entities.

Sarah is a current member of the District of Kansas Bench-Bar Committee.  In this role, she works with six sitting judges from the District of Kansas to study and consider the Rules of the Court and serves as a liaison among the court, its bar and the public.  Sarah has previously served on the Board of Directors for the Lawyers Association of Kansas City – Young Lawyers Section and Lawyers Encouraging Academic Performance.  Sarah received her undergraduate degree in Spanish and Sociology from Wake Forest University in 2003.  She graduated from The University of Kansas School of Law in 2006.  She speaks frequently at seminars which focus on trial advocacy.