Plantiff News

Wagstaff & Cartmell attorney, Diane Watkins, successfully defended an OB/GYN in a jury trial involving a brachial plexus injury at birth, which was recognized as one of the top defense verdicts in 2007 by Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly.

At the conclusion of trial, Jon Kieffer, Vanessa Gross and Adam Davis obtained a $6,723,021.00 damages award on behalf of the family of a young woman who had been killed in a two-vehicle collision. The case was filed by the surviving husband on behalf of himself and their three young children. The defendants in the case were the driver of the other vehicle, as well as the driver’s parents and their oil company. Wagstaff & Cartmell successfully argued that the other driver was negligent in the operation of his vehicle at the time of the collision.

The attorneys prevailed on their assertion that the other driver’s parents, who owned the vehicle, were negligent for allowing him to drive their car because they knew or should have known of his driving record. They made a successful claim that the parents’ oil company should be held liable because the accident occurred while the driver was in the course and scope of work for the company. As a result, they succeeded on all claims: Negligence, negligent entrustment, agency, and alter ego. Survival, wrongful death, and Wentling damages were awarded.

The $6,723,021.00 award is believed to be the largest reported compensatory damages award in a wrongful death case tried in Kansas, the largest reported negligent entrustment award in Kansas, and the largest reported “alter-ego” damages award in the state of Kansas.

Plaintiff’s verdict against the City of Kansas City, Missouri, on behalf of the family of Chen Pei, a 20-year old student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, who was tragically hit by a car.

Received one of the top-five plaintiffs’ verdicts in the State of Missouri in 2007 – $3.02 million verdict in Platte County, Missouri, while representing a plaintiff in a nursing home abuse action.