News & Events
08.20.20 | Twenty Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers are recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© 2021 across numerous practice areas.
11.15.19 | Nineteen Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys have been named to the 2019 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists. The named attorneys include...
11.01.19 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice has been recognized with national and metropolitan rankings in U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms 2020. Rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, and peer review from leading attorneys in their field. Receiving a tier designation reflects the high level of respect a firm has earned among other leading lawyers and clients in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, professionalism and integrity.
08.20.19 | Fourteen Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers have been recognized in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© across numerous practice areas.
06.13.19 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Member John Mahon Jr., has been admitted to the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys (ADTA) as one of only thirteen Missouri members. Established nearly 80 years ago, the ADTA is comprised of civil defense trial attorneys in...
02.26.19 | Missouri Lawyers Weekly has identified a matter defended by Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Member John Mahon as a 2018 Top Verdict for the Defense in Missouri. With claimed damages of over...
11.15.18 | Nineteen Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys have been recognized in the 2018 edition of Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers and Rising Stars...
08.15.18 | Fourteen Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers have been recognized in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® across numerous practice areas.
Results
In this medical negligence/wrongful death suit involving allegations that a patient died in the hospital from an opioid pain medication overdose, the trial court granted judgment on the pleadings in our clients' favor in plaintiff's re-filed suit on grounds that...
In this medical negligence case involving allegations that a patient was dropped or mishandled on one or more occasion, causing significant injuries to her right femur and patella, the trial court dismissed the plaintiff's re-filed survival claim against our hospital client on statute of limitations grounds. On appeal, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District...
In a trial win reported by Missouri Lawyers Weekly (Volume 33, Number 7, February 18, 2019) as a 2018 Missouri Top Defense Verdict, an eight-person jury deliberated for four hours after a five-day federal court trial in the Eastern District of Missouri, unanimously siding with our hospital client and an emergency room physician sued for medical malpractice by a teenager who suffered a severe bacterial infection after a piece of a broken stick remained lodged in his leg.
In a medical negligence case arising from a month-long hospitalization and significant brain injury, the trial court dismissed the case against our hospital client due to plaintiff's counsel's failure to timely re-file it after a voluntary dismissal. On appeal, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District...
In a medical negligence case arising from postoperative care and treatment following ankle surgery, plaintiff alleged negligent failure to timely diagnose and treat an ankle joint infection that left her with permanent and painful injuries after multiple surgical procedures and lengthy hospitalizations to treat the infection.
Blog Posts
07.30.20 | On July 1, 2020, Governor Mike Parson signed Senate Bill 591 (SB 591). The new law states it will apply to all suits filed on or after August 28, 2020. SB 591 makes significant changes to the framework for punitive damages in tort actions filed in Missouri state courts or filed in other courts but based on Missouri state law tort claims.
05.05.20 | As the U.S. deals with COVID-19, there are already signs of concern for our healthcare providers being attacked in the future. In part three of our series of blog articles delving into potential dangers for healthcare providers related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, we consider the American Medical Association's push for states to pursue liability protections for healthcare professionals.
04.23.20 | Long-term care facilities face many challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be yet another significant challenge for these facilities. What can long-term care facilities do to prepare for potential litigation or avoid it altogether?
02.25.20 | In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Missouri, in Thomas E. Tharp, et al. v. St. Luke's Surgicenter-Lee's Summit, LLC, overturned a $2.3M verdict and granted a new trial after the unusual step of holding a rehearing and vacating an earlier opinion.
10.30.19 | In Eoff v. McDonald, the Supreme Court of Missouri upheld a St. Louis County circuit judge's refusal to allow plaintiffs' counsel additional time during jury selection to ask the "insurance question", after counsel forgot to do so earlier when it was his turn to question potential jurors. The decision hinged on...
06.12.19 | In Thomas E. Tharp, et al. v. St. Luke's Surgicenter – Lee's Summit, LLC, the Supreme Court of Missouri overturned a $2.3 million jury verdict in favor of a patient and his wife against a hospital, because there was no proof the hospital negligently credentialed a surgeon.
02.21.19 | In State ex rel. Mylan Bertek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Vincent, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, held that, in a case alleging wrongful death, medical malpractice, and pharmaceutical liability, venue was proper only in the county where the decedent first ingested opioid pain medication, rather than the county where a defendant prescribed it.
08.06.18 | In Ferder v. Scott, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District (opinion authored by Judge Robert G. Dowd, Jr.). reversed a trial court's dismissal of a medical malpractice lawsuit for failure to comply with the affidavit of merit requirement in s. 538.225, RSMo.
11.08.16 | The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, affirmed a trial court's dismissal of a lawsuit as being time-barred. The court held that the plaintiff could not rely on an earlier lawsuit and Missouri's "savings" statute because the earlier suit was brought by an improper plaintiff who lacked standing.
11.08.16 | The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, reversed a trial court's order dismissing an action on the grounds that an ingredient list label was a complete legal defense to a claim for deceptive merchandising practices because the consumer could not reasonably be deceived or misled by the packaging. The court held that the presence of an ingredient list label on a product is not an absolute defense, though it may be used as evidence in support of a defense at trial.
11.01.16 | The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed a trial court's order permitting the deposition of a plaintiff expert witness on the grounds that, by designating the expert, the plaintiff had waived the work product privilege. The Court held that designating an expert witness pursuant to Rule 56.01 does not, standing alone, irrevocably waive the work product privilege. The case provides guidance to...
08.05.16 | We recently noted new media reports raising patient privacy concerns due to health care providers' use of social media in the workplace. It appears the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") has also taken note of media reports on this topic. CMS has issued new guidance to state survey agency directors in an effort to safeguard patient privacy and prevent abuse related to photos or audio/visual recordings by nursing home staff.
08.05.16 | Lately, there have been numerous reports in the media raising patient privacy concerns due to healthcare providers' use of social media in the workplace. Employers, regulators and even law makers and law enforcement are taking very seriously these new types of privacy concerns spawned by emerging and evolving social media platforms, and they are becoming more aggressive in pursuing such cases
04.19.16 | The Supreme Court of Missouri, en banc, vacated a trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a physician and remanded the case, because the allegations in the petition stated a cause of action for medical negligence that would have been actionable under sec. 537.020, RSMo (Missouri's "survivorship" statute) if brought by the patient's personal representative.
10.13.15 | The Supreme Court of Missouri, en banc, affirmed a trial court's decision to dismiss a wrongful death action premised on medical malpractice because the plaintiffs failed to file the health care affidavit required by § 538.225, RSMo.
06.16.15 | The Supreme Court of Missouri, en banc, reversed a trial court order setting aside a default judgment against an insurer, based on improper service/absence of personal jurisdiction, because the plaintiffs properly served the insurer via the Director of the Missouri Department of Insurance, pursuant to § 375.906, RSMo. This case is significant for insurers because…
05.26.15 | The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed a trial court decision dismissing a plaintiff's medical negligence action, without prejudice, for failure to comply with §538.225, RSMo, the statute requiring a medical malpractice plaintiff to file an affidavit stating plaintiff has obtained a written opinion from a qualified health care provider in support of the claim's merit.
04.28.15 | Missouri, en banc, affirmed a trial court's decision to dismiss a plaintiff's foreign-object medical malpractice claim against a health care provider for leaving foreign objects in the patient's abdomen during surgery almost 14 years earlier.
12.09.14 | In a matter of first impression, the Supreme Court of Missouri, en banc, affirmed a decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, holding in Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Addison Ins. Co., et al., that an excess insurer may recover on a theory of equitable subrogation amounts contributed from an excess policy as a result of a primary insurer's bad faith failure to settle a claim within policy limits.
12.25.13 | In Columbia Casualty, the Supreme Court of Missouri held that statutory damages for violations of the TCPA were firmly within the "property damage" and "advertising injury" coverage provided by a CGL policy. The Court rejected an argument that TCPA statutory damages are considered fines or penalties precluded from coverage under a CGL policy, abrogating Olsen v. Siddiqi.
10.01.13 | In a matter of first impression, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, held in Scottsdale Insurance Company v. Addison Insurance Company, et al., that an excess insurer may recover on a theory of equitable subrogation amounts contributed from an excess policy as a result of the primary insurer's bad faith failure to settle a claim within policy limits.
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