Rob Chandler is an effective litigation attorney successfully representing individual, institutional, and corporate clients for over 15 years. He has represented clients at all phases of litigation, including pre-suit assessment and negotiation, ADR, trial and at the appellate level. He has successfully defended cases involving consumer products, premises liability, asbestos and toxic tort claims, complex contract disputes, motor vehicle and trucking liability, and construction and surety claims. He actively practices in state and federal courts in both Missouri and Illinois. Rob also assists locally owned and national corporations and business entities in complex commercial and employment litigation.  He is an active member of several legal associations.

Memberships & Activities

• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
  • Bench Bar Meeting Planning Committee (2015-2016)
  • Missouri High School Mock Trial Competition (Volunteer coach, 2015)
• Claims and Litigation Management Alliance
• Defense Research Institute
  • Fidelity & Surety Committee
  • Missouri State Recruitment Team
• Illinois State Bar Association
• Lawyers Association of St. Louis
• Missouri Bar
• Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers
  • Judicial Luncheon Committee
• Mortgage Bankers Association

News & Events

Join Rob Chandler at IPSLP's 2016 Product Safety & Liability Conference

02.11.16 | Join Baker Sterchi Member, Rob Chandler, at the 12th Annual IPSLP Association Product Safety & Liability Conference being held May 11-12 at the Donald E. Stevens (Rosemont) Convention Center, Chicago O'Hare. The conference features presentations by a wide variety of professionals with experience in...

Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Promotes Attorneys to Member Status

01.11.16 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC announce that Robert F. Chandler and Jonathan E. Benevides have been elected to Member status effective January 1, 2016.

• Crow v. Crawford

  259 S.W.3d 104 (Mo.App.E.D. 2008)
   
  

• Missouri Department of Transportation ex rel. On Point Contractors, LLC v. Aura Contracting, LLC, et al.

  391 S.W.3d 11 (Mo.App. E.D. 2012)
  

Results

Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Wins Defense Verdict in Asbestos-Related Matter

After a week-long trial in a St. Louis area court,Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice won a defense verdict for a flooring subcontractor client in an asbestos-related case in which our client was sued by its general contractor for $1.2 million in damages...

Blog Posts

Eastern District Missouri Court of Appeals Overturns Talc Verdict

11.20.19 | The Appellate Court overturned the verdict for an out of state plaintiff for lack of personal jurisdiction against defendants. Key to the determination was whether the original judgment entered by the trial court was a final appealable judgment.

Does Obesity Qualify as a Disability Under the ADA? – The Courts are Divided

08.12.19 | A recent 7th Circuit case rules that obesity, without an underlying physiological cause, is not "regarded as" a disability under the ADA. However, jurisdictions nationwide appear to be split on the issue.

From the East to the West, Does Arbitration in Missouri Reign Best? Missouri Courts Uphold and Invalidate Arbitration Agreements

06.25.19 | Missouri has continued to hold that arbitration agreements are not unconscionable when they are shown to have valid mutual assent and are not self-serving.

Court Awards Nearly Twenty Times Damages in Illinois Wage Payment Act Case

05.28.19 | The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District affirmed an award of attorney's fees nearly twenty times the amount of damages awarded.

A Passive Website Is Insufficient to Confer Personal Jurisdiction in Missouri

12.20.18 | The Supreme Court of Missouri recognizes that there are limits to the exercise of "long arm" jurisdiction, where an out-of-state defendant has conducted minimal business within the State.

North Carolina Court Finds Employer's Negligence to Be Superseding, Sole Proximate Cause of Asbestos Plaintiff's Injuries

02.07.18 | The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upholds judgment in favor of a vendor of asbestos products. Although the vendor was found to be negligent and this negligence was found to be an initial proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries, under North Carolina law the...

"Reasonable Attorney's Fees" Awarded On a Missouri Merchandising Practices Act Claim May Not Be Limited By a Plaintiff's Contingency Fee Agreement With Counsel

01.05.18 | The Missouri Court of Appeals remands a case for further consideration of an award of attorney's fees under the MMPA, R.S. Mo. § 407.193.

Choice of Venue Provision Upheld in Employment Contract

12.28.17 | The Missouri Supreme Court enforced a forum selection clause in an employment contract, holding that contract disputes between the parties could only be brought in Johnson County, Kansas.

Court of Appeals Affirms that At-Will Employment Is Not Sufficient Consideration for an Arbitration Agreement, Refuses to Change Law

12.14.17 | The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Southern District upholds denial of an employer's motion to compel arbitration ruling that at-will employment is insufficient consideration to support an arbitration agreement and denying employer's request to find that, in accordance with federal policy, at-will employment should be sufficient consideration for an arbitration agreement.

The Eighth Circuit Applies Recent U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Spokeo to Affirm Dismissal

10.14.16 | The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit affirms a motion to dismiss, ruling that a plaintiff alleging a statutory violation must establish a "concrete injury."

Montreal Convention Developments: Accident While Walking to Customs Does Not Satisfy Requirement of Occurrence During "Operations of Disembarking"

08.28.15 | The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana rules that, after disembarking from an aircraft, where there is no evidence of airline control over a passenger walking to customs in a corridor of the terminal, the plaintiff passenger fails to establish the "disembarking" element for tort claims against airlines pursuant to the Montreal Convention, Article 17(1).

Proposed Bill Would Eliminate Third-Class Medical Requirement for Some Private and Recreational Flights

08.10.15 | Currently pending before Congress is a bill that could streamline or eliminate medical requirements for private and recreational pilots in limited situations.

Sluggerrr Can Still Swing Away

07.06.15 | A Jackson County, Missouri jury finds that neither Sluggerrr, the mascot for the Kansas City Royals, nor a fan that alleged he was injured by virtue of Sluggerrr tossing a stray hot dog into the stands, was at fault for any injuries the fan may have incurred in the incident.

Some Inequality between the Parties to an Arbitration Agreement Does Not Render it Unconscionable When the Contract as a Whole Is Supported by Sufficient Mutual Consideration

06.16.15 | The Supreme Court rules that an arbitration agreement in a sales agreement is not unconscionable where a vendor retains the right to proceed in Court on some claims it may have, while requiring the purchaser to bring all claims in arbitration, so long as the contract as a whole is supported by sufficient consideration and the purchases is not prevented from bringing defenses if claims are made in Court.

The Missouri Supreme Court Invalidates an Employment Contract Arbitration Clause for Lack of Consideration

10.30.14 | The Missouri Supreme Court recently sustained the trial court'sdenial of an employer's motion to compel arbitration in the case of Carla Baker v. Bristol Care, Inc. d/b/a Bristol Manor, et al., No. SC93451.

The Missouri Supreme Court Rules That Parties May Have a Duty as a "Joint Employer" With Its Contractors Pursuant to the Missouri Minimum Wage Law

09.19.14 | Individuals and businesses relying upon contractors to provide labor services may be exposing themselves to liability if these contractors fail to pay their employees in accordance with the Missouri Minimum Wage Law.

Changes in Missouri Procedural Requirements for Preservation of Error on Appeal Have Potential Pitfalls

10.15.13 | Having amended its rules on the preservation of error on appeal in 2012, the Missouri Supreme Court was apparently concerned that practitioners "didn't get the memo". The newly amended MAI contains a "malpractice warning", highlighting these changes to the law.