News & Events
11.15.21 | Twenty-two Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys are recognized in the 2021 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers and Rising Stars publication.
08.19.21 | Twenty-one Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers are recognized in 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© across numerous practice areas.
08.19.21 | The 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© has recognized John Cowden as the Kansas City "Lawyer of the Year" in the practice area of aviation law.
07.14.21 | Baker Sterchi attorneys John Cowden and Tom Sterchi have been recognized as leaders in defending product liability claims in Who's Who Legal: Product Liability Defence 2021.
06.15.21 | Baker Sterchi is recognized as a top Independent Arbitrator in 2021 Missouri Lawyers Media Reader Rankings for the third year in a row.
05.20.21 | The 2021 edition of Chambers USA, a guide to the top law firms and lawyers in the United States, recognizes Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice as a leader in general commercial litigation in Kansas City and surrounding areas and St. Louis and surrounding areas. Three Baker Sterchi attorneys earned individual recognition.
11.16.20 | Nineteen Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys are recognized in the 2020 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers and Rising Stars publication. The recognized attorneys include...
08.20.20 | Twenty Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers are recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© 2021 across numerous practice areas.
06.19.20 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Members John Cowden and Tom Sterchi are included as leaders in the defense of product liability claims in the 2020 Global Guide of Who's Who Legal: Product Liability Defence.
05.04.20 | The 2020 edition of Chambers USA, a guide to the top law firms and lawyers in the United States, recognizes Baker Sterchi as a leader in general commercial litigation in Kansas City and surrounding areas and names three Baker Sterchi attorneys as leaders in individual 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 lawyers have been recognized in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© across numerous practice areas.
06.19.19 | Baker Sterchi Members Thomas Sterchi and John Cowden have been recognized as leaders in defending product liability claims in Who's Who Legal: Product Liability Defence 2019. The guide includes a total of 593 practitioners from 32 countries around the globe, each recognized for...
04.30.19 | The 2019 edition of the Chambers Guide to the Top Lawyers and Law Firms in the USA (Chambers USA) recognizes Baker Sterchi and attorneys John Cowden and Paul Venker as a leader in general commercial litigation.
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.
05.29.18 | Missouri Lawyers Weekly has recognized Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorney John Cowden as a 2018 ICON Award recipient. Cowden is one of 25 attorneys from around the state to receive the award, which honors...
05.15.18 | The 2018 edition of Who's Who Legal: Product Liability Defence recognizes Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys Tom Sterchi and John Cowden as leaders in defending product liability claims.
05.08.18 | The 2018 edition of Chambers USA recognizes Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice as a leading firm and John Cowden as a leading attorney in the category of General Commercial Litigation – Kansas City & Surrounds.
11.15.17 | Eight Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys have been recognized in the 2017 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers and Rising Stars publication.
10.12.17 | the Kansas City Business Journal has named John Cowden to its 2017 "Best of the Bar" list recognizing top attorneys in the area.
08.16.17 | Seven Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers have been recognized in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®...
06.07.17 | The 2017 edition of Chambers USA has recognized Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice and firm attorneys as leaders in the category of Litigation: General Commercial – Kansas City & Surrounds.
11.03.16 | Eight Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2016 Edition of Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers...
08.15.16 | Six Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers are included in the 2017 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America...
06.03.16 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice has been recognized by Chambers & Partners in Chambers USA 2016 (Litigation: General Commercial – Kansas City & Surrounds) for its good reputation in defending insurance, product liability and class action matters, as well as for
10.12.15 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC is pleased to announce that seven lawyers have been named to the 2015 Edition of Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers...
08.17.15 | Four Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice lawyers are recognized in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America...
10.09.14 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC is pleased to announce that seven lawyers have been named to the 2014 Edition of Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers. . .
10.09.14 | John Cowden has been selected to the 2014 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Top 100 and Kansas City Area Top 50 Lists. . .
08.18.14 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC is pleased to announce that four lawyers have been named to the 2015 Edition of Best Lawyers in America.
01.16.14 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice has named Thomas N. Sterchi and John W. Cowden as Co-Chairmen and James Scott Kreamer as Managing Member of the firm.
10.14.13 | John Cowden, David Eisenberg, Scott Kreamer, Patrick Lysaught, Hal Meltzer, Thomas Rice, Shawn Rogers and Thomas Sterchi have been named to the 2013 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers List.
10.14.13 | John Cowden has been named to the 2013 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Top 100 List. Super Lawyers recognizes lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
08.15.13 | John Cowden has been selected for inclusion in the 2014 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Lawyers are chosen for inclusion in the publication based solely on the vote of their peers. Cowden was selected for inclusion in the practice areas of Aviation Law, Commercial Litigation, and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants.
07.15.13 | John Cowden and James T. Seigfreid have been recognized in the 2013 edition of Chambers and Partners USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business Guide for their work in general commercial litigation in the Kansas City and surrounding areas. . .
07.08.13 | Tom Sterchi and John Cowden have been selected to The International Who's Who of Product Liability Defence Lawyers 2013. . .
12.17.12 | BSCR has been recognized as one of the 2013 Top Ranked Law Firms in the United States for having at least one-third of all firm attorneys rated AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ are an evaluation of a lawyer's ethical standards and professional ability, generated from evaluations of lawyers by other members of the bar and the judiciary in the United States and Canada. . .
11.16.12 | John Cowden was one of several attorneys that spoke at a recent Class Action Conference in Tennessee. Cowden spoke on class action developments and trends in Missouri, including developments in settlements, e-discovery, attorney fee awards, and consumer fraud act decisions with an emphasis on significant automotive lawsuits.
11.01.12 | John Cowden, James Scott Kreamer, and Thomas Sterchi have been selected for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Lawyers are chosen for inclusion in the publication based solely on the vote of their peers. . .
10.19.12 | John Cowden, David Eisenberg, James Jarrow, Patrick Lysaught, Thomas Rice, Thomas Sterchi, and Kara Stubbs have been named to the 2012 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers List. The Super Lawyers publication recognizes lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. . .
10.19.12 | John Cowden has been named to the 2012 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Top 100 List. Super Lawyers recognizes lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. . .
10.19.12 | John Cowden has been named to the 2012 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Kansas City Area Top 50 List. Super Lawyers recognizes lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. . .
07.09.12 | John Cowden and Thomas Sterchi have been recognized as leading product liability defense attorneys in the 2012 edition of Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Product Liability Defense Lawyers. The Who’s Who Legal publication selects recipients based upon comprehensive, independent survey work with both general counsel and private practice lawyers worldwide.
06.25.12 | John Cowden and James T. Seigfreid have been recognized in the 2012 edition of Chambers and Partners USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business Guide. Chambers USA ranks leading firms and lawyers in numerous practice areas throughout the United States, utilizing a team of 100 highly qualified full-time researchers to conduct thousands of interviews with lawyers and their clients worldwide. . .
04.27.12 | BSCR attorneys John Cowden and Tom Sterchi have been recognized in the 2012 Guide to the World's Leading Litigation Lawyers as pre-eminent figures in global product liability litigation law. Cowden and Sterchi were both recognized in the 2010 Guide, which is printed every two years.
04.27.12 | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Executive Director Karen Griggs has served as the President of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) for the last year. ALA is the largest international association of professionals involved in the management of law firms, corporate legal departments and government legal agencies, with nearly 10,000 members in 30 countries. . .
12.20.11 | John Cowden, David Eisenberg, James Jarrow, Patrick Lysaught, Thomas Rice, James T. Seigfreid, Thomas Sterchi and Kara Trouslot Stubbs were listed in the 2011 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Magazine. Additionally, Shawn Rogers and Caroline Tinsley were listed on the list of Rising Stars (attorneys who are 40 years old and younger or have been in practice 10 years or less). . .
10.04.11 | Tom Sterchi and John Cowden were both selected for inclusion in the 2011 edition of “The International Who's Who of Product Liability Defence Lawyers” published by Who’s Who Legal.
10.04.11 | John Cowden and Tom Sterchi have been selected as U.S. News 2011-2012 “Best Lawyers.” Cowden ws selected in the area of Commercial Litigation and Sterchi in the area of Product Liability Litigation.
09.19.11 | As the firm's liaison with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice Member John Cowden attended the LCLD's Second Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, DC., September 14-16. The LCLD was formed in 2009 and is...
09.24.10 | John Cowden and Tom Sterchi are included in Legal Media Group's 2010 "Product Liability Expert Guide". Only 18 Missouri attorneys are included in the guide, which is described by Legal Media Group as an indispensable source of guidance for in-house counsel in large corporations worldwide. . .
07.13.10 | John Cowden and Tom Seigfreid are included in the 2010 edition of Chambers USA. The publication praises John as a "very smart and effective practitioner" and Tom as a "much admired expert" on complex products liability and warranty litigation. . .
Results
Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, working with our client's national counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell, obtained dismissal of a case filed by the State of Missouri, which sought more than $1 billion in damages. The Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis held that the state environmental claims were preempted by the "clear language" of the federal Clean Air Act.
In a Missouri Merchandising Practices Act case in which the plaintiff class alleged that our automotive client had engaged in misrepresentation when it described certain vehicles as luxury or premium vehicles (among other similar statements), when...
In this Lawrence County, Missouri wrongful death airplane crash action, plaintiff’s allegations of failure to warn, breach of express warranty and breach of implied warranty against our aircraft component part manufacturing client were rejected by the court in favor of BSCR’s argument that the statute of limitations had expired and plaintiff had failed to state a claim, resulting in a no-payment dismissal of the action.
In this St. Louis City action, plaintiff’s decedent was killed in a motor vehicle accident when a stolen vehicle collided into decedent’s vehicle. Plaintiff alleged that the driver of the vehicle was being pursued by police at the time of the crash, including a county helicopter operated by a pilot officer. BSCR obtained ...
In a class action brought by plaintiffs in Missouri state court, alleging certain vehicles had defective dashboards, and that our automotive client misrepresented the vehicles to consumers, the Circuit Court of Jackson County originally certified a Missouri class, for claims under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act and breach of express warranty and implied warranty.
BSCR’s health care services company client and another defendant were sued in Kansas Federal Court in 2012 by a competitor alleging antitrust tying and exclusive dealing.
In this Western District of Missouri product liability wrongful death action involving a plane crash in Australia with 14 fatalities, a third-party action for contribution was filed against our component part manufacturing client by one of the defendants to the action. Upon that defendant’s settlement with plaintiff, BSCR secured ...
In this action, survivors of a commercial airline crash in Chile filed numerous claims in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas for physical and emotional damages alleging the crash was caused by a defective deicing system. BSCR obtained a dismissal of all claims against our client, a deicing component part manufacturer, following minimal discovery and mediation with no payment by our client.
BSCR successfully procured the dismissal of our component part manufacturing client in an action involving claimed defects in a component part allegedly causing the crash of a single engine aircraft and death of the pilot. The no-payment dismissal was procured by BSCR in this Rutherford County, Tennessee case prior to the close of discovery.
BSCR obtained summary judgment for our client, the manufacturer of a GPS system, in a wrongful death product liability action filed in Jefferson County, Missouri. Plaintiff alleged the manufacturer's GPS unit, which was mounted to the interior of a truck windshield at the time of the fatal accident, caused a dangerous windshield obstruction. . .
BSCR obtained summary judgment in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri in a $1 million declaratory judgment and equitable contribution action brought against an insurance client (the professional liability E&O insurer for an elevator inspector whose negligent inspection of a grain mill manlift resulted in the death of a firefighter) by another insurer (the CGL insurer for the elevator inspector). The summary judgment in favor of our client was affirmed on appeal.
BSCR negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of our client, an international airport, in an action filed in Platte County, Missouri in which plaintiff, an airline passenger, alleged injuries sustained due to dangerous property conditions at the airport.
In this Baltimore County, Maryland action plaintiffs alleged an avionics product caused the crash of a single engine aircraft resulting in multiple deaths. BSCR obtained a no payment dismissal of all claims against our client, an aircraft component part manufacturer, before the close of discovery.
A favorable settlement was achieved for our client in a wrongful death plane crash action filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Plaintiffs alleged a defective deicing system caused a crash near Moscow, Russia resulting in multiple deaths. . .
A favorable settlement was obtained in a Franklin County, Missouri case involving wrongful deaths due to an airplane crash alleged to have been caused by engine failure on takeoff. Although a multi-million dollar jury verdict was entered, the claims against our aircraft engine manufacturing client were dismissed before trial due to the successful negotiation of a settlement for a nominal payment by our client.
BSCR obtained a jury verdict on behalf of a commercial airline in a discrimination case filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Plaintiffs, two passengers on the flight, filed discrimination claims against our client for statements made by a flight attendant. . .
BSCR secured dismissal of our client, a hydraulics system product supplier, in a case in which plaintiffs sued multiple parties alleging mechanical defects in the hydraulic system of a jet airliner causing the crash and death of all passengers and crewmembers. The case, filed in Cook County, Illinois, included mechanical, electrical and hydraulic engineering issues. . .
BSCR obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of a helicopter part manufacturer in a case filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in which plaintiff alleged a defectively designed helicopter component part resulted in the crash of a medical emergency helicopter. BSCR's defense of the case was based on pilot error due to flying in foggy conditions.
BSCR's defense of a life flight medical service provider in a Jackson County, Missouri action resulted in summary judgment for our client. In this action, plaintiff alleged a defective turbine engine in a helicopter caused the helicopter to crash during a medical emergency evacuation. After extensive discovery, including document production in France, summary judgment was entered on behalf of our client. . .
View Bio as PDF
