Rick Paul

Rick specializes in complex antitrust, business, product liability, and consumer litigation—typically involving multi-parties, or class or mass actions.

Rick graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he served as Associate Managing Editor of the Missouri Law Review. After law school, Rick was a judicial law clerk at the Missouri Supreme Court and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. In 1996, he began private practice with a large national defense firm, where he was ultimately elected a Shareholder and Director of the firm. In 2008, Rick moved his practice to a small litigation boutique firm. In May 2013, Rick started Paul LLP.

Rick has recovered more than $2 billion for his clients through trial or settlement. Rick has been appointed by numerous courts across the country to serve as lead counsel in class actions and MDL proceedings and as special litigation counsel for bankruptcy trustees.

Rick enjoys being in the courtroom and has tried and won many types of cases in jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations. He has repeatedly been brought in to a case shortly before trial for just that purpose. Recently, Rick served as trial counsel in the In re Syngenta Litigation pending in Minnesota state court. Rick was co-lead trial counsel for the first individual bellwether trial as well as the Minnesota class action trial. During the third week of the Minnesota class trial, the litigation was settled on behalf of all farmers (individual and classes) across the country. This is just the most recent in a string of cases where Rick has been lead trial counsel, including two class arbitrations, where he prevailed in both. He has also argued more than 40 appeals to various state and federal appellate courts and briefed over 100 appeals.

Rick is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and the American Association of Justice. As a young lawyer, Missouri Lawyers Weekly named Rick as one of eight “Up and Coming Lawyers.” He has since been named a “Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyer” for many years, and is listed on American Registry’s “Top Attorneys in Missouri/Kansas.” He has an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating with Martindale-Hubbell.

Experience

Representative Cases

In re Syngenta MIR162 Corn Litigation (District of Kansas, MDL 2591) and In re Syngenta Litigation (Minnesota Fourth Judicial District) Appointed to Plaintiffs Executive Committee in both federal and state MDLs; trial counsel for individual bellwether and Minnesota class leading to $1.51 billion settlement.

In re: Air Crash of N51RX (Santa Fe County, New Mexico) Negotiated complex 8-figure settlement in a 5-death air ambulance crash with multiple defendants and insurance companies.

In re: Oak Hills Drilling & Operating Co. (United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma) Obtained judgment after trial for more than $1.5 million on behalf of bankruptcy estate.

Rees v. Masco Retail Cabinet Group. Successfully tried case for two weeks in arbitration on behalf of a class of current and former Masco account representatives, alleging employment misclassification in violation of the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Final award granting substantial damages to each class member.

Sanchez v. DISH Network LLC. Successfully arbitrated case on behalf of a class of nearly 3,000 current and former DISH call center employees seeking unpaid overtime wages under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Resulting in judgment of more than $2.9 million.

In re Mountain Energy Corporation (United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri) Negotiated 14 party settlement providing a recovery of more than $60 million to the bankruptcy estate.

Teeter v. NCR Corporation (United States District Court, Central District of California) Negotiated settlement for nationwide class of employees for back wages totaling more than $10 million.

In re General Motors Dex-Cool Cases (Alameda County Superior Court, California; Jackson County Circuit Court, Missouri) Negotiated cash reimbursements from $50 to $800 per class member for vehicle repair.

Stephenson v. Information Providers, Inc. (United States District Court, District of Minnesota) Settled misclassification case on behalf of certified class of current and former Premium Auditors seeking unpaid overtime wages.

In re Eclipse Aviation Depositor Litigation (County of Bernalillo, State of New Mexico) Served as co-lead counsel in litigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars in claims for the return of aircraft deposits based on negligent misrepresentations. Obtained substantial confidential settlement.