GRG in the News

GRG Attorneys Recipients of Missouri Lawyers Weekly Awards

2020 MLW Awards collage

Gray Ritter Graham attorneys Maurice Graham and Tom Neill have been named by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as recipients of 2020 Missouri Lawyers Awards for their 2019 litigation achievements.

Graham was on the plaintiff’s trial team that represented a special deputy receiver and other entities in litigation with PNC Bank.  A jury found PNC liable for its predecessor’s negligence and breach of fiduciary duty when it served as trustee of a trust funded by prepaid funeral expense contracts sold by Missouri-based National Prearranged Services. The defendant appealed, and a new trial was ordered.  In that new, non-jury trial in equity, a federal judge in December 2019 ordered PNC to pay a total of $99,497,290 in punitive and compensatory damages.

Neill represented the family of one of the individuals who died in a boiler explosion on April 3, 2017, in Soulard, just south of downtown St. Louis. A 3,000 pound boiler exploded at the Loy-Lange Box Company, flew 500 feet and crashed into another business. Four people died in the incident. Neill’s lawsuit was consolidated with lawsuits filed by other families who lost loved ones or who were injured. Total settlements exceeding $47 million were obtained in July 2019 for the plaintiffs.  GRG attorney Joan Lockwood also played a key role in the mediation that led to the settlements.

Graham’s outcome was recognized as the second highest judgment or bench award for 2019, and Neill’s as the second highest plaintiff’s settlement obtained in 2019.

They will receive their awards from Missouri Lawyers Weekly at a January 24 luncheon.

This is the second consecutive year that GRG attorneys received Missouri Lawyers Awards for top verdicts and settlements.

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Posted in News January 6, 2020

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