An effective and respected trial lawyer, Lori Schultz has tried more than 20 cases to successful jury verdict in federal and state courts across the country during the 28 years of her litigation practice. Lori’s extensive experience in the courtroom, combined with her ability to communicate complex facts and legal issues to juries in a simple and compelling style, has resulted in an excellent track record of jury verdict wins in the areas of product liability, employment, tort and civil rights litigation, antitrust, complex commercial litigation and class actions.
Product liability litigation has been a major component of Lori’s trial and litigation experience. She serves as national trial counsel for Philip Morris USA, having recently tried several individual smoking and health jury trials resulting in defense verdicts in Florida and New York. Lori also represents pharmaceutical companies in product liability litigation, where her experience ranges from developing and implementing defense strategies at the early stages of nationwide litigation to managing and litigating individual actions and multi-district litigation in jurisdictions across the country.
Employment litigation has also been a major focus of Lori’s trial and litigation experience, having secured numerous defense verdicts on behalf of companies and municipalities in federal and state courts. Most recently, she obtained verdicts on behalf of Cerner Corporation in two jury trials in Missouri alleging claims of race, gender and disability discrimination.
Lori was a member of the University of Kansas School of Law faculty from 1999 to 2001 and has lectured and appeared on panels in the areas of trial practice, employment, class actions and ethics.
Representative Matters
Roby v. Cerner Corporation: Directed verdict obtained for Cerner Corporation (September 2015) in jury trial of employment discrimination action in the Circuit Court of Clay County, Missouri. Plaintiff alleged claims of race, gender and disability discrimination and retaliation.
Mills v. Cerner Corporation: Defense verdict obtained for Cerner Corporation (August 2014) in jury trial of employment discrimination action in the Circuit Court of Clay County, Missouri. Plaintiff alleged claims of disability discrimination and retaliation.
Brown III v. Philip Morris USA: Jury trial of wrongful death smoking and health action (January 2013) seeking compensatory and punitive damages in the Circuit Court of Duval County, Florida. Plaintiffs alleged claims of negligence, strict liability and fraudulent concealment for the alleged wrongful death of plaintiffs’ father and husband. Hung jury resulting in mistrial.
Junious v. Philip Morris USA: Defense verdict obtained for Philip Morris (October 2011) in jury trial of smoking and health action seeking compensatory and punitive damages in the Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Plaintiff alleged claims of negligence, strict liability and fraudulent concealment.
Grill v. Philip Morris USA: Defense verdict obtained for Philip Morris (April 2011) in jury trial of individual smoking and health action in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs alleged claims of fraudulent concealment and failure to warn and sought compensatory damages for the alleged wrongful death of plaintiffs’ mother and spouse.
Frazier II v. Philip Morris USA: Defense verdict obtained for Philip Morris (October 2010) in jury trial of smoking and health action seeking compensatory and punitive damages in the Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Plaintiff alleged claims of negligence, strict liability and fraudulent concealment.
Mehus v. Emporia State University: Defense verdict obtained for Emporia State University (2004) in jury trial of federal employment action in the U.S. District Court, District of Kansas. Plaintiff, a female volleyball coach, alleged claims of gender discrimination under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act.
Hammad v. Bombardier Learjet: Defense verdict obtained for Bombardier Learjet (2003) in jury trial of federal employment action in the U.S. District Court, District of Kansas. Plaintiff alleged claims of race, religion and national origin discrimination under Title VII.
Law, et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association: Represented plaintiffs, NCAA Division I coaches, in 4-week antitrust jury trial against the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the U.S. District Court, District of Kansas. Obtained verdict on behalf of plaintiffs, resulting in $71.8 million judgment (1998).