Criminal Law

• DUI/DWI
  In 2007, Randy James worked to establish the Missouri Trial Lawyers Care Fund, the charitable arm of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. www.gkccfonlinedonations.org/motlc/motlc.asp Known as MoTLC, the fund has supported a number of causes including sponsorship of free personal safety and self defense courses for moms and daughters, bicycle helmets for kids, drunk driving awareness and education courses and contributions to several natural disaster relief efforts.
• Wrongful Death
  A case that we recently tried (and lost) gives a good example of this principal. We represented the family of a young man who was struck from behind by the driver of a pickup truck while riding his bicycle on a public road. Our young man died as a result of his injuries. At the time of the collision, the pickup truck was attempting to pass our young man in a no passing zone on a relatively narrow two-lane road. The pickup truck driver, knowing that he was in a no passing zone, tried to pass the bicycle without crossing the center line. The evidence also established that if the pickup truck driver had waited only eight seconds, the road widened to a four-lane thoroughfare where he could have passed our young man safely. Open and shut case? Hardly. Before trial, we identified the problem that most, if not all, of our prospective jurors would come into the courtroom with a life experience of having passed a bicyclist while driving their car or truck. We were concerned that those people would identify with the driver of the pickup truck and personalize the case to themselves thinking, "I have passed bicyclists in my car and this could have been me." We were also concerned that some jurors may question the validity of a wrongful death suit brought by the parents of a child where there were no economic damages to speak of because no amount of money could bring our young man back to life. Unfortunately, our concerns were valid to such an extent that we could not de-select enough prospective jurors to carry the day. Yet, every one of the people who served on that jury professed that they could be fair and impartial and, within the boundaries of their code, I am sure that they believed it to be true.
• Traffic Violations
  In June 1998, MJ, 48, who was employed as a school counselor, was killed instantly while driving home after visiting her daughters in Junction City, Kansas on Kansas Highway 18 (K-18) when her car was broadsided by a Kansas State Highway Patrol vehicle driven by Trooper Rodney G. Osland. Trooper Osland had been in pursuit of a motorcyclist he had observed speeding on Interstate 70. The trooper continued the high-speed pursuit onto Milford Lake Road, a hilly two-lane road, even though he had lost sight of the motorcycle, and ran through a stop sign at K-18 where he struck MJ’s car broadside. When Trooper Osland approached the intersection of K-18 and Milford Lake Road, he passed a sign notifying him of an upcoming stop sign. The motorcycle was not in sight. It was later determined that the motorcycle had turned right at the same intersection and had proceeded east on K-18. Because Trooper Osland had lost sight of the motorcycle, he did not know that the motorcycle had turned right at the intersection, yet he continued his pursuit in the wrong direction by attempting to pass northbound through the intersection on Milford Lake Road.
• Sex Crimes
  For those of us at JLS, this commitment also goes beyond the courtroom. For the past several years, the firm has set aside a portion of lawsuit recoveries for the benefit of charities of their clients= choice. In the past 2 years alone, we have made donations to the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA), www.mocsa.org, Harvesters Food Network, www.harvesters.org, the Amputee Coalition of America, www.amputee-coalition.org, and the NASCAR Foundation/Victory Junction Gang, www.victoryjunction.org. In addition to supporting a number of worthy causes, we believe that this program also shows people that our civil justice system can work to benefit society as a whole.
• Assault

Property Law

• Premises Liability
  He has consulted in numerous cases involving the evaluation of tire and wheel failure occurrences cases, premises liability and insurance bad faith.

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  JLS will help resolve virtually any civil dispute from domestic cases, insurance claims and contract matters to serious personal injury and death cases. Our fees are generally earned on an hourly basis, but depending on the case may be charged as a flat fee.
• Medical Malpractice
  The American legal system gives each of us the right to seek redress in a court of law for wrongs perpetrated upon us by others. While various forms of civil remedies are available, the most common is the award of monetary damages which include past and future lost income, past and future medical and related health care expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of comfort, support and consortium. While we are reputed to be a highly litigious society, only about one in ten injured individuals make claims for compensation in the civil tort system.¹ Cases involving catastrophic injuries constitute even a smaller percentage. Of the approximately ten percent of all injuries upon which claims are made, the "high profile" categories of product liability and medical malpractice where catastrophic injuries are likely to appear, only constitute three percent and ten percent of that total respectively.²