Evan was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . He attended the University of Oklahoma on an Army ROTC scholarship where he majored in political science and law enforcement administration. Upon graduating Cum Laude from OU, Evan moved to Oklahoma City , where he attended law school at Oklahoma City University School of Law. Evan was on the Oklahoma City University Law Review.
Evan began his legal career clerking for the Presiding Judge of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. He then entered the United States Army as a JAG lawyer in Savannah, Georgia . While in the Army, Evan spent two years as a prosecutor trying complex felony criminal trials. He was then transferred to the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service where he traveled to Army posts throughout the South defending clients who were charged with major felonies. Upon completing his Army scholarship obligation, Evan moved to Kansas City where he began his civil practice as a defense lawyer. For many years, Evan served as local, regional and national counsel for some of the largest vehicle and product manufacturers in the world. As lead trial counsel in dozens of trials, Evan successfully defended health care providers and product manufacturers all around the country.
Despite his successes as a defense lawyer, Evan felt more comfortable representing individuals rather than large companies and corporate interests. Today, Evan's practice is narrowly focused on representing people who were seriously injured and the families of people who were seriously injured or killed as a result of defective products or the negligence of others.
Evan has represented plaintiffs in a broad array of cases around the country, including the following:
Product Liability/Personal Injury
Product Liability (general)
Vehicular Product Liability
Rollovers
Roof crush
Post Collision Fuel Fed Fires
Seatbelts
Airbags
Seat failures
Child safety seats
Tires
General Crashworthiness
Wrongful Death
Personal Injury
Trucking Wrecks
Class Actions
Along with his partners, Doug Gentile and Randy Rhodes, Evan has recovered, through settlements and trial verdicts, in excess of $100 million of dollars for his clients. As a result of that work, Evan has been elected as a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Our three lead trial lawyers Doug, Randy, and Evan have been involved in some remarkable cases all over the country.
They obtained a (record) $15.7 million settlement for a crippled child in rural New York who was injured in a car wreck due to a defective Evenflo child safety seat.
After being "no offered" by the defendant, they won a $15 million verdict in Kansas City for a deserving client who was injured by a thirty year old product.
They obtained a (record) $13 million settlement for a crippled child in North Carolina who was injured in a car wreck due to a defective child safety seat.
They obtained a $10.4 million dollar settlement (which included $500,000 above the insurance limits) for a teenage girl who was seriously injured in a wreck caused by a negligent truck driver.
They recently won a (record) $10.4 million verdict in Montana in a case involved a young boy who died due to defects in his Evenflo child safety seat.
They won an $8.5 million verdict (and collected an additional $2 million in pre-judgment interest and $2 million in post-judgment interest) for a crippled child in St. Louis who was injured in a car wreck due to a defective Evenflo child safety seat.
They won a landmark appeal in a case that established new law in Missouri that, for the first time, acknowledged on-call emergency room physicians have a duty of care to emergency room patients.
Evan, Doug and Randy are particular about the cases they agree to take. They only want to represent deserving clients who have good cases and who are in need of the highest quality legal representation.
It's not always about high dollar cases. Often, it's simply about doing what is right.
For example, several years ago, a newspaper article exposed a horrific study from the 1930's in which innocent orphans were unwittingly used as human guinea pigs by researchers at the University of Iowa. Outraged by the revelation, Evan, Doug and Randy agreed to represent some of the orphans who were still alive and some of the estates of those orphans who had died. After years of litigation with the State of Iowa, justice was obtained for those orphans in the form of an apology and a high six figure settlement.
As another example, Evan, Doug and Randy represented the family of a homeless man who suffered fatal injuries when he was savagely beaten by a store clerk who erroneously believed that the homeless man stole a 99 cent bag of ice. The family of the homeless man was denied justice in the criminal trial of the store clerk, who got off with probation and a slap on the wrist. In a subsequent civil lawsuit, Evan, Doug and Randy obtained a settlement for the family, providing them some measure of justice.
Evan is married. He has two children. Evan and his family reside in Stilwell, Kansas . Evan has been very active with youth sports teams, Boy Scouts of America and he is involved with the Safari Club International and the Saddle and Sirloin Club of Kansas City.
Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
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