Randall L. Rhodes
Admitted to Bar in
Missouri
Kansas
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
U.S. District Court District of Kansas
U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
Quick Contact
Douthit Frets Rouse Gentile & Rhodes, LLC
903 E. 104th St., Suite 610
Kansas City, Missouri 64131
Phone: (816) 941-7600
Email: rrhodes@dfrglaw.com
Education
- Washburn University School of Law, 1992
- Drury College, 1988
Experience
Mr. Rhodes is a trial and appellate lawyer who limits his practice to the representation of clients who or that have suffered catastrophic losses. He has extensive experience representing people who have suffered serious personal injuries and families that have lost loved ones. He also has experience representing businesses that have suffered significant economic losses. Mr. Rhodes has successfully represented individuals, families and corporate entities in a wide range of catastrophic loss litigation, as more fully set forth below in the Areas of Practice portion of this biography.
Mr. Rhodes has significant first and second chair trial experience in state and federal courts across the United States. In addition to being licensed in both Kansas and Missouri, Mr. Rhodes has appeared in cases pro hac vice in dozens of state and federal jurisdictions. Further, Mr. Rhodes has served as lead appellate counsel in appeals to numerous state and federal appellate courts.
Mr. Rhodes spends the majority of his professional time representing people or the families of people who have been seriously injured or killed by defective products or by the negligence of others. In that regard, a significant portion of his time is spent representing the families of children who have been seriously injured, crippled or killed by defective child safety seats. Mr. Rhodes has unique expertise in vehicular products liability cases, including, but not limited to car wrecks and wrecks involving heavy trucks.
Mr. Rhodes began his career as a corporate defense lawyer, representing product manufacturers, drug companies, hospitals and health care providers in trials and appeals around the country. Some of his clients during this time period were General Motors, Chrysler, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki, as well as numerous Kansas City area hospitals. During this experience, Mr. Rhodes came to the realization that, philosophically, his personal beliefs were inconsistent with being a corporate defense lawyer. His practice evolved from defense work to exclusively representing plaintiffs in catastrophic loss or injury litigation. A founding member of Douthit Frets Rouse Gentile & Rhodes, LLC, Mr. Rhodes brings to the representation of his clients the unique perspective of a plaintiff's lawyer who has served as local, regional and national defense counsel for some of the world's largest and most sophisticated product manufacturers. Mr. Rhodes has been awarded Martindale-Hubbell's highest possible rating for lawyers, receiving an AV, 5.0 preeminent rating for legal ability and ethical standards. He has been listed as one of Missouri's Top 100 Trial Lawyers every year since that award has been in existence.
Mr. Rhodes was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri. He received his undergraduate degree from Drury College and his law degree from Washburn University School of Law.
Areas of Practice
- Product liability
- Vehicle crashworthiness
- Child safety seat litigation
- Personal injury
- Wrongful death
- Trucking and automobile wrecks
- Legal and medical malpractice
- Commercial litigation
- Insurance "bad faith" litigation
- Class action
Activities and Memberships
- Attorneys Information Exchange Group
- Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys
- Kansas Trial Lawyer Association
- American Academy of Justice
- The National Trial Lawyers
- Missouri Bar
- Kansas Bar
- Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
Published Works
Mr. Rhodes has written dozens of articles that have appeared in magazines and journals published by national and state plaintiff lawyer organizations. Mr. Rhodes has written about specific cases and results obtained therein, liability and damages theories, trial tactics and appellate strategies.
Presentations
Mr. Rhodes is a frequent speaker and teacher at Continuing Legal Education Seminars, both locally and nationally. Mr. Rhodes has spoken at seminars on the following topics:
- Child safety seat litigation
- Crashworthiness litigation
- Rollover litigation
- Seat failure litigation
- Heavy truck wreck litigation
- The discovery process
- Innovative liability, causation and damage theories
- Legal writing techniques
- Trial strategies and techniques
- Appellate strategy and techniques