Partner
Mr. Schnieders is a partner in the Pharmaceutical Litigation Department.
Chris Schnieders devotes his entire practice to civil litigation with an emphasis in the areas of complex pharmaceutical and medical device actions, professional liability actions, and personal injury actions.
Chris has worked extensively in the litigation surrounding Paxil, Prozac, Transvaginal Mesh, Avandia, Yaz, Bextra, Celebrex and Vioxx. Chris’ work in all of these litigations has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery to his clients. Chris has also successfully represented both defendants and plaintiffs in numerous medical malpractice and other professional liability actions. This representation encompassed all facets of litigation, up to, and including, jury verdict.
Chris’ litigation practice has earned him numerous distinctions, including recognition both as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in the state of Missouri from The National Trial Lawyers and as a Super Lawyer for the state of Missouri starting in 2013. Chris is also AV rated, the highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards under the peer review system of Martindale-Hubbell, the national legal directory.
Chris is an active member of the American Association for Justice; the Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas Bar Associations; the National Trial Lawyers; and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. Chris is a graduate of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Leadership Academy as well as the Ross T. Roberts Inn of Court Program, and has served as vice chair of the KCMBA Civil Practices Committee. Chris is also a board member of Boys Hope Girls Hope of Kansas City, an organization helping academically capable and motivated boys in need to meet their full potential. He has also devoted substantial Pro Bono time to indigent persons faced with family court issues.
Currently, Chris is actively involved in representing women injured by their exposure to Essure and individuals injured due to placement of an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter. Chris is further involved in representing children injured by in utero ingestion of Zofran, a drug prescribed off-label for morning sickness in pregnancy, as well as Clomid/Serophene, a drug used to induce ovulation in women wishing to become pregnant. In addition to his products liability work, Chris continues to investigate and represent claims involving catastrophic injury and wrongful death.
A press conference was held in St. Louis to outline the action that was filed in federal court to block Bayer-Monsanto from selling its weedkiller product Roundup.
The action details how Black farmers were forced into buying Roundup-resistant seeds and relying on heavier and heavier concentrations of Roundup, which has been the subject of thousands of lawsuits from victims of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Since some Black farmers have lower literacy rates and less access to the internet, they were less likely to understand the risks and Bayer-Monsanto made no proactive effort to educate or warn them, the plaintiff attorneys, including Partner and co-counsel in the case Christopher Schnieders, said.
BAR ADMISSIONS
Missouri
Kansas
Illinois
United States District Court, Western District of Missouri
United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois
United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois
EDUCATION
University of Kansas, J.D.
London Law Consortium Externship, The Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn
Boston College, B.A.
AWARDS AND HONORS
America’s Top 100 Attorneys
AV Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®
Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers
The Best Lawyers in America©
Lawyers of Distinction, 2020
Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers®, Thomson Reuters
Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Rising Star®, Thomson Reuters, 2009, 2011-2012
The National Trial Lawyers – Top 100 Trial Lawyers, 2014-2018
The National Trial Lawyers – Top 40 Under 40, 2014-2018
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Association for Justice
The National Trial Lawyers
Illinois Bar Association
Kansas Bar Association
Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Leadership Academy
Missouri Bar Association
Ross T. Roberts Inn of Court Program
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Speaker, “Next Steps After You Settle a Case – Section on Toxic, Environmental & Pharmaceutical Torts (STEP)”, American Association for Justice 2021 Annual Convention (July 15, 2021)
Speaker, Perrin Conferences: The Opioid Litigation Conference (June 6, 2019)
MEDIA APPEARANCES
Jury rules against doctor, in favor of family of Excel victim who died of opioids, The Wichita Eagle (April 28, 2022)
Victim of Excel shooting awarded $2M in opioid overdose lawsuit, 13-WIBW (April 22, 2022)
Victim of Excel shooting awarded $2M in opioid overdose lawsuit, KWCH (April 22, 2022)
Roundup Claimants Slam ‘Frankenstein-ian’ $2B Bayer Deal, Law360 (March 5, 2021)
Judge casts doubt on Bayer’s $10.9B Roundup settlement, fears ‘manipulation’, St. Louis Business Journal (August 28, 2020)
Black Farmers Sue Bayer, Urging Federal Court To Take Roundup Off the Market, KRCU (90.9FM | 88.9FM) (August 27, 2020)
Black farmers sue Bayer in effort to remove Roundup from shelves, St. Louis Business Journal (August 27, 2020)
Farmers Group Sues Monsanto To Get Roundup Off Shelves, Law360 (August 26, 2020)
Black Farmers Go to Court to Stop Sale of Roundup, Courthouse News Service (August 26, 2020)
Black Farmers Go to Court to Stop Sale of Roundup, exbulltein.com (August 26, 2020)
Black farmers file suit against Monsanto seeking to block sale of Roundup, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 26, 2020)
Roundup News Conference At Bayer-Monsanto Headquarters, (August 26, 2020)
Group to Revise Deal For Future Claims In Monsanto MDL, Law360 (July 8, 2020)
Lawyers Withdraw, Aiming to Revise, $1.1 Billion Class Settlement Over Roundup, Law.com | TheRecorder (July 8, 2020)
Bayer to Alter Plan for Handling Future Roundup Cancer Suits, As Reported By
Bloomberg (July 8, 2020)
The Detroit News (July 8, 2020)
Judge ‘Skeptical’ Of Settlement For Future Roundup Claims, Law360 (July 7 ,2020)
COURT APPOINTMENTS
Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, In Re: Uloric Products Liability Coordinated Pretrial Proceedings, Case: 1:20-cv-00623
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, In Re: Cordis IVC Filter Cases, JCCP 4977 (Alameda County, Ca)
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and Co-Chair of the Discovery Committee, In Re: Zofran (Ondansetron) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2657 (D. Ma)
Chair of the Discovery Committee, In Re: Zoloft (Sertraline Hydrochloride) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2342 (E.D. Pa)
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, In Re: Effexor (Venlafaxine Hydrochloride) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2458 (E.D. Pa)
Member of Science and Daubert Committees, In Re Avandia Marketing Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1871 (E.D. Pa)
Clerkship, Hon. John R. O’Malley, 16th Circuit Court of Missouri
REPRESENTATIVE CASES AND SETTLEMENTS OF NOTE
*Results May Vary Depending On Your Particular Facts and Legal Circumstances*
$2,575,000 Plaintiff Verdict focused on the opioid epidemic, where the client overdosed from a dangerous combination of opioids and benzodiazepines prescribed by his psychiatrist to treat post traumatic stress disorder
In Re: Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2187, 2325, 2326, 2327 and 2327 (D. WV)
In Re: Avandia Marketing Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1871 (E.D. Pa)
Yasmin and YAZ (Drospirenone) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2100
In Re: Bextra and Celebrex Marketing, Sales Practices and Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1699 (N.D. Ca)
Prozac Birth Defect Litigation
Paxil Birth Defect Litigation
PRO BONO
Board Member, Boys Hope Girls Hope of Kansas City
OTHER EXPERIENCE
Partner, Wagstaff & Cartmell, LLP
