Similar personal injury attorneys in Kansas City
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
About Lauren K. Bretz
Recognized for excellence in legal writing and oral advocacy with multiple awards in law school After graduating from Kansas State University, Lauren obtained her master’s degree and worked as a speech-language pathologist in the public school system before attending the University of Kansas School of Law. While earning her J.D., Lauren served as a chief justice on KU’s nationally recognized moot court program, achieving top awards for both her legal writing and oral advocacy skills. She was also a member of KU’s mock trial team and participated in a national mock trial competition. Lauren clerked for two years at Wagstaff & Cartmell before joining as a full-time attorney.
Lauren devotes her practice to civil litigation, with a particular focus on multidistrict litigation, class actions, and personal injury. Lauren has been recognized for her legal writing in national moot court competitions. She won Second Best Brief in the Native American Law Students Association Moot Court Competition, has had writing published in the University of Montana’s Public Land & Resources Law Review, and was a 2024 recipient of the Jack E. Dalton Writing Award for excellence in legal writing.
Lauren also participated in KU Law’s annual in-house moot court competition, where she won Best Oral Advocate Team and Best Brief. She also received the Payne and Jones Award for Best Oral Advocate in her legal writing section. Wagstaff & Cartmell 4740 Grand Avenue, Suite 300 Kansas City, MO 64112 Wagstaff & Cartmell 1717 K Street NW Suite 900 Washington, DC 20006
Proven verdicts and settlements at Wagstaff & Cartmell
These results are credited to Wagstaff & Cartmell. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.
San Francisco Unified School District's case was the first JUUL bellwether trial against Altria; after the plaintiffs rested, Altria agreed to pay $235 million to resolve roughly 6,000 pending e-vapor claims nationwide.
A federal jury in Hammond, Indiana found that Ethicon's Prolift transvaginal mesh was defectively designed and inadequately warned against, awarding Barbara and Anton Kaiser $35 million. A judge reduced the punitive damages, leaving a $20 million verdict that the Seventh Circuit affirmed in full in 2020.
Kathryn Gant died at the scene of a head-on crash on K-58 in Kansas on June 10, 2011, after a driver crossed the center line in a no-passing zone. Her husband sued the driver, the driver's parents and the family oil company. After a five-day bench trial in June 2015, a Coffey County judge found all of them liable and awarded $6,723,021. Under a pretrial agreement, none of the judgment could be collected from the defendants themselves.
A Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google's YouTube negligent in designing platforms that harmed a young woman identified as K.G.M., who began watching YouTube at age 6 and joined Instagram at 9. On March 25, 2026, it awarded $3 million in compensatory damages, split 70 percent to Meta and 30 percent to YouTube, plus $3 million in punitive damages. It was the first bellwether trial in the coordinated California social media addiction cases.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Kansas City firms
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.