Brian J. Madden

Brian Madden, a partner at Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP, has tried numerous cases involving business disputes, personal injury and wrongful death. Brian has represented businesses and individuals alike in serious cases.

Business Litigation Experience:

Brian has tried cases for businesses involving commercial disputes.   In one such case, Brian represented a rock quarry that was awarded over $400,000 in jury trial damages in a dispute with a municipality regarding access to the quarry.  In addition, Brian has represented banks involved in commercial disputes in Missouri and Kansas.  Some examples of Brian’s business litigation experience include:

$15 Million Commercial Litigation Settlement – Citadel Plaza LLC vs. City of Kansas City, Missouri

 Brian Madden, Marc Erickson and Eric Barton, with the assistance of other Wagstaff & Cartmell attorneys and staff, settled a commercial case against the City of Kansas City, Missouri (City) for $15 million on the Friday before trial was to begin.   The case involved a failed Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Plan called “The Citadel” near 63^rd and Prospect streets in Kansas City, Missouri.   Our client, Citadel Plaza LLC, (Citadel) entered contracts with the City and TIF Commission for redevelopment of a blighted neighborhood in the City’s urban core.   The City was to provide partial funding for the redevelopment project, but failed to do so after our client Citadel expended significant time and money redeveloping the site.   When the City failed to fund, the development project stalled and failed.  As a result, our client Citadel suffered substantial losses.   The settlement with the City calls for the land that was cleared and assembled by Citadel and other landowners to be transferred to the City for future redevelopment.

Confidential Commercial Litigation Settlement – Community Bank vs. John Doe Engineering Firm, et al.

Brian Madden and Ty Hudson settled a commercial case against an engineering firm and a financial services firm over a failed natural gas project in rural Missouri for a confidential amount.   A small town in Missouri, through a financial services firm, sold Certificates of Participation to fund the project.   Our client, a community bank, purchased a share of the Certificates of Participation.   An engineering firm prepared a feasibility study that indicated the project would pay for itself.   However, the project failed after it was built because the number of people expected to switch from propane to natural gas fell far below projections from the engineering firm.  As a result of the project failure, our client suffered significant losses in its investment.

Personal Injury/Wrongful Death Litigation Experience:

Brian has represented burn victims who were killed or injured by such things as anhydrous ammonia, electricity, scalding water, and fuel-fed auto fires. In one such burn case, Brian achieved a $5.7 million verdict for his clients, which was the fifth largest verdict in Missouri that year.

Brian has also litigated cases for families of those killed in automobile collisions with large trucks and tractor-trailers.   He has also represented those injured at railroad grade crossing collisions.  He has prosecuted cases against automakers for injuries or death caused by excessive roof crush or seat belt defects in rollover cases.   In addition, Brian has prosecuted cases against pharmaceutical makers for injury and death.

Appellate Work:

In addition to trial work, Brian practices in the appellate arena. Some of his reported cases include: Weaver v. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 54 S.W.3d 575 (Mo. App. 2001) (successful in reversing $5 million verdict against A.M.E. Church); Commerce Bank, N.A. v. Blasdel, 141 S.W.3d 434 (Mo. App. 2004) (successful in reversing adverse judgment against clients in trust litigation) and Truck Insurance Exchange v. Prairie Framing, LLC, 162 S.W.3d 64 (Mo. App. 2005) (successful in protecting $1 million insurance coverage judgment for clients).

Personal Information:

Brian was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Lexington, Missouri. After completing high school in Lexington, Missouri, he obtained his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, where he was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society. Brian obtained his J.D. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1992, where he served as Associate Editor for the UMKC Law Review.

After receiving his law degree, Brian practiced with the law firms of Lathrop & Gage L.C. and Stueve Helder Siegel LLP. Brian became a partner at Lathrop & Gage L.C. in 1999 and joined Stueve Helder Siegel LLP as a partner in 2002. In 2004, Brian joined Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP.

Brian’s professional affiliations include the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and the Missouri Bar Association.