Craig O’Dear is a trial lawyer who has prosecuted and defended high-stakes litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country. Examples include:

• In 2007, he represented a major telecommunications company in breach of contract lawsuits pending in federal courts in Rhode Island, Michigan and Missouri. The lawsuits involved defense of valuable spectrum rights being threatened by proposed business transactions. Injunction trials in these cases resulted in orders enjoining the challenged business transactions.
• In 2006, Mr. O'Dear assumed the lead trial counsel role defending a Fortune 500 company in a lawsuit pending in federal court in South Carolina, seeking $103 million in damages allegedly flowing from a breach of contract. The case was settled six months later for less than 3% of the claimed damages.
• In 2004 and 2005, Mr. O'Dear was lead trial counsel for a national financial services company in defense of a state court class action pending in West Virginia. Plaintiffs sought $2.1 billion in damages and statutory penalties.
• In the Fall of 2005, Teledyne asked Mr. O'Dear to become lead trial counsel defending Teledyne in a product liability case pending in Charlotte, North Carolina. The case arose out of an airplane crash which resulted in the death of a high profile and financially successful couple with eight children. The case had been in litigation for four years, and trial was set to commence in eight weeks. Plaintiffs' nine-figure settlement demand had remained "non-negotiable" for several months. The case was settled the weekend prior to trial for less than 20% of the previously "non-negotiable" demand.
• In June 2004, lead trial counsel defending a New York-based REIT against a real estate fraud claim for $7.5 million plus a punitive damage claim. Plaintiffs demanded $2 million to settle; Mr. O’Dear’s client offered $1 million. Plaintiffs won a verdict for $82,000.
• In 1999, Mr. O’Dear was retained by World Wrestling Entertainment to defend a wrongful death case arising out of the accidental death of WWE wrestler Owen Hart in Kansas City. The lawsuit sought damages of $500 million in actual and punitive damages and was settled in 2000 for $18 million. Mr. O’Dear then represented WWE in a contribution action against British manufacturer Lewmar to recover a substantial portion of the $18 million settlement. That case was tried to a jury in Kansas City in September 2003, with Lewmar agreeing to pay WWE $9 million during the fourth week of trial.
• In 2001, Mr. O'Dear represented the former shareholders of Automatic Systems Inc. in litigation against Columbus McKinnon, a company which purchased ASI in 1998 for $155 million. Columbus McKinnon sought $13 million in damages from the former shareholders for breach of the acquisition agreement; the shareholders counterclaimed for $5.8 million. Two week jury trial in federal court produced a defense verdict on the $13 million claim and an award of $5.8 million to the shareholders.
• In 1998, Mr. O’Dear won a difficult $3 million verdict for Aegon, an international insurance company, in a lawsuit against a Fortune 500 company for breach of a tax indemnity agreement arising out of the acquisition of an insurance company.
• In 1996, Mr. O’Dear represented Norsk Hydro, the largest publicly held company in Norway, in accelerated litigation in Montana and California, recovering $3.4 million of the client’s funds, with interest, and $15 million of aluminum ingots, 100% of the client’s claim.
• In 1991 and 1993, he obtained judgments for two telecommunications entrepreneurs totaling $6.5 million against a Fortune 500 company in two related cases involving breaches of shareholder agreements.

Mr. O’Dear has experience in intellectual property litigation in the areas of restrictive covenants and misappropriation of trade secrets. His experience in this area includes a national restrictive covenant enforcement program for a leading propane retailer, and a number of cases involving accelerated litigation and injunctive relief.

He has defended lawsuits involving a variety of products, including helicopter turbine engines, grade-crossing warning systems, racquetball safety eyewear, airplanes, farm equipment, multipiece truck wheels, automobile tires, chainsaws and playground equipment. In 1997, Mr. O’Dear was selected by Turbomeca, a French helicopter engine manufacturer, and its European underwriters to be lead counsel in the retrial of two wrongful death cases that when first tried produced verdicts totaling $420 million. The cases were resolved on appeal and the anticipated retrials did not occur.

In 2006, Mr. O'Dear was named one of the "Top 500 Leading Litigators in America" by Lawdragon magazine. He has been consistently recognized by Chambers USA, the Best Lawyers in America and Missouri Super Lawyers, and is one of just a handful of trial lawyers who have been recognized by the Business Journal as "Best of the Bar" in business litigation in Kansas City each year since the inception of that recognition in 2002.

Bar and Court Admissions

Missouri, 1982

United States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits

United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, and District of Kansas

Education

Vanderbilt University, J.D., 1982

University of Missouri-Rolla, B.S., 1979

Civic Involvement and Honors

• Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, 2006