Steve Garner, president and shareholder of Springfield-based law firm Strong-Garner-Bauer PC, was elected president of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys at the organization’s annual meeting in June. Garner succeeds Kansas City attorney Tim Dollar, and will hold the position of MATA president for one year. Garner said he has been involved in the 1,300-member organization for nearly three decades, assisting the association in recent years by educating and lobbying in Jefferson City on issues such as tort reform that affect the legal and business communities statewide.
MATA Mission “I’ve been involved with MATA either as a member or on the board of governors or on the executive committee probably since I started practicing law – so 27 years. … As long as you satisfy the organization with what you are doing, then once you get on the executive committee you continue to move up. … Trial lawyers in our organization typically represent businesses that have been wronged, individuals who have been wronged and, occasionally, insurance companies that have been wronged. Generally, we are representing the party that is bringing the lawsuit. The essence of our organization is to preserve the Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury.”
Tort Reform “Any infringement on the jurors’ rights and responsibilities, I feel and the organization feels, is a violation of the Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury. The (Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s) position is not that there should be tort reform across the board, but tort reform only as individuals’ lawsuits against business. It doesn’t want tort reform when one business sues another business. It wants tort reform for the nonbusiness people who have legitimate claims. We are against tort reform in any regard, whether it’s business suing business, individuals suing businesses, individuals suing insurance companies. We have trust in our juries to convict people and send them to jail; certainly we can trust juries to find fault and compensate people that have been wrong due to carelessness or bad products.”
Untoward Consequences “I’ve had the opportunity to go to Jefferson City and meet with a number of lawmakers up there primarily to explain the effects of the legislation they are considering. Most of them are not lawyers, and I think most of them want to understand the legislation that’s before them and how it will play out in real life. There are certainly untoward consequences in some of this legislation that some of the nonlawyers don’t realize. … For example, when you remove responsibility from the person that carelessly injured (another person) or made a defective product and chose to continue to put it on the market, when you limit their damages, a lot of that burden that has been caused by the wrongdoer is ultimately put on the state and the federal government through Medicare and Medicaid. So, the untoward consequence of giving a pass to a business or insurance company is you make the state or the United States government pay for the wrongdoing of that other individual. … And that shouldn’t be the way it is.”
Pro Bono Passion “I’ve been on the board for (Court Appointed Special Advocates of Southwest Missouri). That organization assists kids in need that need legal representation, that need assistance. I’ve been involved with our local legal aid here, trying to assure that underfunded individuals get assistance. The system works great if you have money. It is more difficult when you don’t.”
Beyond Baylor “I went to Baylor [University] for my undergrad, and then I went to the University of Arkansas for law school. … I didn’t want to go to a big firm, but I did want to do trial work. Tom Strong was, and in my opinion is, one of the pre-eminent lawyers in this state and probably in the country. … I always tell people my job is great because I continue to learn new things every day I go to work and I get to see how I help people’s lives. I get calls not every week, but probably once a month from a former client telling me thanks, they are able to send their kid to college or they are able to get appropriate medical care, whatever the case may be because we’ve represented them. Products have been changed or taken off the market and those things always make you feel like you are making a difference.”
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
