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Chris Schnieders is a skilled trial lawyer devoted to representing individuals and families in complex civil litigation — with a focus on catastrophic injury, occupational exposure, and wrongful death cases.
Chris has successfully tried and resolved cases across the country, including:
- a $21.8 million verdict in a Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) case in Norfolk, Virginia;
- a $2.575 million verdict in a Wichita, Kansas medical-malpractice case involving a fatal opioid overdose;
- a $3.9 million settlement in Warren County, Illinois — the largest settlement in the county’s history — arising from a catastrophic wrongful-death case; and
- a $2.4 million settlement in Cook County, Illinois in a psychiatric-malpractice case involving the suicide of a hospitalized patient.
In addition to his courtroom victories, Chris has consistently helped achieve successful resolutions for thousands of clients in national mass-tort litigations, including those involving Roundup and Avandia. His work in these and other pharmaceutical and medical-device cases has led to over a billion dollars in recoveries for injured individuals and their families.
Chris has also served in significant leadership positions in national multidistrict litigations (MDLs), including:
- Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In re: Uloric Products Liability Coordinated Pretrial Proceedings, Case No. 20 C 623 (N.D. Ill.);
- Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and Chair of the Discovery Committee in In re: Zofran (Ondansetron) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2657 (D. Mass.);
- Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In Re: Cordis IVC Filter Cases, JCCP 4977, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda; and
- Chair of the Discovery Committee in In re: Zoloft (Sertraline Hydrochloride) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2342 (E.D. Pa.).
Over his career, Chris has built a reputation for holding Fortune 500 corporations and institutions accountable in some of the nation’s most challenging litigation. He has represented clients harmed by toxic exposures, defective medical devices, dangerous pharmaceuticals, and professional negligence, and continues to take on cases involving diesel-exhaust, benzene, and PFAS (“forever-chemical”) contamination.
Regularly recognized by his peers for both skill and integrity, Chris has received numerous honors, including:
- Best Lawyers in America “Lawyer of the Year” (2025) for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs in Kansas City;
- Best Lawyers in America “Lawyer of the Year” (2023) for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs in Kansas City;
- designation as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by The National Trial Lawyers;
- recognition as a Kansas Super Lawyer since 2013; and
- an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
An active member of the legal community, Chris belongs to the American Association for Justice, the Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas Bar Associations, the National Trial Lawyers, and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, where he has served in the past as Vice Chair of the Civil Practices Committee. He is a graduate of the KCMBA Bar Leadership Academy and the Ross T. Roberts Inn of Court Program.
Outside the courtroom, Chris volunteers within the community and devotes pro bono time to assisting individuals facing family-court challenges.
Currently, Chris continues to lead litigation on behalf of railroad workers, farmers, and families affected by toxic and environmental exposures — including Roundup, PFAS and biosolids contamination, diesel-exhaust and benzene-related cancers, and other cases involving catastrophic injury and wrongful death. His work combines deep scientific understanding with relentless advocacy for those whose lives have been upended by corporate negligence.
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.
The full press conference can be found here.
