Elizabeth A. Evers Guerra

913.234.6109

Elizabeth is a skilled attorney who possesses extensive courtroom experience. She has routinely been named Super Lawyers for Kansas and Missouri, as well as been selected as Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch in the practice area of Personal Injury Litigation – Defense. Prior to joining the firm, Elizabeth served the citizens of Wyandotte County, Kansas as an Assistant District Attorney. In that role, Elizabeth tried over 20 jury trials, and routinely secured guilty verdicts for a wide range of criminal offenses. Elizabeth also has experience practicing before the Kansas Court of Appeals and Kansas Supreme Court, having successfully briefed and argued cases before both courts.

After leaving the district attorney’s office, Elizabeth transitioned her courtroom skills to a successful civil practice focused upon the defense of individuals and companies involved in litigation. Elizabeth routinely handles matters involving catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, trucking, and professional and government liability, and brings the same zeal and dedication to her civil practice as she did to her prosecution of violent crimes.

During her many years of civil litigation practice, Elizabeth has taken cases to trial in Missouri, Kansas, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, and has achieved favorable outcomes for her clients. Elizabeth is an active member of the Earl E. O’Connor American Inn of Court, which strives to promote excellence in legal advocacy with a particular emphasis on ethics, civility, professionalism and legal skills. Elizabeth is a board member of the Johnson County Bar Foundation (the charitable arm of the Johnson County Bar Association) and is a member of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Community Advisory Relations Board. Elizabeth also serves on her church’s finance counsel and is a as a board member of the For Elysa Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving awareness, promoting research and providing hope to families affected by pediatric viral myocarditis and sudden cardiac arrest.

Elizabeth currently serves as the Diversity and Inclusion Chairperson at the firm, which strives to increase diversity within the firm and contribute to the community through the Veterans Community Project, NourishKC, Harvester’s, Hillcrest KC, Johnson County Pro Bono Guardianship Clinic, and many other local organizations.

Outside of her practice, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her family, including her dog Judge Truman, and baking pies for Upper Crust Pie Bakery in downtown Overland Park, Kansas.

Representative Matters

Weinstein v. Village Shalom & American Jazz Museum

Venue: Jackson County, Missouri Beth Evers defended this slip-and-fall case, in which the plaintiff claimed catastrophic injuries and sought a total of $2,500,000 in damages. Ms. Evers won summary judgment, resulting in a final dismissal and no liability for her client.

Gee v. Westgate Towers

Venue: United States District Court, District of Kansas Beth Evers won this housing, race, and religious discrimination case on a motion to dismiss, based on lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim under Kansas housing law. By disposing of the case early in the proceedings, Ms. Evers helped her client avoid the significant time and expense that litigation would have entailed.

Rogers v. Sentry Insurance and Cornejo & Sons, LLC

Venue: Sedgwick County, Kansas Elizabeth Evers Guerra successfully defended Cornejo & Sons, LLC in this wrongful death auto accident case. This case involved a multi-vehicle collision which occurred on northbound Interstate 35 (I-35) near Bella Plains, Kansas rest stop on September 19, 2014 at approximately 8:00 p.m. Decedent Douglas Rogers was operating his vehicle northbound on I-35 when he lost control, causing it to strike a concrete median and disabling his vehicle on the roadway. Rogers’ vehicle came to rest mostly in the outside lane of traffic near the bottom of a downgrade. Following his accident, Rogers exited his vehicle and was standing in the roadway next to his vehicle. Jessica Sybert was also traveling northbound on I-35 when she struck the rear of Rogers’ vehicle. Cornejo & Sons was operating a 2005 International Freight Truck northbound behind Sybert’s vehicle. When Sybert hit Rogers’ vehicle, it caused Rogers’ vehicle to rotate and strike Rogers, knocking him down and propelling him toward the grass shoulder/ditch. Upon seeing the collision, Cornejo applied brakes and swerved to the right toward the ditch, entering the grass and passing over Rogers’ body in the ditch. Rogers died of blunt force trauma to the chest. Plaintiffs sought total damages of $6.5 million. In successfully defending the case, the jury determined damages at a fraction of Plaintiff’s claim. It furthermore determined that Cornejo was only 5% at fault.

McCoy v. MDR Management, Inc.

Venue: Jackson County, Missouri Sean M. Sturdivan and Elizabeth Evers Guerra won a Motion for Sanctions and Motion to Dismiss for their client, MDR Management, Inc. in this Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri employment discrimination case. Carol McCoy asserted claims of sex discrimination, disability discrimination and constructive discharge. Defense counsel proactively served written discovery requests upon Plaintiff at the start of the civil action. Counsel aggressively moved forward with Motions for Sanctions for Plaintiff’s repeated failures to timely respond to discovery requests and general failure to prosecute her case. Through this motion practice, Defendant convinced the Court to assess attorney’s fees against Plaintiff and to dismiss the case.

Cantrell v. Christensen

Venue: United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) Bradley S. Russell and Elizabeth Evers Guerra successfully defended Christopher Christensen in this auto accident case. This case involved a rear end auto accident on March 18, 2015 in the westbound lanes of NW Chipman Road near the intersection of NW Ward Road in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. Defendant admitted liability at trial such that the sole issue before the jury was damages. Plaintiff alleged that she sustained a serious neck injury that would require $214,000 in future medical expenses plus pain/suffering damages totaling a request for an award of over $500,000. In contrast, the defense argued that Plaintiff suffered nothing more than a cervical strain that resolved in eight weeks, culminating in total damages of $20,000. The jury awarded Plaintiff $10,000. Before trial, Plaintiff’s failure to timely designate experts resulted in a sanctions award of $12,956 to Defendant such that Plaintiff ultimately owed Defendant $2,956 after trial.

Ramirez-Espino v. Estate of Duffield, et al.

Beth Evers Guerra obtained summary judgment for her client in a contentious property damage claim. Plaintiff’s son was speeding when his vehicle collided with another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle died. Plaintiff filed a claim alleging property damage to the vehicle her son was driving. Due to ongoing failures to comply with discovery, the district court struck Plaintiff’s damages from the Petition and prohibited the Plaintiff from introducing any evidence of her claimed damages as trial. As a result, Beth filed a Motion for Summary Judgment arguing that Plaintiff could not prove any damages, an essential element of a negligence claim. The district court agreed and granted summary judgment.

The matter went up on appeal, and Beth filed a Motion to Dismiss Appeal. The Kansas Court of Appeals agreed, dismissing Plaintiff’s appeal.

Professional Affiliations

Johnson County Bar Foundation.
Earl E. O’Connor American Inn of Court
Eagle International Associates, Inc.
Association of Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Community Advisory Relations Board

Recognitions

Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch Award for Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch (2021, 2022 Edition)
Super Lawyers Missouri & Kansas 2022, 2023, 2024

Publications

Named Co-Chair of the Publications Committee in 2021 of Eagle International Associates, Inc. and writes quarterly publications on a variety of topics, including pre-negligence waivers, minor settlements, litigating, diversity, and punitive damages.

Elizabeth A. Evers Guerra

Representative Matters

Professional Affiliations

Recognitions

Publications

Practice Areas

Education

Bar Admissions

Kansas City, MO

Overland Park, KS

St. Louis, MO