Tricia Campbell

Partner

Bio

Tricia focuses her practice on mass tort litigation representing clients in personal injury cases involving product liability.

In 2022, Tricia joined Krause & Kinsman as partner with nearly 14 years of experience in civil litigation in both state and federal courts and with the last ten years of her practice focused on complex litigation, particularly mass tort litigation, on a national scale.

Tricia has experience with all aspects of mass tort litigation. She has led efforts to establish multidistrict litigations (MDLs), been involved in various plaintiffs’ leadership positions on behalf of several MDLs, and been responsible for managing multiple mass tort caseloads. Most recently, Tricia was appointed by the Honorable Stephen R. Bough to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and as Chair of the Plaintiffs’ Settlement Committee for the Smitty’s 303 Tractor Hydraulic Fluid MDL pending in the Western District of Missouri. This litigation is still pending against the manufacturer defendants, but Tricia helped obtain a partial class settlement with the retailer defendants for thousands of purchasers. 

She also has experience aiding in liaison and lead counsel responsibilities. Tricia handled the deposition of a general defense expert in pathology on behalf of leadership in the C.R. Bard Pelvic Repair Systems MDL and handled the Daubert briefing for that expert on behalf of the MDL. Tricia aided in her partner’s plaintiffs’ liaison counsel role in In re Mentor Corp. Obtape Transobturator Sling Products Liability Litigation by helping maintain and distribute to co-counsel and defendants’ lead counsel an up-to-date service list, circulating relevant orders and updates regarding the litigation, and fielding a multitude of questions from plaintiffs’ counsel regarding myriad issues in the MDL. She also handled motion practice for many motions on behalf of lead counsel, argued pretrial motions for one of the Mentor ObTape bellwether cases, and drafted much of the pretrial motions and responses for that bellwether case, including regarding the inadmissibility of 510k clearance evidence.

In In re Neomedic Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, Tricia led efforts to move for centralization of cases and assisted her partner in his Co-Lead Counsel responsibilities, including in drafting the Master Long Form and Short Form Complaints for use in the litigation.

Tricia’s litigation experience includes assisting in trying a national mass tort bellwether case and performing key roles during all phases of litigation leading up to trial. She has taken hundreds of depositions in mass tort cases. In the pelvic mesh litigation, she had more than 40 cases selected as bellwethers for which she deposed over 50 treating physicians and dozens of defense experts.

Tricia worked on the bellwether case nominated to go forward as the second trial selection in the Bair Hugger MDL. For that case, she was involved in coordinating with both plaintiffs’ and defendants’ lead counsel, helped prepare and present the plaintiff for her deposition, and assisted lead counsel in the treating physician depositions and pretrial motion practice. Tricia also worked with the Bair Hugger MDL plaintiffs’ leadership on litigating two state court cases set to be the third and fifth cases to go to trial against 3M regarding the Bair Hugger device.

In In re General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation, Tricia helped obtain multiple inventory settlements with General Motors. She also coordinated and managed the work up of those cases leading up to the settlements, with over 70 cases scheduled for bellwether work up.

In addition to her substantial litigation experience, Tricia has a strong background in legal research and writing, including composing the brief for a successful Missouri Supreme Court appeal that resulted in the affirmation of the trial court verdict in her client’s favor. In 2021, she co-authored a chapter on early vetting in MDLs for the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review’s Multidistrict Litigation: Judicial and Practitioner Perspectives. 

Tricia is a licensed member of the Missouri and Kansas Bar. Since 2013, she has been named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers® Missouri & Kansas. She was selected “Best of the Bar” by The Kansas City Business Journal in 2015 and 2016 and was named a Top 40 Under 40 trial lawyer for civil plaintiff practice by The National Trial Lawyers in 2016. She has received the Missouri Lawyers Weekly Up & Coming Award (2019) and Women’s Justice Award in Litigation (2018).

Tricia is a 2008 graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law where she was a member of the National Moot Court Team and received the Top Oralist Award in 2006. She graduated cum laude in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.

Education

  • J.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
  • B.J., University of Missouri-Columbia

Admissions

  • Missouri State Bar
  • Kansas State Bar
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas

Presentations/Publications

  • Co-Author, University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review Multidistrict Litigation: Judicial and Practitioner Perspectives, Summer 2021, “Mandatory Early Vetting in MDLs: Just a Red Herring?” Chapter
  • Speaker, Kansas City Bankruptcy Bar Association CLE, November 2017, “Experts in Bankruptcy Cases”
  • Co-Author, The Missouri Bar Elder Law Deskbook, Second Edition, 2015, “Nursing Home Residents’ Rights” Chapter Supplement
  • Speaker, MATA New Lawyers Trial College CLE, March 2012, “Successfully Using Requests for Admission”
  • Speaker, American Association for Justice Summer Conference, July 2011, “AlloDerm Human Tissue Matrix Litigation Summary and Update” 
  • Co-Author, The Missouri Bar Elder Law Deskbook, Second Edition, 2010, “Nursing Home Residents’ Rights” Chapter
  • Co-Author, The Missouri Bar Litigation Settlements Deskbook, 2009, “Wrongful Death Settlements” Chapter Supplement
  • Co-Author, The Missouri Bar Litigation Settlements Deskbook, 2009, “Wrongful Death Settlements,” Chapter Supplement

Professional Memberships and Involvement

  • Women En Mass
  • Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City
    • AWL Board of Directors, 2018-present
    • AWLF “Women on the Move” 5k Committee, 2017
    • AWL Connections Mentee, 2013-2016
  • American Association for Justice
  • Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys
    • Board of Governors, 2022-present
    • Co-Chair, Women’s Caucus, 2022-present
    • New Lawyers Committee, 2012-2014
  • Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
    • Co-Chair, Civil Section, Torts Committee, 2021-present
    • Vice-Chair, Civil Section, Torts Committee, 2018-2020
    • Vice-Chair, Young Lawyers Section Social Committee, 2018