Jim Craig was elected as Vice-President of the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys and will cycle through the chairs to become President in April 2023. Jim has been Treasurer of the ADTA since April 2019, and has been a member since 2010. The ADTA is an association of proven successful defense trial attorneys who associate…read more

Kent Gummert of Lederer Weston Craig, PLC recently tried a civil case in Dallas County Iowa. The case was somewhat unique because it was tried under full COVID protocols with all attorneys, court personnel, parties and jurors wearing masks and separated by plastic dividers or spread throughout the court room. The jury actually deliberated in…read more

Kim Hardeman was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers at the ACTL Spring Meeting in Tucson, Arizona on March 7. Kim’s selection followed a rigorous screening process that evaluated her career as a trial lawyer and included the opinions of the judges and lawyers with whom she has worked. Fellowship…read more

The Iowa Supreme Court handed down the case of 33 Carpenters v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (https://www.iowacourts.gov/iowa-courts/supreme-court/supreme-court-opinions/case/18-1354), holding that an assignment 33 had obtained from the State Farm insureds was invalid under Iowa law and could not be used by 33 to pursue the insurer for additional storm damage repairs.  33 had advertised…read more

LWC Member Brenda Wallrichs successfully defended Westfield National Insurance Company in a case pending in the U.S.D.C. for the Southern District of Iowa involving uninsured motorists’ benefits. In Behning v. Westfield, Plaintiff Behning was severely injured in an auto accident while serving as a police officer. The offending driver was not insured. His employer paid…read more

LWC Founder Jim Craig received the Iowa Defense Counsel Association Meritorious Service Award at its 2019 Annual Meeting in Des Moines.  The Award is given for lifetime service to better the civil justice system and the defense bar.  Commenting on Jim’s service, IDCA President, Mike Moreland said, “Jim Craig has well served the defense bar…read more

LWC Member Benjamin M. Weston tried a four-day jury trial to defense verdict in May 2017 in Dubuque County, Iowa.  Plaintiff, 61-years old, alleged that she slipped and fell on a clementine sample at the Sam’s Club in Dubuque, Iowa while shopping with her sister-in-law on December 31, 2013.  She claimed that, as a result…read more