Eric T. Lanham
Eric Lanham has been representing employers and insurance carriers in defending workers’ compensation claims since 1993. His experience encompasses all areas of workers’ compensation practice, and he works with clients to identify and implement ways to reduce the number and severity of workers’ compensation claims. His expertise is in handling complex workers’ compensation claims, defining the limits of workers’ compensation and employer’s liability policies, and protecting the subrogation interests of employers and insurers against claimant’s counsel who try to reduce those liens.Mr. Lanham successfully defended one of the employers in Endicott v. Display Technologies, a Missouri Supreme Court decision defining the date of accident in repetitive trauma claims. He was the lead attorney in Miller v. American Royal, a Missouri Court of Appeals decision that reversed a Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission finding that the claimant was a statutory employee. Mr. Lanham convinced the Missouri Court of Appeals that a claimant’s alcohol intoxication completely bars him from receiving benefits in Garcia v. Babcock & Wilcox. He persuaded the Kansas Court of Appeals to reverse a Board of Appeals finding that a claimant’s knee injury arose out of and in the course of her employment in Johnson v. Johnson County. He successfully defended the employer before the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission in Leal v. City Wide Transportation, one of the first new law decisions defining the “prevailing factor” issue. He frequently argues cases before administrative and appellate courts throughout Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.
Mr. Lanham authored a quarterly review of the Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission decisions for the Missouri Workers Compensation Law Quarterly. The University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review published his article on the role of a court-appointed guardian ad litem, and a number of his articles appear in various magazines and newspapers. He presents workers’ compensation seminars for clients, industry groups and the bar and is an active member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Committee. He is one of numerous MVP lawyers named as Super Lawyers.
Mr. Lanham is a shareholder with the firm. He has served as the firm’s President and CEO and has been its managing partner. Mr. Lanham is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell and is admitted to practice law in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. He has served on numerous boards and committees. Mr. Lanham and his wife have three children, and they are all avid Mizzou fans.
