Kari is a founding member of O’Leary, Shelton, Corrigan, Peterson, Dalton & Quillin LLC. Her practice includes all aspects of personal injury litigation, including: catastrophic injuries, many of which result in amputations; wrongful death claims; products claims; premises liability cases; auto and trucking accidents; all-terrain and side by side/utility-task vehicle accidents; forklift accidents; electrocution and power line cases; construction accidents; workplace accidents; and workers’ compensation. In addition, Kari represents people injured as a result of pharmaceutical and drug products in mass tort litigation on a national basis. Kari has won verdicts, awards and settlements in multiple jurisdictions and has obtained millions of dollars for her injured clients throughout the country.

A large part of Kari’s practice is dedicated to representing those injured in serious auto and trucking accidents and in handling wrongful death cases. Kari regularly represents amputees who have been caused to lose limbs due to injuries in electrocution, powerline or manufacturing accidents. She has successfully resolved cases against multiple corporate defendants, including Fortune 500 companies.

Kari regularly represents firefighters, police officers, EMS personnel, as well as members of many other unions work injuries. Her expertise with the workers’ compensation system, in both Missouri and Illinois regularly produces excellent results for her clients who are injured on the job. Due to Kari’s knowledge of the workers’ compensation system, she has been asked to speak on the topic and has given lectures to other lawyers at Continuing Legal Education seminars.

Kari was raised in St. Louis. She comes from a medical family with numerous physician family members. Both her father and grandfather had medical practices in the St. Louis area, and her father was the Chief of Family Practice for a hospital system in St. Louis. Kari’s brother is also a physician. Kari utilizes these resources in representing cases involving serious and catastrophic injury.

Despite having numerous physicians in her family, Kari chose a different path and attended law school at the University of Missouri- Kansas City. While in school she was an Editor for The Urban Lawyer Law Journal and authored an article for publication; was on the Dean’s List; received an American Jurisprudence Award; was granted an Emissary Award; and received recognition for her student leadership. After graduating in 2000, Kari practiced law with a multi-state defense firm in both its Kansas City and St. Louis offices. This experience gave her firsthand knowledge of the strategies that insurance companies, and their lawyers, utilize to defend and deny claims of those that are injured. Kari soon realized her true calling was to represent people hurt by the negligence and wrongful actions of others. She has done the same since 2002 when she became a founding lawyer in the firm Onder, Shelton, O’Leary & Peterson, LLC. Since that time Kari has used the knowledge she gained as a defense lawyer to help her clients in their cases. In September of 2017, Kari and 5 other lawyers left her old firm together to form O’Leary, Shelton, Corrigan, Peterson, Dalton & Quillin LLC.

American Bar Association
Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys
Illinois State Bar Association

Verdicts and Settlements:

$2,785,000 – Electrocution
$1,374,432 – Factory Accident
$1,200,000 – Wrongful Death
$1,177,000 – Motor Vehicle Accident
$920,340 – Workplace Accident
$886,280 – Construction Site Accident

Missouri Super Lawyers
Missouri Super Lawyers Rising Star
The Best Lawyers in America- Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation and Product Liability Litigation
Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Missouri by National Trial Lawyers
Top 40 under 40 Litigation Lawyers in the State of Missouri by American Society of Legal Advocates
Client Distinction Award by Martindale-Hubbell

Missouri
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
Illinois
Kansas

For over 10 years, Kari has served on the Board of Kids’ Chance Inc. Kids’ Chance is a not-for-profit organization which provides scholarships to children of workers killed or disabled on the job. In addition to being on the Board, Kari is a long-standing member of the Scholarship Committee, where she reviews applications for scholarship approval.