Kevin Carnie Jr. has earned a reputation for taking on some of the most high-profile cases in the region, securing nearly half a billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients.
Carnie focuses on catastrophic personal injury and product liability cases. His product liability cases range from accidents involving cranes, vehicles, construction equipment, heavy machinery, factory equipment, and medical devices. His personal injury practice includes medical malpractice, auto accidents, trucking accidents, and civil rights cases.
Kevin’s business litigation experience includes antitrust claims, insurance coverage issues, securities fraud, real estate, consumer fraud, class action, banking litigation, patent infringement, and contract disputes.
Some of his most notable cases include a $109 million verdict on behalf of an asphalt company. In that case, Carnie proved a quarry company misrepresented the quality and gradation of its base rock that led to failures at two surface parking lots. The jury awarded the exact amount Carnie’s client lost in profits and the cost of redoing the parking lots as well as awarded more than $108 million in punitive damages.
He also represented a 17-year-old Tennessee girl who lost both of her legs when she was struck by a speeding and impaired driver who ran a yield sign. Kevin obtained a settlement close to the maximum amount state law allows against government entities, based on the government’s failure to place a stop sign at the intersection.
His class action work has included a $32.4 million jury verdict in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case involving robocalls.
In an eight-figure class action settlement for Illinois doctors, Kevin’s work forced insurance companies to pay doctors interest on late payments.
His product liability experience includes a $24 million settlement for a man who suffered catastrophic injuries during an industrial equipment accident. The case brought awareness to inadequate safety guards on industrial machinery.
He’s also been a fierce advocate for children with disabilities, winning a $20 million settlement after uncovering abusive conditions on their school buses.
Kevin also won a $3.1 million verdict for a murder victim’s family, highlighting the need for reform at a problem property in St. Louis.
Kevin’s work has also exposed the dangerous practice of overprescription of amphetamines. He represented a mother who brought her daughter to a rehab facility, where she was prescribed Vyvanse and eventually suffered a fatal stroke due to overprescription. Kevin secured a $5 million jury verdict in that case.
He represented a police officer who was paralyzed during a shooting after the officer’s bullet proof vest failed to protect him. The trial brought attention to the limitations of body armor, helping to save law enforcement lives.
Kevin also isn’t afraid to hold law enforcement accountable. In addition to his significant trial expertise, he has extensive experience in civil rights matters. He’s frequently quoted and featured in the media as a subject matter expert on the topic, including The Pulitzer Center, The Marshall Project as well as St. Louis Public Radio and TV news affiliates.
He represented a man who died while being held in a prone restraint position for too long, causing a fatal medical emergency. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, helping shape reform in policing tactics. Due, in part, to his work on that case, the police department adopted changes to its review of police misconduct and reassessed its legal policy for defending civil rights cases.
He also won a $1.25 million verdict for a man after an officer illegally entered his home and used a Taser to subdue him for a parking ticket.
Carnie graduated summa cum laude from Saint Louis University, where he double majored in psychology and criminal justice. He obtained his law degree from Saint Louis University, where he served as an editor of the Saint Louis University Public Law Review. He graduated cum laude and within the top 5% of his class, earning him induction to the Order of the Woolsack.
He lives with his wife and two daughters in St. Louis.
