Brandon focuses his practice on building strong, lasting relationships with his clients. He prides himself on collaborating with clients to understand their business needs so that he can align client and firm interests to achieve better legal outcomes at an exceptional value. He is accessible and responsive, and he defends his clients' interests as if they were his own.
Brandon represents clients in product liability, premises liability, negligence, fraud, breach of contract and warranty actions in state and federal courts throughout the country. His experience includes representing clients in a variety of high-stakes matters involving: autonomous vehicles/equipment, construction equipment, jobsite accidents, cargo securement devices, trucking regulations and accidents, HVAC systems, fire protection systems, security alarm systems, automobiles and component parts, industrial accidents, farm and forestry equipment, educational institutions, contractual disputes, the adequacy of medical care and insurance coverage disputes.
Brandon manages large dockets of cases and personally handles all aspects of his matters from the initial case pleadings through trial. His diverse experiences allow him to assist clients of all sizes to proactively manage risk and creatively solve problems. To that end, Brandon regularly performs litigation risk assessments in which he counsels clients. He identifies liability risks and works with clients to minimize them, so that they will be in a better position to effectively and efficiently defend against litigation if it occurs.
Representative Matters
Brandon serves as National Product Liability Counsel for a privately held $2 billion company with more than 40 separate operating entities in diverse economic sectors. In 2013, Brandon worked with this client to implement a legal services efficiency model to measure the value and true cost of legal services provided by its law firms. Brandon and his team were identified by this company as its most efficient and value-adding firm with an efficiency rating of over 90 percent. In 2015, the Association of Corporate Counsel recognized this company and Shook as ACC Value Champions for their work to improve legal outcomes, reduce costs, decrease case outcome variation, and improve the efficiency and value of legal services. Brandon presented on these topics at the Champions Dinner during the 2015 ACC Conference.
Hill v. Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc., in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division, $8.5 million plaintiff verdict, including punitive damages in prisoner rights case.
Builder Servs. Grp., Inc. v. Taylor, No. 03-18-00710-CV, 2020 WL 5608484 (Tex. App. Sept. 17, 2020), review denied (Sep. 3, 2021). Reversed $1 million jury verdict with judgment rendered in favor of client for costs incurred in both trial and appellate court.
STOP Restoration v. Williams Insulation (TopBuild), Circuit Court of Ray County, Missouri (2020), successful result in a toxic tort case involving spray polyurethane foam insulation, following five hours of deliberation after a three-week trial
Diluzio v. Kinedyne, LLC, et al., Burlington County, New Jersey (2017), favorably settled during jury selection - wrongful death case involving claims of defects in truck cargo products
Coordinate appeal to have insurer’s denial of Stage IV cancer patient’s treatment reversed (2014)
Shepherd v. Barko Hydraulics, LLC, Bulloch County, Alabama (2013) (jury trial - commercial fraud and warranty issues – plaintiff verdict vacated on appeal)
Parker-Hendricksen v. Rodriguez, et al., Monmouth County, New Jersey (2011) (jury trial – defense verdict in permanent disability case involving commercial truck/pedestrian accident)
Davis v. Advanced Store Co., Inc., Jackson County, Missouri (2010) (bench trial – defense verdict in defective product case involving automobile component parts).
Wardrop v. Pyle Transport Services, Inc. et al., Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (2010) (leverage indemnification and insurance procurement provisions to procure complete defense, indemnity, and reimbursement of legal fees for client in multimillion-dollar wrongful death case)
Sutherland v. Allied Tube, et al., Cook County, Illinois (2012) (use targeted discovery to locate previously missing contract and use contract to leverage indemnification and insurance procurement provisions to obtain complete defense and indemnity for client in multimillion-dollar wrongful death suit)
Publications and Presentations
Quick Hit: The Technology of Autonomous Vehicles, DRI Women in the Law Seminar, San Diego, California, January 2019.
Connected Technology: Autonomous Vehicles and Getting From Here to There, Panel, DRI Women in the Law Seminar, San Diego, California, January 2019.
Autonomous Vehicles: Liability and Implications, Association of Equipment Manufacturers' Product Liability Seminar, Des Moines, Iowa, May 2, 2019.
Autonomous Vehicles and Product Liability Laws, Kansas City Legal Secretary Association, Kansas City, Missouri, November 2018.
Product Liability Training: Loss Control, Confidential Client Presentation, June 4, 2018.
Assessing Product Liability Risk Across the Company – Where to Look and What to Look For, Association of Equipment Manufacturers Product Liability Seminar, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 2018.
Product Liability in an Autonomous Equipment World – Unsettled Law, Association of Equipment Manufacturers Product Liability Seminar, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 2018.
Proactively Mitigating Product Liability Risks to More Efficiently and Effectively Defend Litigation, Association of Wire Rope Manufacturers 2018 Spring General Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona, April 24, 2018.
Adding Value to Your Clients: How to Self-Audit Existing Contracts to Enhance Legal Protections in Light of Business Realities, Webinar, Association of Corporate Counsel’s Colorado Consumer & Product Liability Practice Group, March 28, 2018.
Autonomous Vehicles and Product Liability Laws, Confidential Client Presentation, February 2018.
Brandon Gutshall, Douglas Robinson, and Gabriel Spooner, When Cranes Collapse, Cos. Don't Have To Follow, Law360, May 10, 2016.
Web Sling & Tie Down Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, May 4-7, 2015.
Products Liability in Practice, Guest Speaker Presentation to Products Liability Class at UMKC School of Law, 2011-2013.
Recent Medicare Litigation, What Your Client Should Know, SHB In-House Presentation, October 2010.
Brandon Gutshall, A New Uniform: NCAA Policy and Student-Athlete Misconduct, 76 UMKC L. Rev. 727 (2008).
Media coverage
Woman awarded $8.5 M after her brother dies of cancer in jail, Missouri Lawyers Weekly, June 7, 2022.
Federal Jury in St. Louis Awards $8.5 Million in Health Care Jail Crisis, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 2022.
“Up and Coming Lawyers”, Missouri Lawyer Media, August 2, 2021