Legal Action

The St. Louis attorney John Simon JD’15 has been on a notable winning streak. In 2023, Simon secured a $745 million verdict in a wrongful death suit against a distributor and a retailer of Whip-It! nitrous oxide cartridges. The case followed the death of a young woman who was struck by a motorist who’d passed out after inhaling nitrous oxide from a Whip-It! cartridge. Simon argued during the trial that the distributor was knowingly selling the cartridges, which are supposed to be used for whipped cream, to smoke shops for sale as an inhalant. Then, with his father as cocounsel, Simon last year won a $462 million jury award in a case against a manufacturer of truck trailers. Simon brought the suit on behalf of the families of two men who died in an accident involving one of the company’s trailers. He argued that the trailer’s rear impact guard failed during the crash, and that the company had lobbied against regulations that would have mandated more effective guards. Simon, founder and managing partner of the Simon Law Firm in St. Louis, said the two cases weren’t about money but about helping people in a time of need. “These aren’t file numbers,” he said. “This is a mom, dad, sibling, or friend going through the worst thing they’ve ever been through in their life.” ◽