Mark received his B.A. (English) and his J.D. from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1989 and 1990. He is a member of the Order of the Barristers. In September 2003, he resigned his partnership with Bryan Cave LLP (he was then head of the Kansas City Labor & Employment Department) and founded Employee Rights Law Firm - Law Offices of Mark A. Jess, LLC.
Since that time Employee Rights Law Firm has obtained over $9 Million in verdicts and settlements. Mark has now tried seven employment cases since starting his new firm and has obtained plaintiff's verdicts in six of them:
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August 2, 2005 - Jury verdict for $311,600 in actual damages for race discrimination under the Missouri Human Rights Act in Gorker v. Kansas City Missouri School District, Case No. 04-CV-200068, Jackson County Circuit Court. After attorneys' fees were added, the Court entered judgment on November 22, 2005 for $405,000.
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February 3, 2006 - With co-counsel Brendan Donelon, Mark obtained a jury verdict for $610,000 in actual and punitive damages for retaliation under the Missouri Human Rights Act in Bryant v. Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City, Case No. 04-CV-235373, Jackson County Circuit Court.
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June 20, 2007 - with co-counsel James Boggs, Mark obtained a jury verdict for $131,340 in actual and punitive damages for age discrimination under the Missouri Human Rights Act in McGeeney v. Hendrick Corp., et al., Case No. 0616-CV16110, Jackson County Circuit Court. The case later settled for $225,000.
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January 25, 2008 - with co-counsel David Lunceford, Mark obtained a jury verdict for $60,000 under Missouri's Public Employee Whistleblower Statute, RSMo. 105.055. Our client was involuntarily transferred to another facility because he blew the whistle on illegal conduct. The case style is Holmes v. Missouri Department of Corrections, et al. , Case No. 0616-CV01064, Jackson County Circuit Court. After the addition of fees and costs, the May 6, 2008 judgment was for $294, 639.75. That case and a related case for the same client later settled for $315,000.
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April 3, 2008 - Jury verdict for $633,333 in actual damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages for race discrimination under the Missouri Human Rights Act in Howard v. City of Kansas City, Missouri, Case No. 07AE-CV02320, Platte County Circuit Court. After the addition of interest, costs and attorneys' fees, the Court entered judgment on June 19, 2008 for $2.44 million. The firm's client, Melissa Howard, contended the City Council for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, refused three separate times to consider her and two other Caucasian females for employment as a municipal judge because of their race. The City has appealed and the case is now being considered by a panel of judges specially appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court.
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April 25, 2009 - Jury verdict for $6500 plus attorneys' fees to be added later in Defenbaugh v. WINCO Fireworks International, LCC and Ralph Apel, Case No. 06-CV-02516-CM-JPO, United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Ms. Defenbaugh claimed she was fired because she requested leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. After trial, the parties settled the case for $100,000.
In addition to Mark's trial work, on June 30, 2008, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District (sitting en banc) reversed and remanded an order by the trial court: 1) requiring the firm's client to arbitrate her claims and, 2) upholding the arbitrator's decision that our client's claims be dismissed with prejudice because of an extra-statutory 30 day deadline in Hallmark's mandatory arbitration agreement. Morrow v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., __ S.W.3d __, 2008 WL 2582662 (Mo.App.W.D. 6/30/2008 en banc). That case is now pending in Jackson County Circuit Court where Ms. Morrow is anxious to have her claims tried before a jury of her peers.
Mark is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), the Kansas City Chapter of NELA, the American Bar Association (Litigation and Labor & Employment Sections), the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and the Bars of Missouri, Kansas and Arizona.
