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Admitted to Nebraska Bar 1974, Iowa Bar 2007. Education: Creighton University and University of Minnesota (B.A. 1969); Creighton University (J.D. December, 1973).
Before attending law school, Mr. Shomaker was a teacher at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska for one year, conducting classes in economics and political science for high school juniors and seniors.
From 1974 to 1977, he was associated with a general firm practicing in all areas of law, ultimately concentrating on civil litigation. From 1977 to 1979, he worked at the Douglas County Attorney's Office as a Deputy County Attorney on the Felony Trial Staff, first chairing 20 jury trials involving murder, arson, and robbery burglary and sexual assault.
From 1979 to the present, Mr. Shomaker has been associated with the Sodoro firm exclusively defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases and healthcare related lawsuits. He has a special emphasis on obstetrical malpractice cases and for the last 30 years has represented hundreds of doctors and hospitals in litigation resulting in dismissals, mediations, settlements, and has received over 95 jury verdicts in his career. Most jury trials have lasted from 1 to 3 weeks in court.
He has tried to conclusion- and won- numerous cases involving brain damaged children with severe neurological outcomes, usually involving cerebral palsy, and his physician clients have prevailed in a large number of death claims.
Mr. Shomaker has personally argued cases on appeal in the Iowa Court of Appeals, the Iowa Supreme Court, the Nebraska Court of Appeals, the Nebraska Supreme Court, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Several of these appeallate matters have resulted in significant legal decisions which have become bedrock concepts in Nebraska Jurisprudence:
In the case of Hanzlik v. Paustian, 216 Neb. 575, 344 N.W.2d 649; 211 Neb. 322, 318 N.W.2d 712, a matter which went to the Supreme Court of Nebraska twice and ultimately was preliminarily taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, the concept of the quantum of summary judgment evidence required has set a standard which is used in all summary judgment pleadings in the State of Nebraska.
The case of Brewington v. Ricard, 235 Neb. 843, 457 N.W.2d 814 defined concepts regarding the Nebraska Hospital Medical Liability Act, the principal legislation which governs the vast majority of malpractice cases in the State of Nebraska.
Alegent Health Bergan Mercy Medical Center, et al, Appellees, v. Robert Haworth, Jr., Special Administrator of the Estate of Robert Wayne Haworth, Sr., deceased, Appellant, 268 Neb. 63, 615 N.W.2d 460 concerned the issue of special statutes of limitations controlling general statutes of limitations and focused the law of wrongful death actions vis-a-vis the provisions of the Nebraska Hospital Medical Liability Act.
Mr. Shomaker is a frequent lecturer on the subject of malpractice in general and obstetrical malpractice in particular. For years he has participated in the teaching of these subjects to family practice residents of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and on a semester by semester basis has conducted lectures to the Nebraska College of Nursing students on the subject of malpractice. He has participated in the Creighton Law School Student-Client Counseling Competitions, Client Negotiating Tournaments, and Appellate and Moot Court Competitions for the last several decades.
Mr. Shomaker has been inducted into The American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization limited to 1% of the lawyer population of any state.
Mr. Shomaker is an "AV" rated lawyer by Martindale Hubbell and is a lifetime fellow of the Nebraska State Bar Association, an honorary position, and has been asked to participate in other national honorary legal organizations. He is a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association and the Iowa State Bar Association.
For the past several years, he has continuously maintained cases with the Volunteer Lawyer's Project, a pro bono organization which provides no cost legal service to low income members of the community, and has participated in the Memorial, Courts, and Medical-Legal Committees of the Omaha Bar Association for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Arbitration Forum, selected as a mediator-arbitrator.
Recently, Mr. Shomaker has been voted by his peers to serve on the Judicial Nominating Commission to assist in filling the District Court vacancies for the Nebraska Fourth Judicial District.
His malpractice defense cases have taken him to courts in every geographical area of the State of Nebraska and western Iowa where he has conducted jury trials as lead counsel, and has also tried a number of jury cases in smaller outlying communities in Nebraska and Iowa.
Mr. Shomaker's community involvement includes leading roles in a number of musical productions at the Omaha Community Playhouse since 1978, as well as participating in other musical shows, and singing in weddings, funerals, and other functions for 40 years. He is a semi-annual volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and since 1985, has read a weekly program "For Your Information" at Radio Talking Book, a service for the visually impaired in the Omaha and out state areas. He has conducted a solo music ministry at his St. Margaret Mary's Church since the mid 1970's.
Mr. Shomaker has 3 grown children, 4 grandchildren, and for 26 years has been married to Lori Ecklebe.
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