Virginia I. Stevens Crimmins | Attorney

Ginnie received a B. A in 1998 from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia in International Relations and French where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ginnie subsequently attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. During law school Ginnie was a member of Georgetown's Journal on Poverty Law and Policy and represented clients in Georgetown's Domestic Violence Clinic.

After graduation from law school in 2001, Ginnie and her husband returned to Kansas City where Ginnie began practicing with the law firm of Spencer Fane Britt and Browne in Spencer Fane's general litigation group. While at Spencer Fane, Ginnie's practice focused on education and business litigation, involving business torts, contract disputes, and insurance issues. In 2004, Ginnie joined the law firm of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP as an associate where she has primarily worked on business litigation and wage and hour cases. In July 2008, Ginnie was elected to the Firm's partnership.

Ginnie is licensed to practice law in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois and is a member of the ABA, Lawyers Association of Kansas City, KCMBA, Illinois Bar Association and the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City.

Since beginning the practice of law, Ginnie has represented both individual and corporate clients in many different forums across the country and has experience prosecuting and defending cases at both the trial court and appellate court levels. Examples of Ginnie's experiences include:

* American Family Mutual Insurance Company v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., et al., (business litigation): Ginnie successfully defended Countrywide at trial in Missouri Sate Court against claims that included a fraud claim seeking punitive damages. Judgment was rendered in favor of Countrywide on all claims.

* Truck Insurance Exchange v. Prairie Framing, et. al., (bad faith insurance disputes): In Truck Insurance Exchange, Ginnie represented Prairie Framing on appeal and defended the trial court's summary judgment ruling that found Prairie Framing's insurance company breached its duty to defend and indemnify Prairie Framing in an underlying wrongful death action and found that the insurance company was liable for acting in bad faith when refusing to settle the claims against Prairie Framing. The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District of Missouri, affirmed in part and denied in part, the trial court's decision. The Court of Appeals affirmed the summary judgment ruling finding that the insurance company breached its duties to defend and indemnify but remanded the case for a factual determination on the claim of bad faith refusal to settle. The parties ultimately settled the case.

* Loan Originator and Loan Processor Misclassification Cases: (FLSA wage and hour case) Ginnie, along with George Hanson, has represented hundreds of loan originators and loan processors against their employers to recover unpaid minimum and overtime wages. Examples of these cases, include Archer v. National Bank of Kansas City, Carson v. Bank of Blue Valley, Davis v. Novastar, Gieseke v. First Horizon Home Loan Corporation, Perry v. National City, and West v. First Franklin.

In Davis v. NovaStar, the Court certified a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action against NovaStar Mortgage Company. The case was filed in the Western District of Missouri and included class members throughout the United States. See 408 F.Supp.2d 811 (W.D. Mo. 2006). Ultimately, a court-approved settlement was reached in 2006.

In Gieseke v. First Horizon Home Loan Corporation, loan originator plaintiffs filed an FLSA collective action case against First Horizon alleging that First Horizon failed to pay them minimum and overtime wages. The United States District Court for the District of Kansas conditionally certified the case as a collective action; class members extended throughout the United States. See 408 F.Supp.2d 1164 (D.Kan. 2006). A court-approved settlement was reached in 2008.

In Perry v. National City, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois conditionally certified an FLSA collective action case on behalf of loan originators employed by National City. See 2007 WL 1810472 (S.D. Il. 2007). A court-approved settlement was reached in 2008.

* Heartland Spine & Specialty Hospital v. HCA Midwest Division, et. al., (antitrust litigation): Recently, Ginnie has represented Heartland Spine and Specialty Hospital in Sherman Act I and state law tort claims against insurance companies and hospitals in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Ginnie has played a key role in discovery on this case. Ginnie has been extensively involved in the review and analysis of thousands of pages of document discovery, deposed several of Defendants' witnesses and defended Heartland's employees at depositions during the discovery phase of the case. This case has settled.