The Hubbell Law Firm dedicates its practice to
protecting the rights of individuals and their
families when injury or death from injury tragically
occurs. Our practice covers all personal injury
law with emphasis on the prosecution of claims
for damages against railroads under the Federal
Employers’ Liability Act. The firm’s
history in injury and railroad law encompasses
a span of over 100 years.
The firm prides itself in the delivery of quality
legal representation. It is given the highest
rating of legal accomplishment from the Martindale-Hubbell
Law Directory. Two of our partners and one of
our associates have been recipients of the Lon
O. Hocker Memorial Trial Lawyer Award. This is
an honor bestowed annually by the Missouri Bar
Association to a Missouri lawyer under the age
of 35 who is selected by a panel of judges and
lawyers as showing outstanding skills in the courtroom.
Our attorneys are mature, talented individuals
who emphasize a practical approach to aggressive
counseling and advocacy. The firm’s carefully
controlled size and specialization increases the
personal attention each client deserves and receives.
Our clients find our staff to be knowledgeable,
courteous, efficient and eager to assist.
A call on our business phone or toll-free number
during regular business hours will be pleasantly
answered by one of our receptionists who will
promptly route the call to a lawyer or legal assistant.
If a call is for a specific lawyer who is not
in the office at the time, our receptionists know
at all times where that lawyer can be reached.
Assistance after office hours is provided through
an answering service that is on duty at all times
the office is closed.
A staff of experienced paralegals and legal assistants
aid the lawyers in preparation of cases for trial.
We understand that people who are in crisis have
many needs that go beyond the handling of their
case. For that reason the lawyers and staff provide
assistance to clients in applying for and obtaining
insurance, railroad retirement, social security,
veterans and other such benefits. Also, we assist
our clients in getting bills from healthcare providers
paid.
All cases are investigated by experienced, capable
investigators whose work assures the preparation
needed to maximize the chances of a successful
conclusion of each case.The lawyers and staff
of the firm are dedicated to continuing the tradition
of professional service and results that have
established its reputation.
History of the Firm
Ernest Hubbell, the founder of the law firm,
retired in 1993 after 55 years of active law practice.
He remained Of Counsel to the firm until his passing
in 2005.
Ernest Hubbell’s father, Platt Hubbell,
and uncle, George H. Hubbell, practiced law in
Trenton, Missouri for over 50 years. Trenton,
located in northwest Missouri, Grundy County,
was a rail center for the Rock Island, the Milwaukee,
the CB&Q and their predecessor railroads in
the late 1800s and early 1900s. During all their
years of practice, Platt and George Hubbell handled
many cases for individuals against railroads.
They sued railroads under Missouri’s common
law for injuries to railroad employees for some
20 years before the passage of the Federal Employers’
Liability Act in 1908. They were legal pioneers
in trials under the Act during its early years.
Ernest Hubbell spent many hours during his high
school and college years in the law offices of
his father and uncle. After graduation from law
school in 1940, he entered practice in Trenton
with his father. His father’s death ended
their professional association after only one
year. After a brief stint as an Assistant Attorney
General for the State of Missouri and military
service in World War II, Mr. Hubbell opened a
law office in Kansas City to handle Federal Employers’
Liability Act and other personal injury cases
to carry on the values and traditions of protecting
the rights of individuals that he had learned
from his father and uncle. In later years he founded
the current law firm that still bears his name.
The legal careers of Platt and Ernest Hubbell
account for more than 100 years of railroad employee
representation that continues uninterrupted to
the present time.
With the passage by Congress of the Federal Employers’
Liability Act in 1908, railroad employees were
granted the right to sue their employers for damages
by showing that any negligence on the part of
the railroad caused or contributed to an injury.
The law greatly limited the defenses railroads
previously had for injury claims under the common
law.
For many years thereafter, the courageous efforts
of lawyers like George and Platt Hubbell established
a body of law interpreting and applying the Federal
Employers’ Liability Act. Court decisions
during those early years stand today as authority
for the rights of injured railroad employees and
their families.
The attorneys of the Hubbell Law Firm proudly
follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hubbell who,
with his father and uncle, were pioneers in the
truest form of the word–representing injured
railroaders and their families and shaping the
law of the land that protects them, the Federal
Employers’ Liability Act. The legacy of
Mr. Hubbell lives on, as do the high standards
of practice and ethics he set for himself and
demanded of others.
A Historic Firm in a Historic Building
The
Hubbell Law Firm is proud to have offices in
the historic, majestic Union Station Kansas
City. The storied past of Union Station Kansas
City is detailed elsewhere in this website,
and you are cordially invited to take a tour
of the Station via our website. Interestingly,
the Station was completed in 1914. That same
year, 1914, was the birth year of Ernest Hubbell.
How coincidental, yet appropriate, it is that
the birth years of two legends would be shared.
Railroading in the United States is better because
of Union Station; railroad employees have a
safer and better workplace and work life because
of Ernest Hubbell.
In memoriam, Ernest Hubbell,
1914 - 2005
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