Practice Areas
Sarah Ruane is a partner and Chair of the Litigation Management Committee at Kansas City-based Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP. She has served as trial counsel—including lead counsel—in 10 jury trials in both federal and state courts, with nearly all involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, or health care services. As Chair of the Litigation Management Committee, Sarah oversees the assignment and coordination of legal teams across the firm’s national mass tort and class action cases, ensuring efficiency and high-quality outcomes for clients.
Sarah has developed broad expertise in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation under the mentorship of Tom Cartmell, who has served as co-lead and co-lead trial counsel in multiple successfully resolved multidistrict litigations (MDLs). She played a key role in trials and discovery efforts over the past decade in the national Pelvic Mesh Repair System Products Liability Litigation, which included:
In Re: C.R. Bard, Inc., MDL No. 2187
In Re: American Medical Systems, Inc., MDL No. 2325
In Re: Boston Scientific Corp., MDL No. 2326
In Re: Ethicon, Inc., MDL No. 2327
In these matters, Sarah contributed to general causation expert reports, briefed and argued Daubert motions, defended case-specific depositions, and deposed physicians, sales representatives, and expert witnesses. She also second-chaired the first (and only) pelvic mesh jury trial against Coloplast, resulting in a $2.5 million verdict for the plaintiff.
In National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804, Sarah helped build the liability case against Teva Pharmaceuticals. Her work spanned the full scope of discovery—from negotiating ESI protocols and conducting document reviews to deposing corporate witnesses. She also represented Buchanan County, Missouri, which had one of the highest opioid prescription rates in the United States.
Sarah has spent her entire legal career at Wagstaff & Cartmell, which has grown during her tenure to include 34 attorneys and 52 staff members. The firm practices nationwide in areas including product liability, consumer fraud, class actions, antitrust, corporate misconduct, professional liability, and public entity representation.
She currently serves on the District of Kansas Bench-Bar Committee, working alongside six sitting judges to evaluate and improve the court’s rules and serve as a liaison between the judiciary, the bar, and the public. Sarah has also served on the Board of Directors for the Lawyers Association of Kansas City – Young Lawyers Section and Lawyers Encouraging Academic Performance (LEAP).
Sarah earned her undergraduate degree in Spanish and Sociology from Wake Forest University in 2003 and her J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2006. She is a frequent speaker at seminars focused on trial advocacy.
Career
Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers, 2025
Women’s Justice Award, Missouri Lawyers Media, 2025
20 to Know in KC’s Legal Community, Kansas City Business Journal
People on the Move – Women’s History Month, Kansas City Business Journal, 2024
Rising Stars, Thomson Reuters, 2011–2014
20 in Their Twenties, Ingram’s Magazine
Work Highlights
Sarah was appointed Co-Lead Counsel of the Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3094 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in front of the Honorable Gene E.K. Pratter.
Successfully argued before the Missouri Supreme Court in Wanda Mayes, et al., v. Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, et al. Case No. SC93012
Has extensive trial experience and has tried a number of cases to verdict in Missouri and Kansas
