Dasha Lyeshchenko


Dasha Lyeshchenko has more than fourteen years of litigation experience. Her practice specialty is civil litigation with an emphasis on personal injury defense and insurance coverage. Ms. Lyeshchenko received her law degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, where she was Managing Editor of the Law Review.

Education

● Tver State University, Tver, Russia – Master of Arts, Linguistics, with highest distinction, July 2002
● University of Missouri – Kansas City, Kansas City, MO – Juris Doctor, cum laude, May 2006

Bar Admissions & Licenses

● Missouri
● Kansas
● U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
● U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
● U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas

Professional Affiliations

● Kansas Bar Association
● Missouri Bar Association

Foreign Languages

● Russian – native fluency

E-Mail: dlyeshchenko@schafflaw.com

Practice Areas
Our firm has extensive experience in representing insurance carriers and their insureds in all types of general liability situations, including defense of personal injury, wrongful death, property damage, business torts, premises liability and animal liability including domestic and stock animals.
Our firm has extensive expertise in the field of personal injury defense arising out of all types of general liability situations in the state and federal courts of Kansas and Missouri. Our experience includes defense of premises liability claims ranging from highly technical property conditions to failure to provide adequate security.
Our firm has decades of experience in the representation of major insurance carriers and their insureds in defense of motor vehicle liability cases, including motorcycle liability. We also have experience in defending cases involving ATV and boating accidents and farm implements. Our firm has developed a specific emphasis on UM, UIM, and PIP claims.

We represent insurance carriers and their insureds in claims involving a variety of fact patterns including fire losses, floods, gas and vapor explosions, wind and hail losses, vandalism and theft, commercial roofing, and structural collapse.  In this regard, our firm represents insurance carriers in large loss subrogation matters arising out of fire and explosion losses and products liability claims.
Analysis and litigation of insurance coverage issues is a key component of the firm’s expertise.  We are called upon to review and analyze policies in a variety of contexts to determine the carrier’s duty to pay, defend or indemnify a given claim or insured.  The firm has been successful litigating coverage issues at both at the trial and appeal court level in state and federal courts.  
Our firm has instituted numerous declaratory judgment actions and has defended numerous coverage-based actions on intentional acts, sexual abuse, coinsured clauses, materials and workmanship exclusions, concurrent causes, efficient proximate cause claims and fraud and misrepresentations in the application and in conjunction with a claim.  We also have extensive experience prosecuting claims for contribution between insurance carriers.  We emphasize the resolution of many of these disputes through summary judgment and are frequently successful in achieving early disposition of cases.  

Our firm has very specialized experience in the investigation and litigation of first party claims where the potential for an insured’s involvement in the loss exists. Our firm has conducted hundreds of examinations under oath throughout Kansas, Missouri and the Midwest. We have significant expertise in evaluating questionable first party claims, preparation of reservation of rights letters and if appropriate, denial letters. Our firm has a network of cause and origin experts, mechanical and electrical engineers and other experts needed to properly evaluate fire and other first party loss claims.  

Our firm is experienced in highly complex railroad litigation including railroad crossing accidents, railroad crossing signs/gates/safety, obstructive vegetation, and liability for the condition and presence of railroad cars.  Our experience in this area includes analysis of both state and federal statutes covering railroad safety and preemption issues.  We have represented railroads, tank and freight car businesses, and railroad contractors including vegetation control companies.

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