Ashley Lynn Ricket

Ashley Ricket has handled hundreds of cases of nursing home abuse, but a recent case where a woman died from horrific pressure sores (often called "bedsores”) made a lasting impression on her. 

“The case was in California,” she says, “and will probably be on my mind for a long, long time. "We didn’t focus on what happened but why it happened.” And what was uncovered shocked even Ricket, who thought she had seen it all. 

“This was a system failure,” she emphasizes, “where in essence the residents AND the employees were subjected to abuse by the corporate culture of the parent company. It was disgusting.” Ricket empathized with the nursing home staff; there weren’t enough of them, they weren’t trained properly, and what happened wasn’t entirely their fault. 

“The woman was only there about eleven weeks and developed deep pressure sores, causing an excruciatingly painful death,” she stated. “The family wasn’t aware she had the problem until it was too late." 

In this case, Ricket was able to help win a judgment of several million dollars with her distinguished co-counsel Lesley Clement of Sacramento, California. “Our opponents respect our expertise in the area of nursing home and elder abuse and that helps in equitable resolution of cases that typically go on for 18 months or more,” she says.

Ashley feels that, thanks to handling hundreds of cases of nursing home abuse, “We are very familiar with the state and federal regulations governing nursing homes, allowing us to streamline cases and get to the heart of the matter," says Ricket.

Ricket notes her efforts often result in an agreement to implement long-term change of policy. “Usually we can get a policy put into place to keep what happened from happening again. Nursing home owners typically agree to our requests for policy and procedure changes." 

She's worked on medical cases and nursing home cases since she started her career as an attorney. It was then she discovered nursing home abuse was the niche she was interested in. "I felt that it was important to protect our elders from abuse and neglect in nursing homes,” Ricket recalls. “At that point in their lives, they are at a fragile and vulnerable stage and are in great need of a voice."

Ashley Ricket's practice focuses on personal injury litigation, representing plaintiffs specifically in the areas of nursing home abuse and neglect, medical malpractice, insurance bad faith and daycare abuse. She has litigated cases in state and federal courts in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas; the Federal Court of Claims in Washington, D.C.; the Supreme Court of Missouri; and the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District of Missouri. Ashley went to trial in an elder abuse case in California over a period of 10 weeks in 2013 with co­counsel Lesley Clement.

In 2012, Ashley was selected by Missouri judges and her peers to receive the Rising Star Award at the Women’s Justice Awards, awarded to women lawyers 40 or under or within the first 10 years of practice who have already made a difference in the justice system or the profession and who appear on a path toward even greater accomplishment. Also in 2012, Ashley was recognized by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as one of Missouri's "Up & Coming" attorneys, and has been named to the National Trial Lawyers association Top 40 Under 40 list in 2012-­2015. Ashley has also been named to Super Lawyers for Missouri and Kansas for the years 2012-­2015. Ashley is licensed to practice in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.

Ashley currently serves on the board of governors for the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys and the board of directors for the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City. Ashley is also a published author in the Journal of the Missouri Bar as well as the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys’ magazine, Missouri Trial Attorney
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