Bill Tretbar received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona in 1976 and his law degree from the University of Kansas in 1980. He has practiced as part of Fleeson, Gooing, Coulson & Kitch ever since.

Mr. Tretbar leads the firm’s Employment Law Practice Group, and represents employers and employees in court and before administrative agencies in a variety of settings. He is also experienced in counseling individuals and corporate fiduciaries in disputes involving estates and trusts, newspapers and broadcasters with respect to media law issues, and businesses and individuals in many other types of commercial, civil rights, and injury litigation. He is also active in the representation of the state’s largest school district. He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers In America in six practice areas, including Commercial Litigation, Employment Law-Individuals, Labor Law-Management, Litigation-First Amendment, Litigation-Labor and Employment, and Litigation-Trusts and Estates.

Representative decisions in cases Mr. Tretbar has handled include:

• Steckline Communications, Inc. v. Journal Broadcast Group of Kansas, Inc., 305 Kan. 761, 388 P.3d 84 (2017) [equitable estoppel as bar to affirmative defense in contract case]
• Walsh v. Weber, No. 113,972, 2016 WL 4750102 (Kan. Ct. App. Sept. 9, 2016), rev. denied, (Oct. 27, 2017) [affirming jury verdict for plaintiff in breach of contract and unjust enrichment claim and imposing constructive trust]
• Central Transportation Services, Inc. v. Cole, No. 13-1295, 2013 WL 5938102 (D. Kan. Nov. 6, 2013) [denying preliminary injunction in covenant-not-to-compete case]
• McGuire v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., No. 08-1072, 2010 WL 11523651 (D. Kan. Aug. 9, 2010), aff’d, 448 Fed. Appx. 801 (10th Cir. 2011) [summary judgment for insurer in breach of agency agreement claim]
• Brooks v. Via Christi Regional Medical Center, No. 08-1376-JTM, 2010 WL 446523 (D. Kan. Feb. 4, 2010) [summary judgment for hospital in FMLA interference claim]
• Nelson v. Nelson, 288 Kan. 570, 205 P.3d 715 (2009) [representation of beneficiaries in case revising legal requirements for the imposition of a constructive trust]
• Wichita Eagle and Beacon Publishing Company v. Simmons, 274 Kan. 194, 50 P.3d 66 (2002) [judgment for daily newspaper in Kansas Open Records Act dispute]
• Voegeli v. House (In re Estate of Doffing), No. 95,911, 2007 WL 3341742 (Kan. Ct. App. Nov. 9, 2007), rev. denied, 286 Kan. 1178 (2008) [enforcement of settlement agreement among heirs involving non-probate assets]

The father of two daughters, Mr. Tretbar served for many years as a mentor with the Communities in School program and on a number of other boards, as well as a subcommittee of the Kansas Judicial Council. He is a past recipient of the Wichita Bar Association’s President’s Award for his work as the first editor of the Association’s monthly magazine, The Bar-o-Meter.