Benchmark Litigation

Alabama

Review

Dispute resolution
Christian & Small

Christian & Small is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and, with additional offices in Jackson, Mississippi, and the Alabama Gulf Coast, the firm serves clients regionally as well as across the nation. Some of its diverse practice areas include bankruptcy, real estate, construction, class action, and complex litigation. 

Michael Vercher of the Birmingham stronghold is among the firm’s founding members and represents both insurers and the insured in complex proceedings relating to mass- tort claims, workplace exposure, product liability, construction, transportation, and a variety of other matters.  

Among Vercher’s fellow Birmingham-based founding partners is Richard Smith, who has developed a practice featuring complex matters that arise in the financial services, healthcare, and construction sectors. Smith currently represents the design and engineering firm Stantec in three separate suits filed by plaintiffs, including the State of Alabama Department of Transportation, having to do with a recent $23 million bridge project on which the company was retained to provide engineering services. Christina May Bolin defends individuals, businesses, and insurers against lawsuits and liability claims. She has handled construction defect claims, representing both national and local contractors. Bolin is also on the team with Richard Smith defending Stantec.  

Heading the firm’s bankruptcy and restructuring group from Birmingham is Daniel Sparks, who represented Nelson Brothers an unsecured creditor of Cloud Peak Energy that had filed Chapter 11. 

Founding partner Sharon Stuart’s practice is devoted to civil trial work and arbitration. She also focuses on complex commercial and insurance litigation. John Johnson is head of the firm’s insurance coverage and extra contractual practice. He represents clients in tort litigation and breach of contract. He also advises insureds sued under Alabama’s dram shop statutes and guides carriers regarding coverage for liquor-liability claims.

Christian & Small

Christian & Small is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and, with additional offices in Jackson, Mississippi, and the Alabama Gulf Coast, the firm serves clients regionally as well as across the nation. Some of its diverse practice areas include bankruptcy, real estate, construction, class action, and complex litigation. 

Michael Vercher of the Birmingham stronghold is among the firm’s founding members and represents both insurers and the insured in complex proceedings relating to mass- tort claims, workplace exposure, product liability, construction, transportation, and a variety of other matters.  

Among Vercher’s fellow Birmingham-based founding partners is Richard Smith, who has developed a practice featuring complex matters that arise in the financial services, healthcare, and construction sectors. Smith currently represents the design and engineering firm Stantec in three separate suits filed by plaintiffs, including the State of Alabama Department of Transportation, having to do with a recent $23 million bridge project on which the company was retained to provide engineering services. Christina May Bolin defends individuals, businesses, and insurers against lawsuits and liability claims. She has handled construction defect claims, representing both national and local contractors. Bolin is also on the team with Richard Smith defending Stantec.  

Heading the firm’s bankruptcy and restructuring group from Birmingham is Daniel Sparks, who represented Nelson Brothers an unsecured creditor of Cloud Peak Energy that had filed Chapter 11. 

Founding partner Sharon Stuart’s practice is devoted to civil trial work and arbitration. She also focuses on complex commercial and insurance litigation. John Johnson is head of the firm’s insurance coverage and extra contractual practice. He represents clients in tort litigation and breach of contract. He also advises insureds sued under Alabama’s dram shop statutes and guides carriers regarding coverage for liquor-liability claims.

Lightfoot Franklin & White

Lightfoot Franklin & White is an Alabama-headquartered litigation boutique with offices in Birmingham and Houston, Texas. The firm’s standing has been cemented by unanimous peer and client review – in keeping with this, Lightfoot was the recipient of the "Alabama Firm of the Year" award for the eighth consecutive year at the Benchmark Litigation awards in 2024, a remarkable honor. An appreciative client confirms, “Lightfoot has a number of attorneys that I trust. The legal analysis and writing is top notch, and they have excellent trial lawyers.” While the firm is addressed as “the top litigation shop in [Alabama],” its reputation extends beyond the state’s borders, with additional admirers throughout the Southeast region and clients retaining the firm for national-level appointments. One peer quips, “Lightfoot just keeps on blowin’ and goin’!”

     One such client is GM, which has come to rely on Lightfoot’s product liability trial expertise. Rachel Larysuccessfully defended GM in Georgia, in a case in which the plaintiff alleged that a defect in the vehicle's glass resulted in the loss of his left eye during an accident. Despite amending his complaint three times and seeking to do so for a fourth, Lightfoot moved to dismiss the claim based on statute of limitations grounds and opposed the plaintiff's fourth attempt to amend the complaint. The federal court ruled in favor of Lightfoot's stance and the automaker, dismissing the case. This dismissal was upheld at the Eleventh Circuit in February 2024. Lightfoot’s reputation for national-level auto clients extends to another of the Detroit “Big Three,” Ford. Melody Eagan successfully defended this client at the Eleventh Circuit in an appellate matter originating from a 2016 car accident. In this case, the plaintiff decedent’s estate sued the automobile manufacturer in 2018, asserting that a defective seat belt design in the vehicle was the causative factor for the decedent's fatal injuries. In a product liability wrongful death case, the plaintiff sought millions in punitive damages. However, the jury returned a favorable verdict for the automaker. A 2021 decision at the Eleventh Circuit was fortified by its decision in August 2023 not to re-hear the case. Lee Hollis is defending Olin in several mass-action suits alleging trespass, nuisance, and negligence following chlorine leaks at one of its chemical plants. Almost 400 plaintiffs, who live near the chemical plant, have asserted claims for various health issues and depreciation of their property value, with claims exceeding $20 million. Hollis also is representing Numotion against claims of strict product liability, negligence, fraud and deceptive trade practice claims related to Numotion’s marketing and allegations that Numotion failed to use pressure mapping to detect a potential issue in the seat sling of the plaintiff’s wheelchair. The plaintiff alleges breach of the standard of care occurred when a seat cushion was delivered without an assistive technology professional, eventually resulting in development of a pressure sore. Additionally, plaintiffs assert Numotion fraudulently concealed and misrepresented its capabilities to prevent these types of injuries and also engaged in related deceptive trade practices. The case settled favorably on the eve of trial in February 2024. Michael Bell and Haley Cox serve as the regional trial counsel for Terminix, overseeing a docket of over 60 active cases spanning the Southeast. These cases are centered around consumer fraud claims tied to Terminix’s termite control services, with each case involving claims alleging millions in damages.

     Beyond product liability, Jack Sharman, who attends to a white-collar practice, is representing a senior engineering executive in a rigorous federal criminal investigation conducted by the DoJ’s Environmental Crimes Section. This high-profile case involves a leading Japanese global manufacturer of combustion engines and focuses on alleged violations of EPA emissions standards, the integrity of emissions testing processes, and the potential use of prohibited "defeat devices" to manipulate performance outcomes in contravention of environmental regulations.

 

Lightfoot Franklin & White

Lightfoot Franklin & White 

Lightfoot, Franklin & White is a respected trial and litigation boutique, best known for its deep bench of experienced trial lawyers and its ability to handle high-stakes, complex disputes. The firm has a strong record in defending clients across product liability, white-collar defense, commercial litigation, and healthcare, often stepping in on the eve of trial to secure favorable outcomes.  

Trial-tested lawyers Lana Olson and John Johnson defended DuPont de Nemours and its related entities in environmental litigation brought by the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Gadsden, which alleged PFAS contamination of its raw water intake. The claims mirrored those from a prior lawsuit filed and settled in 2016, but the new complaint omitted any reference to the earlier case. Lightfoot successfully argued that the claims were time-barred, as the alleged injury was known no later than 2016. The Alabama Supreme Court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments that more recent regulatory changes or different PFAS compounds created new injuries. It also found no basis for claims under continuing tort or abatable nuisance theories. The Court also dismissed claims against a co-defendant for lack of specific personal jurisdiction, holding that foreseeability alone could not establish jurisdiction under Alabama law. Olson continues to be highlighted as one of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation. Adam Peck is no stranger to the courtroom and has been devoted to trial work for more than 30 years. Peck is lead defense counsel for Teal Sales Inc., a Washington state-based family-owned business that designs machinery for the wood processing industry, in a high-stakes product liability lawsuit that concluded with a defense verdict in the client’s favor. The case involved a plaintiff seeking $7.3 million in damages after sustaining a catastrophic upper extremity injury while working at an Alabama mill in 2021. The plaintiff alleged the trim waste conveyor belt was negligently designed and lacked a necessary barrier guard, which he claimed contributed to his injuries. Enrique Gimenez served as lead defense counsel for U-Haul in a product liability trial in Miami-Dade County, Florida, successfully defending against claims that the company had failed to adequately repair and maintain the brake system on one of its vehicles, allegedly contributing to a crash that caused severe injuries. The Lightfoot team countered these claims by presenting testimony from both fact witnesses and experts to highlight U-Haul’s comprehensive maintenance and inspection policies. They argued that the crash resulted from the rental vehicle driver’s inattention, not from any negligence by the company. After a four-day trial, the jury deliberated for less than 90 minutes before returning a full defense verdict in favor of U-Haul. Seasoned litigator Lee Hollis represents The Boppy Company in a wrongful death product liability case involving the Boppy Newborn Lounger (NBL). The lawsuit was brought by the mother of a 29-day-old infant who died while placed in the NBL in bed between the parents as they slept. The plaintiff alleges that the design and manufacture of the lounger contributed to the infant’s death, despite the product being marketed for “awake time” use and intended only for supervised environments when parents need a safe resting place for their baby. The firm was retained by the excess insurance carrier shortly before the close of fact discovery and quickly assumed control of the defense in a case already deep in litigation. Fact and expert discovery have since concluded, and Daubert motions and motions for summary judgment are currently pending, with a trial scheduled for October 2025. Trusted advocate R. Ashby Pate served as lead plaintiffs' counsel for the City of Birmingham in a high-profile energy performance contract dispute with Trane U.S. Inc., a Fortune 500 company and national vendor. The case, filed in 2022, centered on allegations that Trane failed to deliver on promised energy savings of over $102 million from upgrades to 119 city facilities. Following the close of discovery, Pate successfully secured a favorable $21.3 million settlement for the City of Birmingham, comprised of both cash and free services. High-stakes litigator J. Chandler Bailey represents General Motors in a wrongful death product liability case involving a 2021 GMC Yukon and claims of crashworthiness defects. The plaintiffs were returning from a family vacation when their vehicle was struck head-on by a car that crossed a six-lane highway median, then struck again from behind by a trailing vehicle. The Yukon rolled and caught fire, with all occupants surviving except one daughter. While the remaining family members suffered minimal injuries, they filed suit against GM alleging design defects. The firm secured early procedural wins and successfully moved the case to Wilbarger County, a more appropriate and neutral venue, after defeating inflated warranty-based venue arguments. 

Labor and employment
Starnes Davis Florie

Starnes Davis Florie is an Alabama based full-service  firm with a strong reputation for trial experience in all areas of litigation, including labor and employment. The practice is comprised of lawyers who focus exclusively on labor and employment disputes, ranging from labor issues to wage-and-hour claims.

Chairing the firm’s practice group is Trip Umbach who has recently navigated a family dispute that involved employment issues, as the daughters filed a lawsuit against their father and the client, Jones Utility. The matter originally involved alleged discrimination claims and additionally a “pay-to-play” bribery scheme after the plaintiffs joined forces with a competitor. Umbach filed counterclaims and the disputes are ongoing. He has also handled cases alleging discrimination and retaliation, as well as restrictive covenant disputes. Alfred Perkins is active in litigation representing Alabama Municipal Insurance Corporation in a case against a former account executive. The plaintiff alleges several claims including, gender discrimination, violations of the Equal Pay Act and retaliation.

Starnes Davis Florie

Starnes Davis Florie is an Alabama based full-service  firm with a strong reputation for trial experience in all areas of litigation, including labor and employment. The practice is comprised of lawyers who focus exclusively on labor and employment disputes, ranging from labor issues to wage-and-hour claims.

Chairing the firm’s practice group is Trip Umbach who has recently navigated a family dispute that involved employment issues, as the daughters filed a lawsuit against their father and the client, Jones Utility. The matter originally involved alleged discrimination claims and additionally a “pay-to-play” bribery scheme after the plaintiffs joined forces with a competitor. Umbach filed counterclaims and the disputes are ongoing. He has also handled cases alleging discrimination and retaliation, as well as restrictive covenant disputes. Alfred Perkins is active in litigation representing Alabama Municipal Insurance Corporation in a case against a former account executive. The plaintiff alleges several claims including, gender discrimination, violations of the Equal Pay Act and retaliation.