Tennessee

Review

Dispute resolution
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

    With a vast network of offices spanning every corner of the Southeast, Bradley has continued to uphold its status as a dominant player in the legal services industry within the region. While the firm has expanded its reach, its Birmingham headquarters houses the largest concentration of litigators. The firm’s nationwide prominence stems from its esteemed product liability practice, in which they have carved out a particular niche in handling matters for the life sciences industry. The firm is additionally well known for their commercial and appellate practices.

The firm’s Birmingham office features national practice area stars in product liability, Tripp Haston and Leigh Ann Hodge. Haston is chair of the life sciences practice, and currently handling a shareholder class action defending PRA Health Sciences in Delaware Chancery Court. Hodge leads the litigation practice group and is the lead counsel representing Fresenius Medical Care in five separate matters. Three of the matters are medical malpractice cases. In one case, Hodge successfully obtained a favorable ruling to remove the case to federal court. The plaintiff filed a motion to remand in response. Hodge is also handling a premises personal injury case, as well as a mass tort product liability matter, serving as national coordinating counsel. The matters involved include a multi-district litigation (MDL) in the District of Massachusetts; consolidated state court proceedings in Missouri and Massachusetts; and various individual-plaintiff lawsuits in both state and tribal courts. Hodge is currently also involved in another case with fellow national practice area star Craig Mayfield of the Tampa office leading the defense. Mayfield represents Prometheus Labs in a product liability action pending in the joint consolidated case program in Los Angeles, California. The plaintiffs allege improper warning labels on Allopurinol/Zyloprim in certain genotypes. Beyond the life sciences industry, Mayfield is also handling a product liability matter for home appliance manufacturer, Electrolux Home Products. He defends the company in cases throughout the Southeast in connection with property damage or personal injury. Birmingham's Lindsey Boney and Huntsville’s Kimberly Martin secured a victory for Pfizer in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In July 2021, the appeals court upheld the dismissal of a product liability lawsuit arising from the Cordarone/amiodarone litigation. Boney successfully argued the case before the Ninth Circuit. Nashville-based Lela Hollabaugh has recently served as lead trial counsel for clients in the energy and life sciences industries. Representing Avectus Healthcare Solutions, she obtained a summary judgment win, affirmed by the Sixth Circuit in a putative class action alleging the client unlawfully practiced in law.

Outside of the product liability space, Birmingham’s David Hymer heads the team serving as co-lead nationwide counsel representing CVS in several high-profile opioid cases. The team is currently handling three of the five bellwether cases related to the pending MDL proceeding in the Northern District of Ohio. Charles Stewart of the Montgomery office is known for his practice’s mix of business, product liability and employment litigation. He defends helicopter manufacturer MD Helicopters in a False Case Act lawsuit alleging that the client fraudulently persuaded the US Army to award contracts for the case of its helicopters and other services through the Foreign Military Sales program. The plaintiffs initially sought more than $1 billion, however, after the court granted a partial summary judgment win, the plaintiffs reduced their damages claim to more than $100 million. In the Jackson, Mississippi office, Alex Purvis has carved a niche practice in the Southeast region, focusing on commercial policyholder insurance coverage litigation. He currently has a related case in which he represents Sanderson Farms in a matter arising from an environmental case litigated in Georgia. Sanderson Farms filed a lawsuit against Allied World, alleging it failed to reimburse the client sufficiently for defense fees in connection with the Georgia case. In Texas, Richard “Dick” Sayles of the Dallas office continues to showcase his all-purpose commercial litigation skills. In one of several cases, he is defending clients in a putative class action filed by a stockholder, on behalf of a company, who alleges that the defendants looted millions of dollars from the company. 

Polsinelli

Polsinelli has grown beyond its Kansas City roots to inhabit various strategic locations throughout the country, often attracting local talent in the surrounding area. The firm’s aggressive expansion over the years has equipped it with breadth and depth in many areas of litigation.  
     Bouncing between Seattle and Chicago, Gary Hood maintains an intellectual practice touches on all facets of patent, trademark and trade dress IP litigation. Chicago’s Mary Clare Bonaccorsi serves as Polsinelli’s Cross-Department Litigation Chair. She is entrusted to map the overall litigation strategy for the firm.  Bonaccorsi’s practice mainly focuses on the healthcare industry, routinely leading high-stakes corporate internal investigations for clients in healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, her casework often involves false claims act litigation before judges and juries in both state and federal courts throughout the country and she has several high-profile cases under her belt. New additions from the Chicago office include Thomas Gemmell and Daniel ReinbergGemmell’s practice mixes IP and business litigation. He leads several industry-specific practices, serving as lead of the unmanned systems and advanced robotics practice and co-lead of both the aviation practice and the transportation and logistics practice. Reinberg like Bonaccorsi concentrates his practice on the healthcare industry. He represents organizations, corporations, and providers in a variety of cases, including civil and criminal matters, healthcare and securities fraud, and lawsuits arising under the False Claims Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  
     John Peterson, a new addition to this year’s rankings, bridges a geographic and practice divide. Based in Nashville but also operating out of Chattanooga as well as Los Angeles, Peterson is a commercial litigator with vast experience in securities as well as real estate, and he is yet another Polsinelli partner devoted to healthcare litigation, an industry essential to Tennessee's economy. In Atlanta, Brian McEvoys white-collar practice is dedicated to fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry.  Farah Nicol operates out of the firm’s Raleigh and Los Angeles offices and serves chair of the firm’s litigation department -- the first leader to not be based in Kansas City, the firm’s mainstay. Nicol’s primary focus is on product liability and toxic tort litigation.  

Labor and employment
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

Bradley’s labor and employment team enjoys a reputation as among the most capable in the practice area throughoutthe jurisdictions of Alabama –where the firm initially established its market presence –and Tennessee.  

Labor and employment mainstayT. Matthew Miller of the firm’s Birmingham stronghold displays an expertise that runs the gamut of labor and employment claims, representing both local companies and larger, national corporations. Millerrecently obtained summary judgment ruling on behalf of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, successfully defeating a federal suit brought by federal employee plaintiffs who brought claims regarding Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Act payments, alleging that the payments were paid to another party rather than the plaintiffs themselves.  

Matthew Lonergaof Bradley’s Nashville office has also enjoyed recent dispute success,defending the City of Clarksville against a suit brought by a former employee who, under Tennessee’s Disability Act,brought claims of wrongful termination after it was found by her doctor that she was no longer physically able to carry out the duties of her employment. Lonergan and the team achieved a summary judgment ruling in the City’s favor, which was upheld by the appellate circuit. Also from the firm’s Nashville officeChuck Mataycurrently serves as lead counsel to Clarksville Health System in a suit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on the behalf of a healthcare employee.