Tennessee - Jurisdiction Review | Benchmark Litigation

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Firm overview

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP offers the strength and resources of attorneys and professional staff experienced in a range of services. We provide advice and counsel in litigation, corporate, economic development, securities, finance, intellectual property, government relations, regulatory, and other needs of clients ranging from private individuals to large businesses, including many publicly held companies. Established in 1897, Nelson Mullins has more than 800 attorneys and other professionals with offices across 11 states and the District of Columbia. For more information on the firm, go to www.nelsonmullins.com.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

Firm overview

Bradley is a national law firm with a reputation for skilled legal work, exceptional client service, and impeccable integrity. We provide business clients around the world with a full suite of legal services in dozens of industries and practice areas.

With 10 offices located in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia, we have an extensive geographic base to represent clients on a regional, national, and international basis. We frequently serve as national coordinating counsel, regional counsel, and statewide counsel for clients in various industries.

Although Bradley is a large law firm with 600 lawyers, our clients still enjoy the personal attention, responsiveness, and deep relationships they would expect from a boutique firm. Our attorneys combine legal experience and knowledge with a sophisticated understanding of industries to find practical, strategic solutions specifically tailored to our clients’ business operations. Bradley lawyers use their talents, judgment, work ethic, and experience to go above and beyond expectations to help clients meet their goals.

Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group

Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group knows the stakes for your business in every case we litigate. From fighting bet-the-company lawsuits to resolving daily risk management issues and everything in between, we understand that helping clients achieve their business goals efficiently and cost-effectively is the greatest measure of success. Bradley has more than 250 litigators – comprising nearly half of the firm – who use our firm’s 100-plus years of experience nationally and internationally, in a wide expanse of industries, to provide the premier service and value that our clients require, whether trying cases in a courtroom or negotiating settlements in a boardroom.

We approach cases strategically, providing early case assessments for clients that help direct the course of the matter from preliminary dispositive motions and settlement talks through trial and appeal, if necessary. Should a matter proceed to trial, our lawyers leverage our track record of courtroom successes nationwide, including our success in appellate proceedings, to help clients evaluate the risks of litigation and balance those risks against their specific business goals.

Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group handles matters in nearly every substantive area of law that concerns our business clients, including:

Antitrust and unfair competition
Arbitration and mediation
Business divorce
Class actions and mass torts
Contract disputes and business torts
ERISA and employee benefits
Government enforcement and investigations
Intellectual property and trade secrets
Labor and employment
Product liability
Professional negligence
White-collar criminal defense

Our creativity and skill in successfully handling high-stakes and complex cases are informed by our experience in litigating and arbitrating in every state, as well as every federal district and appellate court, across the United States. This deep bench of talent allows us to match our clients’ needs with the most-qualified litigation lawyers to deliver the results clients want, with the budget attention they require.

Partnering with Clients:

Our clients include a variety of large global and national corporations, regional and middle-market companies, and entrepreneurs and startups, as well as local small businesses. We seek to be partners in our clients’ successes; their objectives are our objectives.

Using technology extensively and providing skilled project management creates cost-reducing efficiencies and allows our attorneys to communicate effectively and work closely with clients in handling their most sophisticated and large-scale matters, including multidistrict and mass claim litigation.

We maintain a multifaceted ability to handle local, regional, national, and international conflicts. Many of our most significant and long-term client relationships with Fortune 500 and other international companies started when we were hired to handle litigation locally or regionally. Before long, such work often led to work as team leaders for these clients across the country and around the world. In the southeast, our lawyers’ deep roots and active involvement in local business communities have fostered the trust our clients place in us to handle their most important matters.

Depth Across Industries:

The breadth of Bradley’s litigation experience includes significant depth in a variety of large and growing industries, both nationally and globally. Some of these include:

Banking and Financial Services
Construction and Procurement
Financial Services Litigation and Compliance
Energy
Environmental
Healthcare
Insurance
Life Sciences
Real Estate
Technology

Updated Oct 2022

Polsinelli

Firm overview

What a Law Firm Should Be: Polsinelli is a full-service, Am Law 100 firm with over 950 attorneys in 23 offices nationwide. The firm’s litigation practice encompasses business disputes, white collar investigations and enforcement, health care, intellectual property, bankruptcy, data privacy, real estate, financial services, products liability and toxic tort and labor and employment matters. Our reputation for dedicated client service and innovative business solutions is a benchmark for excellence in the legal profession.

Polsinelli approaches litigation The Polsinelli Way – with our clients and their business goals as our primary focus. The Polsinelli Way sees each dispute as unique and our lawyers work hand in hand with our clients to devise a litigation strategy from the outset of the matter that is laser focused on achieving the most efficient and effective resolution. The Polsinelli Way isn’t just a slogan. It’s the way we work on each and every matter entrusted to us by our clients.

Commercial Litigation: Polsinelli’s Commercial Litigation practice is composed of attorneys committed to providing practical, industry-specific business litigation strategies informed by substantive and procedural knowledge, real courtroom experience, and a keen awareness of how legal outcomes impact our clients’ bottom lines.

We focus on real estate litigation, disputes arising out of business relationships and contracts, mergers and acquisitions litigation, and class actions. However, we have a deep bench of litigation expertise with experience handling a broad spectrum of disputes including aviation and transportation, insurance matters, professional liability, retail and hospitality litigation, telecommunications, and manufacturing and distribution. We also have several lawyers who regularly handle statutory claims including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the Fair Credit and Reporting Act.

Government Investigations: Polsinelli’s Government Investigations team is highly qualified to quickly and effectively help companies and individuals respond to and defend against civil, criminal and regulatory government actions. Many of our attorneys are former federal prosecutors with specific experience.

Our team takes the guesswork out of navigating investigations involving the government. Clients seek out our team’s counsel at all stages of their interactions with government agencies, whether a client needs help responding to a subpoena or civil investigative demand, a comprehensive internal investigation, preemptive counsel on a compliance program, or a trial lawyer to defend against allegations of white-collar crimes. Our team has experience with governmental entities, including the Department of Justice, SEC, Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, EPA and States’ Attorney General Offices.

Health Care Litigation: Polsinelli Health Care Litigation attorneys combine their in-depth knowledge of the evolving health care industry with clients’ business needs to devise practical litigation strategies. We advise clients in managing risk and resolving complex disputes. When litigation is necessary, we collaborate with clients to effectively and efficiently protect their interests. Our attorneys are experienced in litigating government investigations and health care disputes in different forums, including lawsuits, arbitrations, administrative hearings, audits and investigations.

Our team is well known and respected by judges, regulators, arbitrators, health care industry leaders and the legal community. Members include former Department of Justice attorneys, including Assistant United States Attorneys, former experienced state Medicaid fraud unit attorneys, a former realtor attorney and former in-house counsel to private and publicly traded health care companies.

Intellectual Property Litigation: Polsinelli’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice take creative and strategic approaches to resolving intellectual property disputes for local, regional, national and global companies and individuals. With more than 1,300 intellectual property litigation filings over the past six years, we frequently try high-technology intellectual property cases tied to diverse subject matter including patent litigation, trademark, copyright & branding, anti-counterfeiting and grey markets, restrictive covenants and trade secrets litigation, ITC Section 337, IP litigation funding and design patent litigation.

Labor & Employment Litigation: Our attorneys defend clients before administrative agencies and in trials, mediations, arbitrations, and appeals of lawsuits arising over virtually every conceivable employment-related action including age, religion, gender, pregnancy, race, national origin, disability, harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, FMLA and OSHA violations.

Our Employment Litigation practice group has substantial experience representing management in the administrative charge and litigation phase of cases involving issues such as but not limited to The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), The Equal Pay Act (EPA), Whistleblower claims, work-related torts and wrongful termination.

Products Liability and Toxic and Mass Tort: Polsinelli’s litigators have deep experience defending and protecting our clients against defective design, defective manufacturing, premises liability, catastrophic injury, and toxic exposure claims that oftentimes go to the heart of our clients’ businesses. Our litigators approach each case the Polsinelli Way -- with a laser focus on our clients’ business goals and an eye towards case resolution that prioritizes those business goals.

Our experienced Products Liability and Toxic Tort team assesses cases early, identifying potential risks and working with our client’s legal, business, technical and regulatory teams to craft effective litigation strategies. Our electronic discovery (e-discovery) lawyers and other professionals are adept at coordinating and managing the often-burdensome discovery process that comes with defending these high-stakes cases. Our trial lawyers have the skills and experience to take cases to trial in any courtroom in the country. These trial teams work hand in hand with our certified appellate specialists, who identify appellate issues and represent clients at the appellate level in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Updated Sep 2022

Sanford Heisler Sharp

Firm overview

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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 Reinberg. Gemmell’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 McEvoy’s 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 mainstay, T. 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 a 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 Lonergan of 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 office, Chuck Mataya currently 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.