Success Stories
- David Marshall and Chris Lang successfully defended a premises liability wrongful death case in the state court of Dekalb County, Georgia. The jury deliberated 11 hours before reaching its verdict on August 20. The case arose over the murder of a 26 year-old who lived with his family at defendant's property. The decedent lived for a month after the shooting. The jury allocated fault at 95% to the criminal defendants and 5% to HPTY's client, a property management company. On the issue of damages, the jury awarded zero for pain and suffering and only awarded $184,192.16 (the amount of medical bills and funeral expenses) representing the full value of the life for a net recovery to Plaintiff of approximately $9,200. The jury declined to assess punitive damages. In contrast, in closing argument, Plaintiff has asked the jury to award over $2 million. (August 2010)
- Matt Barr and Joe Wieseman secured summary judgment on behalf of an Arkansas-based bag manufacturer in defense of a multi-million dollar trademark infringement and civil conspiracy lawsuit. The case was pending before Judge Thomas Thrash, Jr. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Judge Thrash granted the motion in a 20-page order. (August 2010)
- HPTY attorneys Jack Sibley, Carl Anderson, Rob Thompson, and Rob Gilbreath obtained a favorable ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of client Osmose, Inc. The court of appeals affirmed the key provisions of the district court's order granting Osmose a temporary injunction against Viance, LLC in a Lanham Act False Advertising case. Viance was represented by King & Spalding. The court ordered a minor modification in the temporary injunction and vacated one of its minor provisions. As a result of the court of appeals' ruling, Viance will continue to be prohibited from making false statements in commercial advertising and promotions about the efficacy of Osmose's wood preservative product until the parties' dispute is tried on the merits. (August 2010)
- David Marshall and Assunta Fiorini successfully represented a medical engineering firm responsible for de-commissioning an obsolete MRI machine that exploded during its moving. Plaintiff, a contractor who was moving the unit, claimed that he suffered a traumatic brain injury and a permanent inability to work in the future. Prior to trial in the state court of Rockdale County, Georgia, Plaintiff served an offer of judgment of $800,000. Further, in closing argument, Plaintiff asked the jury to award $4-5 million in damages. After a seven-day jury trial, the jury awarded only $50,000. (July 2010)
- Ron Polly and Alex Barfield won a motion for summary judgment on behalf of a defendant employer immediately prior to the start of trial in Louisville, Kentucky. The case involved a truck driver who sued his former employer after he was terminated for failing a drug test. (July 2010)
- Lane Young, Elizabeth O'Neill and Rob Gilbreath obtained summary judgment for the defendants in a breach of fiduciary duties case pending in the Georgia Superior Court for Fulton County. The plaintiff sought recovery of over $4,000,000, alleging that his former attorneys breached duties owed him by purportedly undermining his right to assert a bad faith claim against a liability insurer. The trial court ruled that there was no evidence that the defendants' alleged conduct caused the plaintiff any damages. (July 2010)
- The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the summary judgment of legal malpractice claims granted to the clients of Kim M. Jackson, Rob Gilbreath and Matt McLaughlin. Plaintiffs had failed to comply with OCGA 9-11-9.1 which requires a plaintiff in Georgia to file an expert affidavit in support of any professional liability negligence claim. When Jackson filed a motion to dismiss the legal malpractice claim, Plaintiffs contended that they were indigent and that OCGA 9-11-9.1 was unconstitutional because they were unable to afford the costs of an expert to provide a supporting affidavit. Plaintiffs claimed that the statute violated equal protection, due process, access to the courts, was an improper special law and violated separation of powers. The briefing in the lower court was done by Jackson and McLaughlin, and the hearing was handled by Jackson. The lower court granted the motion and dismissed the professional malpractice claims. Plaintiffs appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court briefing was performed by Jackson and Gilbreath, and Jackson handled the oral argument. (June 2010)
- Rob Gilbreath secured an important victory for client Merrill Lynch in a Texas Supreme Court decision issued June 25, 2010. Two MetroPCS subsidiaries - MetroPCS Communications and MetroPCS Wireless - asserted claims against Merrill Lynch arising out of their purchase of auction rate securities. Wireless was party to an arbitration agreement with Merrill Lynch, but Communications was not. The trial court stayed Wireless' claims until it can be determined whether Wireless will proceed as a part of a federal court class action against Merrill Lynch. If it does not, Wireless will be required to arbitrate its claims against Merrill Lynch. The trial court denied Merrill Lynch's request to stay Communications' claims pending completion of the potential arbitration. The Texas Supreme Court held this was an abuse of discretion and that Communications' claims must be stayed until completion of the likely arbitration between Wireless and Merrill Lynch. (June 2010)
- Peter York and Kristin Brock obtained summary judgment in a catastrophic pool diving case in the Northern District of Georgia. Judge Harold Murphy issued a 72-page order finding for Defendant National Pool & Spa Institute. The quadriplegic Plaintiff was 29 years old at the time of the incident and had a $10 million life care plan. The Court held that a trade association, which promulgated a set of voluntary minimum standards for the pool industry, cannot be held liable to an end user for the negligence of the pool contractor where there is no evidence that the contractor relied up on the standards. This was a case of first impression in Georgia and one of the few decisions in the country addressing the liability of a trade association for the promulgation of voluntary standards. (May 2010)
- Matt Barr and Catherine McCormack received a defense verdict from a Fulton State Court jury in a premises liability case filed against a defendant property group that owned a shopping plaza. The plaintiff caught her foot on a rubber expansion joint and fell onto her right knee. She eventually had total knee replacement surgery, resulting in $100,000 in medical bills. At the close of evidence, Judge Cole granted a directed verdict to defendant on the plaintiff's claim that the surgery was related to the fall. (April 2010)
- Elizabeth O'Neill received a defense verdict in a products liability case pending in federal court in Georgia. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant’s air pump product was negligently and defectively manufactured which caused the pump to malfunction and injure the plaintiff’s hand. After a three-day trial, the jury returned a defense verdict after only two hours of deliberation. (March 2010)
- David Marshall obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a national building products manufacturer of asbestos cement pipe in a wrongful death case. The plaintiff alleged household asbestos exposure from his father, a pipe layer at an Army ammunition plant in Kansas. The plaintiff developed peritoneal mesothelioma and died at the age of 38. There were no other defendants remaining in the case at the time of trial. The defendant presented evidence that the pipe used by the plaintiff's father was that of another manufacturer and also presented evidence that the mesothelioma was idiopathic in nature and was not related to any asbestos exposure. The case was tried over a two-week period in Wilmington, Delaware before the Honorable Mary Johnston. This was only the second case to go to verdict in Delaware since the recent dramatic increase in filings there. The first verdict yielded an award of over $2 million. (March 2010)