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Thomas G. Hooper
Partner

Bank of America Corporate Center
42nd Floor
100 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28202-4007
Tel: 704.417.3107
Fax: 704.377.4814
Email
tom.hooper@nelsonmullins.com
Areas of Law
Business Litigation
Consumer Financial Services Litigation
Education
University of North Carolina School of Law
Davidson College
Bar Admissions
North Carolina

Tom Hooper is a partner in the Charlotte office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.  He focuses his practice on business and commercial litigation, including litigation involving consumer financial services, real-estate matters, and health-law issues.

Mr. Hooper has represented a wide variety of clients, including financial institutions, hospitals, title and liability insurance companies, real-estate developers, real-estate agencies and brokers, a real-estate relocation company, law firms and attorneys, commercial landlords, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a railroad company, international retail companies, and many other businesses and individuals.  He has appeared on behalf of these clients in state and federal courts across North Carolina, in appellate courts, and in private arbitrations and represented them in matters involving a wide range of state contract, tort, and statutory laws and federal statutes and regulations.
 
A significant amount of Mr. Hooper’s practice is devoted to consumer financial services litigation.  He has represented a number of financial institutions, including banks, mortgage lenders, loan servicers, credit-card companies, debt collectors, and other businesses, in cases involving federal laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA), the Home Owners Loan Act (HOLA), the National Bank Act (NBA), the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and Regulation Z.  He also has represented financial institutions in litigation involving North Carolina’s contract, mortgage, foreclosure, usury, misrepresentation, unfair trade practice, debt-collection, and arbitration laws.

Mr. Hooper is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina.  He also is a member of the American Bar Association, the North Carolina Bar Association, and the Mecklenburg County Bar Association.
 
Mr. Hooper is a co-author of the North Carolina section of the American Law Firm Association’s 2002 50-state “Compendium of Business Litigation Law Issues: Unfair Competition and Deceptive Business Practices.”  He has written articles on a number of other topics, including insurance litigation, commission disputes between real-estate brokers and consumers, juror voir dire in federal courts, and most recently, the Class Action Fairness Act.

In 1998, Mr. Hooper earned a Juris Doctor, with honors, from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he served as an articles editor for the North Carolina Law Review.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Davidson College in 1994.
 
Representative cases include:
 
  • Defended an international retail company in a multi-million dollar lawsuit from claims of negligent hiring and retention based on the criminal misconduct of one of the company’s employees.  Result:  Obtained summary-judgment dismissal of the lawsuit and defeated plaintiff’s summary-judgment motion on liability. 
  • Defended a lender and a loan servicer in a lawsuit in which the borrowers alleged claims of predatory lending, unfair debt collection practices, unfair trade practices, and unjust enrichment based on closing fees and the servicer’s collection efforts and in which the borrowers sought to hold the lender liable for the alleged misconduct of a mortgage broker and the party who sold the secured property to the borrowers.  Result:  Obtained the summary-judgment dismissal of all claims against the lender and loan servicer and defeated a claim for a preliminary injunction to enjoin a foreclosure.
  • Defended a lender from claims of breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, unfair trade practices, and insurance-statute violations based on a dispute over force-placed insurance.  Result:  Obtained dismissal of the lawsuit.
  • Represented a hospital in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against a doctor who alleged counterclaims for fraudulent inducement, negligent-misrepresentation, and unfair trade practices.  Result:  Obtained summary judgment in favor of the hospital and a summary-judgment dismissal of the doctor’s claims.
  • Defended a lender in a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff who had bought secured property at a foreclosure sale and then challenged the foreclosure’s validity.  Result:  Obtained the summary-judgment dismissal of the lawsuit.
  • Represented a lender in an interpleader action concerning hazard-insurance proceeds.  Result:  Obtained summary judgment for the lender and defeated the summary-judgment motion of another party seeking to recover the insurance proceeds, thereby allowing the lender to recover enough proceeds to cover its lien on secured property.
  • Represented a contractor seeking to recover over half a million dollars from a commercial partnership for excavation and grading services that various partners claimed were deficient.  Result:  Obtained summary judgment in favor of the contractor, who ultimately recovered the entire amount of the judgment, plus attorneys’ fees.