Significant Cases

Highlights of a Few Noteworthy Cases

Nelson Mullins attorneys have been involved in many significant court trials, including high-profile product liability and business litigation victories, and successful defense verdicts in venues as varied as the South Carolina Supreme Court and Madison County, Ill. The following list highlights a few of the noteworthy cases tried by Firm attorneys in locations around the nation.

  • Columbia Partners Robbie Foster and Bill Latham successfully defended Proctor & Gamble Manufacturing Co. against a bid for class certification in a case alleging that the active ingredient in Crest Pro-Health mouthwash stains users' teeth and impairs their sense of taste.  
  • Raleigh Partner Chuck Hollowell obtained two successful wins in one week for a large hospital in cases involving overpayment for services to a vendor and contempt proceedings against three employees concerning the provision of services.  
  • Columbia Partner John Kuppens and Associate Matt Bogan successfully represented the State of South Carolina before the state Supreme Court in a case involving the state's seizure of 60 mistreated horses.
  • Atlanta Partners Stephen Brooks and Anita Wallace Thomas and Associates Natalie Brunson and Matt Simmons achieved three successful dismissals and summary judgments in Georgia and Tennessee courts for products liability claims against two international pharmaceutical company clients.
  • Rush Smith, Matt Bogan, and Carmen Thomas represented a large mortgage and finance company in two putative class actions involving issues surrounding the Tennessee and South Carolina Uniform Commercial Code. Both were dismissed with prejudice.
  • Charles Mercer, Reed Hollander, and Steve Martin recently represented Atlantic Marine Corps Communities (AMCC) in a unique constitutional and tax challenge to the federal government’s jurisdiction over military installations in North Carolina. Their win in federal court in July saved AMCC $1.75 million annually in property taxes beginning in 2006 and more than $2.5 million annually beginning in 2012.
  • Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP Partners Clarence Davis and Bill Latham recently obtained a complete defense victory on behalf of their client, Volvo Trucks North America Inc. (VTNA) in a dealer case when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a jury verdict against VTNA and ordered that the case be remanded to the district court for entry of a judgment in favor of VTNA. See Carolina Trucks and Equipment, Inc. v. Volvo Trucks North America, Inc.  ____F.3d ____, 2007 WL 1953376 (4th Cir. 2007).
  • Larry Kristinik and Thad Westbrook won a trial victory in May 2007 in Beck v. MBNA. Firm client MBNA, a financial services company that last year merged with Bank of America, was sued in federal court in South Carolina by the plaintiff under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, claiming that the account did not belong to him. Mr. Kristinik and Mr. Westbrook moved to compel arbitration, then maneuvered the case to a bench trial for a factual determination as to whether the plaintiff had authorized a former friend to open the account over the telephone. U.S. District Court Judge Cameron Currie ruled in favor of MBNA at the conclusion of the trial and granted the motion to compel arbitration.
  • Mitch Brown and Mark Phillips successfully argued an appeal before the South Carolina Supreme Court in an asbestos-related mesothelioma case in March 2007. The case was the first South Carolina state court personal injury asbestos case tried to verdict in at least 21 years.
  • Chris Blake, Ryan Earhart, and Mitch Brown won a victory in March 2007 in the South Carolina Supreme Court on behalf of client Skanska USA Building Inc., which was sued by an electrical subcontractor for breach of contract. The subcontractor claimed it was owed profits for work it was prohibited from doing by Skanska and the Charleston County School District regarding two expansions to the Wando High School in Mt. Pleasant. The appeal was basedo on a defense verdict Mr. Blake and Mr. Earhart had previously received.
  • Federal Court Judge Terry Wooten in January 2007 dismissed all claims in a purported nationwide class action challenging the portfolio servicing and collection practices of clients Vanderbilt Mortgage Finance (VMF) and Clayton Motor Homes Inc. (CMH). The ruling was on two separate motions to dismiss – one for VMF under Rule12b6 contending that no claims were stated, and a separate one by CMH protesting personal jurisdiction over it in South Carolina. Attorneys Frank Hirsch, Matt McGuire, Rush Smith, Joe Dowdy, Brian Calub, Matt Bogan, and paralegal Tonya Macaulay worked on the case.
  • In a section of the South where juries typically side with plaintiffs, a team of Nelson Mullins attorneys in 2006 captured a victory short of having to launch a lengthy appeal. The team of Carl Epps, Laura Hart, Rachel Hedley, Kim Chatman and Donna Cain received a judgment notwithstanding the verdict in June in a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma lawsuit where the plaintiff had initially received a $2 million damage award from a Smith County, Miss., jury.
  • The Nelson Mullins Wal-Mart team celebrated a defense verdict in May 2006 in a negligence case involving a 10-year-old molested by a convicted sex offender employed by the nation’s largest retailer and employer. Because of its possible implications for all employers, the trial garnered national media attention, some overseas attention, and was covered live by Court TV.
  • On January 23, 2006, Robbie Foster and Timothy Orr obtained a complete defense verdict for National Crane Corporation in South Carolina federal court in a wrongful death action involving the death of an 18-year-old construction worker.  The products liability suit was brought by the worker's alleged common law spouse and his 3-year-old child.
  • Nelson Mullins attorneys defended a board of directors against multiple class action securities lawsuits including claims exceeding $1 billion. One of these cases was tried for over five weeks prior to the settlement, making Nelson Mullins one of the few law firms in the country to try a class action securities lawsuit before a jury following the passage of the PSLRA.
  • Mitch Brown and Bill Wood achieved a victory in the South Carolina Supreme Court. Client State Farm won an important decision in which the South Carolina Supreme Court for the first time expressly adopted the "filed rate doctrine," which provides a potential defense to numerous Firm clients in various settings. The Court threw out all causes of action of the plaintiff which were disputed on appeal, leaving the plaintiff with only one declaratory judgment claim going forward.
  • The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in December that Presbyterian Hospital and parent company Novant Health can operate a hospital in the Charlotte suburb of Huntersville.Guided by Nelson Mullins legal counsel, Presbyterian secured a multi-year certificate of need concerning development of the $60 million hospital. Presbyterian’s efforts were vigorously opposed by local competitors and the state of North Carolina, despite overwhelming popular support for the new hospital when it was proposed.
  • In May 2005, Joel Smith successfully defended Toyota in Denver, Colo., against product liability allegations resulting from a fatal rollover accident in 2001.
  • Jim Gray was the lead attorney in an arbitration victory for client Cornerstone Housing. The win resulted in an award of $1.63 million in actual damages and $29,000 in arbitration costs.
  • Beth McMillan and Mitch Brown represented the University of Massachusetts and a professor in a personal injury case against an aluminum bat manufacturer. Beth won a motion to dismiss at the trial court level on lack of personal jurisdiction and prepared the appeal brief when the case was appealed. The South Carolina Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction and affirmed a unanimous decision in the case.
  • Mark Phillips successfully defended a major manufacturer in a three-week asbestos wrongful death trial in Cleveland, Ohio, in January; in a two-week living mesothelioma trial in Edwardsville (Madison County), Ill., in May; and in a three-week asbestos wrongful death trial in Dallas, Texas, in August.
  • Mark Vasco, Tom Hooper, and Kerry Traynum won summary judgment dismissing a highly sensitive premises liability lawsuit against Blockbuster, Inc., in federal court in North Carolina.
  • Mitch Brown and Elizabeth Campbell successfully represented AFCO, a premium services company, which had cancelled an insurance policy. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that AFCO’s cancellation procedures are proper.
  • Nelson Mullins attorneys from Atlanta, Charleston, Greenville, Raleigh and Washington worked together to close a $150 million transaction for long-time litigation client Fleetwood in the divestiture of two of its subsidiaries, Fleetwood Retail Corp. and HomeOne Credit Corp.
  • Noah Huffstetler and Catherine Cummer represented WHA Medical Clinic, PLLC, in a case where the court decided in favor of WHA regarding breach of non-compete clauses and awarded liquidated damages totaling $1,586,640.
  • Robbie Foster, George Cauthen, Mitch Brown and Tim Orr won an important victory in the South Carolina Supreme Court representing Terex in a personal injury case. In an important case on successor liability, the South Carolina Supreme Court adopted the most conservative test and rejected plaintiffs and their amici’s efforts to adopt more liberal or expansive tests for successor liability.
  • Robbie Foster tried two defense verdicts, a two-week trial in Las Vegas and a two-week trial in San Jose, Calif., for a hotel/casino client involving a shooting on the premises.
  • Ken Young, Mitch Brown and Debbie Durban successfully defended BI-LO in a case regarding an alleged violation of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act. The Court ruled, as a matter of law, that the grocer’s actions were not “unfair.”
  • In a case originally commenced as three separate suits by Chem-Nuclear and two related companies against seven of its former employees and their new employer, a jury in federal district court in Columbia rendered a defense verdict on all remaining claims in favor of AVANTech and its four employees who remained as defendants. The claims alleged were for patent infingement, copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair trade practices, intentional interference with prospective contract, civil conspiracy, conversion, and breaches of employment agreements. The consolidated trial of these cases was the culmination of two and half years of discovery, two weeks of trial and two days of jury deliberation.  The trial team included Craig Killen, Debbie Durban, Corky Harper, Kelli Eargle and Allan Crawford from Nelson Mullins, and Daryl Hawkins and Robbin Barr of Lewis Babcock & Hawkins.