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Gordon & Rees, LLP

Gordon & Rees Garners Two of Daily Journal's 2006 Top Ten Defense Verdicts
Health Care Group

John Supple and Elizabeth Burns successfully defended a Covenant Care nursing facility in what some in the California long-term care industry have dubbed the "trial of the decade." The eight week jury trial, venued in Los Angeles Superior Court, resulted in a defense verdict with the jury concluding that none of the defendants were liable for wrongful death, elder abuse, fraud, or intentional infliction of emotional distress, and rejected all claims for compensatory and punitive damages. Plaintiffs' allegations of abuse and neglect against a hospice and two skilled nursing facilities were well-publicized in the long term care industry. The decedent's survivors sought $14 million.

Tort & Product Liability Group

Fletcher Alford obtained a defense verdict at trial for Dynacraft BSC in a suit filed against Wal-Mart, Dynacraft, and Carl Warren & Co. Plaintiffs were nine boys who contended they experienced traumatic brain and other injuries when the front wheels of their bicycles fell off while they were riding. Plaintiffs' counsel asked the jury to award the nine families $8 million in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount in punitive damages.

Alford's team had approximately two months to complete all discovery and investigation and to prepare for what amounted to nine separate, serious personal injury trials. The trial judge refused to sever the cases which occurred in different states in separate accidents over the course of several years. The suit received substantial press coverage which noted that the Consumer Product Safety Commission previously fined Dynacraft in connection with unrelated defective bike parts (though not the quick-release mechanism).

02-22-2007

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Locke Reynolds LLP

Plaintiffs' Unfounded Representations to the Court Results in Mistrial in Favor of Ford Motor Company
After nearly two (2) weeks of trial and just hours after plaintiffs rested their case, a mistrial was declared in favor of Ford Motor Company in a jury trial pending in Marion County, Indiana concerning allegations of an alleged defective airbag system in a 1997 Ford F-150. The Court found that “Plaintiff made representations regarding the intended presentation of relevant and necessary foundational evidence for a theory of the Plaintiff’s case when Plaintiff knew he could not lay such a foundation in this trial.”

At trial, plaintiffs repeatedly sought to admit the opinions of their retained biomechanic, Dr. Carley Ward, concerning the benefits to children from depowered airbags and airbags with higher deployment thresholds. Ford argued against the admission of such irrelevant evidence on the grounds that Dr. Ward testified (outside the presence of the jury) that she was not offering any defect opinions, opinions about alternative designs or opinions about the feasibility of depowering airbags or raising deployment thresholds. Further, plaintiffs’ sole airbag design expert, Geoffrey Mahon, had testified and presented only one theory of defect: the airbag sensor on the subject vehicle had a low bias magnet that resulted in airbag deployment at low speeds. Specifically, he testified that the airbag system was defective because Ford should have used an F135 sensor with a 5 or 6 G bias, rather than a 2.3 G bias. Mr. Mahon acknowledged that this was his only defect opinion – he did not criticize the airbag deployment thresholds and did not testify about dual stage or dual threshold airbag systems.

In response to Ford’s arguments and motions, plaintiffs’ counsel represented to the Court that he would present evidence later in trial to establish the predicate foundation for plaintiffs’ theories as required by the Indiana Product Liability Act. Specifically, plaintiffs’ counsel represented that portions of designated deposition testimony of Ford’s retained testifying expert Jeffrey Pearson and of Ford employees, would establish those technologies were feasible for the 1997 F-150. Based on plaintiffs’ representations, the Court ruled that Dr. Ward’s testimony was admissible.

At the close of plaintiffs’ case-in-chief, Ford moved for a directed verdict on plaintiffs’ airbag warning and airbag design theories with regard to plaintiffs’ depowering and raised threshold claims. Plaintiffs failed to call any witness or designate any deposition testimony relative to these issues. During argument on Ford’s directed verdict motions, plaintiffs’ counsel announced that he agreed he had not established depowering or threshold claims. Ford thereafter moved for a mistrial. The Court recognized the prejudicial nature of the evidence and granted mistrial.

The lawsuit was filed by the parents of a then 8-year old child who was the unrestrained front seat passenger of her parents’ 1997 Ford F-150 at the time of the accident. The driver of the 1997 Ford F-150, the child’s mother, was traveling directly behind a 1996 Chevrolet Suburban immediately before the accident. When the driver of the Suburban braked to avoid striking a truck moving into the Suburban’s lane of travel, the child’s mother also braked (when her attention was redirected to the road), but she still rear-ended the Suburban. The other restrained occupants in the vehicle, the mother and her younger child, were not injured. The unrestrained child on whose behalf the claims were brought sustained traumatic brain injury.

Plaintiffs’ counsel: G. Lynn Shumway (Law Office of G. Lynn Shumway, Scottsdale, AZ); Cheryl Ann Planck, Indianapolis, IN.

Ford’s counsel: Patrick X. Fowler and Jeffrey C. Warren (Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P., Phoenix, AZ); Kevin C. Schiferl and Karen M.R. Weber (Locke Reynolds, L.L.P.).

02-22-2007

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Harwell, Howard, Hyne, Gabbert & Manner, P.C.

H3GM advises WealthTrust LLC on the purchase of assets
H3GM recently advised WealthTrust LLC in connection with the purchase of the assets of DeGreen Wealth Management Corporation (DWM) in Scottsdale, Arizona. DWM provides wealth management and investment advisory services to high net worth individuals and institutions, primarily in the Scottsdale and Phoenix area.

WealthTrust LLC is a Nashville-based company and is led by its Chief Executive Officer, M. Rush Benton. Following the transaction, WealthTrust LLC has affiliates in Scottsdale, AZ, Charlotte, NC, Paducah, KY, St. Louis, MO, Richmond, VA, Memphis, TN, Greenwood, SC, Louisville, KY, and Chicago, IL.

02-22-2007

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Harwell, Howard, Hyne, Gabbert & Manner, P.C.

H3GM represents Nashville-based WealthTrust, Inc. in sale and recapitalization
H3GM recently represented Nashville-based WealthTrust, Inc. in connection with the sale and subsequent recapitalization of the Company. In the transaction, control of the company passed from Morgan Keegan & Co. and its parent entity, Regions Financial Corporation, to a group of investors led by New York-based Circle Peak Capital LLC.

WealthTrust, Inc. is a leading national holding company of investment advisory firms that provide comprehensive wealth management services to high net worth individuals and institutions. WealthTrust employs approximately 125 people nationwide and collectively manages in excess of $6.5 billion in assets.

M. Rush Benton will remain as the Chief Executive Officer of WealthTrust following the transaction. The affiliation with Circle Peak Capital provides WealthTrust with significant capital resources, as well as a talented management team with extensive experience in the wealth management industry.

02-22-2007

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Halloran & Sage LLP

Atty. Ralph Johnson Elected RNLA Secretary
Halloran & Sage partner Ralph W. Johnson, III, a member of the Firm’s Appellate Law and Advocacy Practice Group, was recently elected Secretary of the Republican National Lawyers Association. Attorney Johnson was elected by members of the organization’s Board of Governors. In this capacity, Attorney Johnson is an ex officio member of the association’s Board of Governors.

The Republican National Lawyers Association's mission includes advancing: professionalism; open, fair and honest elections; career opportunity; and Republican ideals.

02-22-2007

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Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, L.L.P.

Kelly M. Dermody Receives California Lawyer Magazine Attorney of the Year Award
California Lawyer magazine has named Kelly M. Dermody, partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, a California Attorney of the Year for 2007. The magazine awarded Ms. Dermody the prestigious CLAY (California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year) Award for her outstanding achievements in the category of litigation.
Ms. Dermody received the recognition for her representation of hundreds of thousands of uninsured patients who alleged that Sutter Health charged them excessive and unfair prices for medical treatment and engaged in aggressive and unfair collections practices. As a result of plaintiffs' litigation against Sutter Health, the hospital chain entered into a precedent-setting and comprehensive settlement that provided substantial monetary relief for all uninsured patient class members and required all of Sutter's 23 hospital affiliates to lower their prices for all uninsured patients going forward.
"After a heated legal battle," the California Lawyer stated, "the Sacramento-based hospital chain agreed in August [2006] to make available $276 million in refunds or deductions to qualified Sutter patients. It also agreed to maintain more compassionate collections for uninsured patients who fall behind in their payments and to continue providing free or greatly discounted care to low-income patients."
Ms. Dermody is one of 43 attorneys in 17 areas of legal practice that received CLAY awards for their extraordinary achievements in 2006. The lawyers selected as Attorneys of the Year, as noted by the California Lawyer, "changed the law, substantially influenced public policy or the profession, or achieved a remarkable victory for a client or for the public."
In addition to her case work, Ms. Dermody is a committed attorney in the legal community. Her many leadership roles include membership on the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco and Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Committee on Equal Opportunity in the Legal Profession. Ms. Dermody recently finished a two-year term as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and prior to that she served as Co-Chair of the Board of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.

02-22-2007

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Armstrong Teasdale, L.L.P.

Intellectual Property Trial Lawyer Joins Armstrong Teasdale
Armstrong Teasdale LLP is pleased to announce the hiring of prominent intellectual property trial lawyer, Nicholas B. Clifford Jr., formerly with Thompson Coburn LLP.

Clifford joins the firm’s Litigation Department as a partner and Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group. He has focused his practice in the area of intellectual property, with an emphasis in patent litigation for more than ten years. Clifford also has extensive experience in copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and trade secret misappropriation litigation, as well as general commercial litigation and product liability defense.

“For years, Armstrong Teasdale has had a strong and growing intellectual property practice. This is a targeted growth area for the firm and the addition of Nick expands the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group to 17 lawyers and the Intellectual Property Practice Group to 28 lawyers,” said Richard B. Scherrer, Managing Partner of Armstrong Teasdale. He added “Armstrong Teasdale’s intellectual property practice includes major patent work for leading innovation companies, including General Electric, Boeing, Cooper Industries, Amazon.com and North Pole.”

“I was impressed with the breadth and growth of Armstrong Teasdale’s intellectual property practice and am excited about the opportunity to help build upon the solid foundation they have in intellectual property litigation. Armstrong Teasdale is a top-tier law firm, and I look forward to playing a central role in growing its intellectual property litigation practice over the firm’s local, national and international platform,” said Clifford.

Clifford is a native of St. Louis. He is a member of The Missouri Bar, Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. He is a 1988 graduate of Trinity College in Connecticut, and a 1993 graduate, with high honors, of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he received the Order of the Coif.

“We are fortunate to have a person of the professional caliber and personal character of Nick Clifford join our firm, stated Glenn E. Davis, who chairs the firm’s Litigation Department. “Nick’s experience and proven ability to resolve a wide variety of high stakes and complex intellectual property disputes will serve our clients well. The firm continually strives to develop the next generation of trial lawyers in our key practice areas under our strategic plan,” Davis added.

02-22-2007

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