Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

Tennessee

Review

Dispute resolution

Bradley is a long-time leader in the southeast of the country, with roughly half of its force dedicated to litigation. The firm’s headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama has the largest concentration of its litigators, trailed by its Jackson, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee offices. Bradley’s acclaimed product liability practice garnered it national recognition, and is still a prized practice, along with commercial and appellate litigation, which have risen to prominence as well.

     The firm has several lawyers who have mastered the art of handling mass torts and multidistrict litigation. Product liability expert David Hymer has been the co-lead counsel defending CVS Health in a series of opioid-epidemic lawsuits nationwide.  He has been leading the team on five bellwether cases related to the MDL proceeding pending in the Northern District of Ohio. Hymer's team is responsible for overseeing document production efforts across all cases. Lindsey Boney has recently been leading clients in the life sciences industry through multidistrict litigation. Boney and fellow expert in product liability cases Kim Martin were lead counsel to Wyeth (whose parent company is Pfizer) in a case alleging that it engaged in off-label promotion of its prescription medicine amiodarone. Boney led oral argument before the First District of the California Court of Appeal, which published an opinion of its affirmed dismissal.

     Martin, partner in the Huntsville office, and Birmingham partner Leigh Anne Hodge are both nationally recognized as product liability authorities. Along with Jackson, Mississippi partners Will Manuel and Margaret Cupples, they lead the teams in the high-profile 3M multidistrict litigation regarding its allegedly defective earplugs. Manuel and Cupples are leading teams in the MDL consolidated in the Northern District of Florida, where they have been handling depositions and discovery. Cupples serves as national writing counsel for the team. Martin and Hodge have been leading the Case Specific Expert Team, which has been supervising a team of more than 20 of the firm’s lawyers to handle expert reports and depositions, including coordinating with ENT experts for plaintiffs across the 121 cases the team is responsible for handling in Waves 1 and 2. Martin, Hodge, and Manuel specialize in other areas in addition to product liability. Martin’s practice also includes white-collar crime and False Claims Act litigation, in which she recently obtained a dismissal in a case. Hodge serves as the firm’s co-chair of the litigation group and has developed expertise in handling matters on behalf of the healthcare industry. She recently handled a number of cases on behalf of Fresenius, litigating an array of matters from product liability mass tort to medical malpractice lawsuits. She is additionally lead on ERISA [DJ1] cases, currently handling a case on behalf of MetLife. Manuel represents an accounting firm, Horne, in a bankruptcy-related case alleging professional liability claims after farmers sold grain to the now-insolvent grain dealer Express Grain Terminals (EGT). Owing to EGT’s bankruptcy, declared after the sale, the farmers were not paid or were drastically underpaid and have since filed lawsuits against the client and the company’s bank.

     Birmingham partner Anne Marie Seibel has maintained a nationwide practice that involves class actions and multi-plaintiff commercial disputes. As of late, she has been defending Priceline against lawsuits challenging the tax services provided by online travel companies like Priceline. After the pandemic, two cases were filed, framed as False Claims Act lawsuits. Seibel removed one to federal court, and one remains in state court, involving issues of first impression for the Nevada False Claims Act. Seibel secured a summary judgment ruling in the federal court case.