Litigation Practice - Appellate Litigation

“The No. 1 firm in Georgia        for appellate work.” – Best Lawyers in America

Our appellate practice serves clients we have represented at trial, as well as clients who hire us to handle the appeal exclusively. We have achieved successful outcomes in many of the largest appellate cases, both plaintiffs and defense, in the history of the state of Georgia.

The firm’s strength in this area is bolstered by the fact that virtually all of our partners and associates have served as judicial law clerks. Our lawyers have held clerkships at the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, as well as federal district courts in Georgia, Alabama and Ohio.

Representative Work

• Successfully reversed on appeal a $457 million judgment in a contractual dispute over whether our client, Weyerhauser, had agreed to indemnify Paragon Trade Brands for a patent infringement claim. 
• Successfully defended a $281 million jury verdict before the Georgia Court of Appeals for our client, David McDavid, in a breach of contract suit against Turner Broadcasting for the sale of two professional sports franchises and the operating rights to a sports arena. 
• Successfully defended a $454 million judgment the firm obtained against Time Warner in appeals to both the Georgia Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court, where we argued against former Solicitor General Ted Olson. 
• Obtained the reversal of an intermediate appellate decision certifying a class action seeking a $110 million recovery under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. 
• On appeal, successfully defended certification of a class of insureds in an action against a credit life insurer. 
• Obtained the dismissal of four putative class actions against not-for-profit hospitals challenging the hospitals’ pricing policies, and appeared as lead appellate counsel for the hospitals in affirming those decisions on appeal. 
• Successfully defended an award of $16.6 million to seven employment discrimination plaintiffs before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. 
• Successfully represented Farley Industries in a dissenters’ rights case before the Georgia Supreme Court, which has become the seminal case on dissenters' rights in Georgia. The Georgia Court of Appeals resolved two questions of first impression in Georgia in favor of our clients.

News

Speaking Engagements

Practice Contacts

• Emmet J. Bondurant
• Ronan P. Doherty
• Frank M. Lowrey IV
• H. Lamar "Mickey" Mixson
• Jill A. Pryor
• Michael B. Terry
• Joshua F. Thorpe