Firm partners Joe Babington and Russell Buffkin attended the annual meeting of the Trial Attorneys of America (TAA) from June 7-9 in Chicago. Russell presented at the meeting, providing an update on 11th Circuit cases. Joe is a member of the board and past president of TAA, a leading product liability defense organization.

Helmsing Leach is pleased to share that firm partners Jeffery Hartley (Bankruptcy/Restructuring), Joe Babington (Litigation: Commercial General), Casey Pipes (Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use), and Warren Herlong (Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use) were ranked in Chambers and Partners’ USA Guide 2023. Chambers and Partners is one of the world’s leading legal data and analytics providers, highlighting the most prestigious law firms and attorneys. The firm overall was ranked for Commercial Litigation. To obtain the annual rankings, Chambers’ research teams of more than 200 people assess lawyers and law firms across the USA by conducting thousands of interviews with in-house counsel and third-party experts. Helmsing Leach is one of a select few law firms consistently recognized by Chambers in the state of Alabama.

Bill Watts and Tom Gaillard recently won a victory for a local municipal client with the Alabama Supreme Court. The case involved claims against a local municipality and one of its police officers based on allegations of false arrest and malicious prosecution among other claims.  The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Defendants and the Plaintiff appealed that decision. After extensive briefing, the Alabama Supreme Court recently affirmed summary judgment in favor of all Defendants.

Helmsing Leach partner Casey Pipes led a Counselors of Real Estate (CRE®) Consulting Corps team the week of April 17, 2023, in Knoxville, Tenn. for the benefit of the City of Knoxville and the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors. The assignment was to assist in creating a strategy to redevelop and revitalize Knoxville’s South waterfront area. The CRE® Consulting Corps is a public service program of The Counselors of Real Estate that provides real estate analysis and action plans for municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, government entities, educational institutions, and other owners of real property. Each Consulting Corps assignment is conducted by a team of members of the Counselors of Real Estate with expertise specific to the needs of the client, and all team members volunteer their time. The team delivers unbiased, market-driven action steps to address a real estate challenge, often enhancing the performance of a property or portfolio and improving the financial well-being of the client. This assignment called for Casey and his team to be in Knoxville from Sunday through Friday. The final report is available here.

For more information about Helmsing Leach’s robust real estate practice, visit our real estate practice area or call our office at 251.432.5521.

The Helmsing Leach trial team of Ryan Luna, Karen Tucker, and Win Stuardi recently obtained a defense verdict in Mobile County for a local hospital involving a psychiatric patient attempting to leave the ER who collided with a visitor in the ER lobby. The collision resulted in the visitor sustaining multiple fractures, including a hip fracture. The lawsuit was filed by the visitor and only named the hospital as a defendant. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that a hospital security guard was negligent in his actions in de-escalating the situation with the patient. The plaintiff was hospitalized for 30 days and was in physical therapy for 60 days after her discharge from the hospital. The lawsuit initially asserted personal injury claims of negligence, wantonness, and battery, with the plaintiff seeking damages for pain, suffering, and mental anguish as well as punitive damages. At trial, the hospital established, through well-developed testimony, that the security guard’s actions were reasonable and appropriate. A total of 16 witnesses testified at trial. At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case, the plaintiff dismissed her wantonness and battery claims. The plaintiff requested $3-5 million in damages related to the negligence claim; however, the jury was not influenced by the request and a defense verdict was rendered after less than 45 minutes of deliberation.

Helmsing Leach partner Joe Babington participated and led the discussion on a panel entitled “Don’t Say Daubert, Say Rule 702” on February 21, 2023, at the FDCC’s winter meeting in Nashville, Tenn. The Bar’s reference to the “Daubert standard” may have caused federal trial and appellate courts to misapply Federal Rule of Evidence 702, as amended in 2000, following the Supreme Court’s opinions in Daubert, Joiner and Kumho Tire. Data indicates courts have often applied outdated case law, “cherry-picked” Supreme Court dicta, and generally failed to follow the requirements of Rule 702 when assessing the admissibility of expert testimony. The courts have often undermined the true purpose of Daubert (and Rule 702)—the trial court’s proper exercise of its gatekeeping role to ensure the reliability of admitted expert testimony. In response to these trends, the FRE Advisory Committee has approved amendments to Rule 702 to emphasize that the trial court must find the expert evidence “more likely than not” satisfies Rule 702’s requirements, including that the expert’s opinion “reflects a reliable application of the principles and methods to the facts of the case.”

The FDCC panel in which Mr. Babington participated discussed the history of Rule 702, the purpose of the proposed amendments—on course to become effective in December 2023—and why the defense bar should say “Rule 702” is the standard for admissibility of expert evidence and should lead efforts to amend state evidence rules by adopting the new federal language.

Mr. Babington has been a member of the FDCC, a leading national defense lawyer organization, since 2011 and regularly participates in its meetings and presentations. His practice focuses on products liability defense, mass torts, general commercial litigation, and insurance coverage. In 1998, Mr. Babington successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court in the Kumho Tire case, one of the three Supreme Court decisions that led to the 2000 amendments to Rule 702.

Helmsing Leach partner Tom Gaillard obtained a summary judgment in favor of a municipality and its police chief in the circuit court of Escambia County, Alabama, on a false imprisonment claim. The plaintiff contested her arrest on drug charges, but the circuit court agreed that the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on those claims and entered an order to that effect in favor of the defendants.