PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY | BUSINESS LITIGATION
CONSTRUCTION LITIGATION | EMPLOYMENT
LITIGATION
INSURANCE DEFENSE | ESTATE LITIGATION
OTHER AREAS OF PRACTICE
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY
Medical Malpractice
We represent physicians, dentists, nurses, physician assistants, hospitals and long-term
care facilities accused of delivering substandard medical treatment. We give each case the highest priority and
aggressively defend all aspects of the litigation. Our
defense plan includes investigation into the medical issues and facts and consultation
with respected experts in the specialties involved. We
have an extensive knowledge of medicine, acquired through many years of experience, which
gives us a commanding advantage in the courtroom. We
also provide advice aimed at preventing future claims, and we frequently advise hospitals
and physicians with regard to developing policies aimed at preventing substandard medical
practice and anticipating problems that could lead to a claim. We regularly counsel
hospitals and physicians concerning potential claims and the general risk management
concerns that every health care provider faces in this litigious age.
Defense of Non-Medical Professionals
When a transaction, business venture, or project sours, parties often look to insured
professionals to pay for losses. Real estate
professionals, accountants, architects, engineers and others are often subjected to claims
for negligence, negligent misrepresentation, unfair trade practices, and malpractice. We have extensive experience with the applicable
law, underlying facts and professional standards involved in these claims. We aggressively defend professionals accused of
negligence in their practice. Where possible,
we seek early dismissal of such charges, and in all cases, our defense strategy is mindful
of the fact that a professional's judgment has been questioned.
Professional Licensing and Administrative Proceedings
A professional’s license is perhaps the most important piece of property he or she
possesses. Licensing boards have become
increasingly active in restricting the licenses and privileges of the professionals whom
they govern. Many professionals wrongly
assume that licensing and administrative proceedings are informal and pose little threat
to their livelihoods. Our approach is to
ensure that such proceedings are treated with due regard for their potential
repercussions. We protect our
clients’ rights by fully preparing them for the proceedings and by demonstrating our
clients' qualifications to practice in their profession. We handle evidentiary
hearings before these professional boards, actions against boards that exceeded their
authority, and appellate procedures to vindicate clients who received improper hearings. We also represent professionals before hospital
credentialing boards, before professional societies, and in federal administrative
proceedings involving the patient anti-dumping law (EMTALA).
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BUSINESS LITIGATION
Business Torts
Our business clients may find themselves subject to claims involving complex regulatory
enactments, such as RICO, unfair and deceptive trade practice statutes, or conventional
tort claims and contract disputes, such as covenants not to compete. We bring extensive litigation experience to these
claims, and we defend them in a thorough and aggressive manner. The relationships that exist between a business
and its suppliers, customers and competitors can also present special legal problems. Antitrust and trade practice laws impose civil
liability for certain conduct deemed anti-competitive or unfair by law, and such laws are
often written by persons unfamiliar with business practices. As the hazards presented and the protection
afforded by such legislation may not be readily apparent, our firm advises businesses on
compliance with these regulations and handles any prosecution or defense of such claims
that may arise.
Directors and Officers Liability
In today’s litigious environment, officers and directors of corporations face
liability for what were once simply routine business decisions. Doing business exposes corporate officials to
potentially expensive pitfalls. We are
prepared to advise these corporate officials with regard to minimizing the risk of
expensive litigation over corporate decisions. If
litigation results, we have the resources and the experience to effectively defend such
claims.
Products Liability
Our firm has extensive expertise in both the legal and substantive aspects of product
liability lawsuits. We have defended
manufacturers of consumer products and industrial or other workplace machinery alleged to
have caused accident or injury, both in the state of North Carolina and on a national
basis. We have successfully defended
pesticide manufacturers against allegations that exposure to their product caused the
development of cancer. Our medical expertise
brings both the substantive knowledge and access to expert and technical resources needed
to evaluate the medical aspect of product liability claims.
Our experience in construction, engineering and other technical litigation has
given us a similar advantage with reference to machine and product design.
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CONSTRUCTION LITIGATION
Our construction litigation practice
includes a variety of complex construction matters, in which we represent a wide range of individuals and firms involved in the
construction industry, from owners and developers to architects and engineers, as well as
general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. In
cases where our clients consult us prior to the onset of litigation, we strive to resolve
disputes before they escalate into more adversarial proceedings. For those matters that cannot be resolved, we are
experienced in handling all aspects of construction litigation in state and federal
courts, as well as pursuing alternative dispute resolution in the form of arbitration or
mediation.
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EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION
Our
attorneys have significant expertise in defending employers against claims of
discrimination and sexual harassment by current and former employees. We also have experience defending claims alleging
sexual misconduct by physicians, mental health practitioners, clergy and others. Members of the firm have defended employers against
discrimination and harassment lawsuits filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as
well as analogous suits pursued under state law theories such as negligent hiring and
supervision and public policy based claims. Our
attorneys are well versed in the complex body of statutory and regulatory provisions and
the vast body of case law decided under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act,
and the Fair Labor Standards Act. We also
regularly defend management against claims of unlawful retaliation, including the defense
of retaliation claims asserted under the aforementioned federal statutes, as well as
claims pursued under the North Carolina Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act.
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INSURANCE DEFENSE
General Insurance
Our general liability practice includes the defense of all types of personal injury and
insurance claims. Among the cases we handle
are claims arising out of premises liability, automobile accidents, personal injury and
wrongful death, and products liability. We
make an extensive investigation of the facts, and we consult with experts concerning
damages and any complexities presented by the facts.
Our approach to these cases reflects our commitment to address each claim
thoroughly and aggressively.
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ compensation claims create a significant expense and exposure for many of
our clients. We defend workers’
compensation claims with the same expertise and aggressive defense that we apply to all
our cases. While handling workers’
compensation matters efficiently, and as expeditiously as the Industrial Commission’s
docket permits, we strive to carefully analyze and defend each matter based on its
individual strengths and weaknesses. Once again, our expertise in medical issues
proves to be an asset in this area of the law.
Insurance Coverage
Our clients often require advice regarding the application or legal interpretation of
insurance policies. We have extensive
experience with virtually all standard policy forms and with many manuscript and
“excess and surplus” policies. We
also have significant experience conducting examinations under oath (EUO's) and have
frequently litigated claims made under fire insurance and property damage policies.
Members of this firm have been involved in a number of significant North Carolina and
federal insurance coverage decisions in recent years.
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ESTATE
LITIGATION
Our estate litigation practice consists of resolving the difficult, and often
sensitive, issues that arise with respect to estate administration. The firm provides representation in will contests,
as well as the representation of fiduciaries, before North Carolina’s probate courts
and in appeals through the state court system. Representation
in will contests includes actions concerning the validity and construction of wills, the
protection of beneficiary rights and family disputes.
We also represent administrators, trustees, executors and beneficiaries in
litigation against the estate and/or the fiduciary.
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OTHER AREAS OF PRACTICE
Environmental Litigation
Our firm has expertise throughout a wide scope of environmental litigation. We represent clients before state environmental
agencies and in complex environmental insurance coverage cases. We also represent clients in suits to recover
payments made and damages incurred as a result of environmental contamination, and we
defend our clients against private and governmental actions seeking to compel them to pay
for such clean-ups. Our experience includes
cases in state and federal courts and cases arising under common law and state and federal
legislation, such as “Superfund” (CERCLA).
We address each claim or potential claim aggressively and move quickly to
resolve potential environmental disputes in order to avoid the need for litigation.
Religious Organizations
This firm has defended religious organizations in cases ranging from ordinary premises
liability to allegations of sexual misconduct, negligent hiring and supervision, and other
liabilities arising out of church activities. We
have extensive experience with the underlying causes of action and with the constitutional
issues raised by these lawsuits, and we are sensitive to the management issues of a
religious organization.
Appellate Representation
Representation of our clients continues through all phases of the litigation process,
including bringing matters before the appellate courts to address issues raised during
discovery or at trial. Additionally, special
interest groups often request our appellate services when pending litigation may affect
their unique concerns. In such cases we
inform the appellate courts of the impact of their decisions on the interests beyond the
narrow parameters of the case under consideration. We
have pursued appeals on behalf of our clients through all appellate courts of North
Carolina and have pursued appeals in the federal courts through circuit courts and to the
United States Supreme Court.
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