Highlights

• Represented numerous entities in compliance, regulatory, and pre-suit investigations by using the firm’s litigation experience to conduct a systematic inquiry into practices creating potential exposure and the advising clients on the best practices to minimize those risks. For example, early involvement in a deadly Legionella outbreak at a hospital helped the hospital to manage the response and press coverage and allowed early resolution of all potential claims without a single lawsuit being filed.
• Represented numerous companies in trade secret matters ranging from high-stakes litigation involving corporate espionage to advising small companies on how to avoid liability for trade secret misappropriation when hiring or firing employees.
• Represented public and private companies, as well as universities, in trade secret disputes, including representing The University of Alabama in a trademark dispute with sports artist Daniel A. Moore that was the subject of press coverage by numerous news outlets including The New York Times, NPR and ESPN.
• Represented public and private companies, universities, and individual inventors in patent infringement litigation including Sony, Procter & Gamble, The University of Alabama System, UAB Research Foundation, UAHuntsville, Rice University, and Emory University.
• Represented and helped obtain dismissals and/or favorable settlements for numerous global financial institutions in the highly-publicized Enron, HealthSouth, WorldCom, Just for Feet, and Walter Energy securities litigations.
• Defended Universities from claims for alleged violations of Title IX as well as advised universities on best practices for compliance with Title IX.
• Successfully obtained full summary judgment for academic medical center institutional review board and investigator in class action relating to alleged ethical violations in human research trials that was the subject of extensive news coverage and academic commentary, including in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• Obtained favorable settlement for a Voice Over Internet Provider in lawsuit filed by Alabama Statewide 911 Board.
• Obtained a favorable settlement for a large government contractor in a fraud and breach of contract case with a former employee.
• Obtained dismissal and favorable settlement for KKR in numerous litigation filed following the leveraged recapitalization of Bruno’s grocery chain.
• Represented an NFL player in a civil case alleging assault and battery.
• Obtained declaratory judgment for General Motors allowing it to close car dealership under the Alabama Motor Vehicle Franchise Act and ruling that GM was not obligated to pay the dealer $1.2 million in alleged debt forgiveness and sales tax revenue relief offered by the City of Birmingham.
• Obtained a complete dismissal for The University of Alabama and its President in litigation stemming from the termination of Mike Price, the former head football coach, in what USA Today described as one of the “top 25 biggest sports scandals”.
• Obtained dismissal of a class action alleging inadequate Medicare reimbursement by a long term care management company.
• Obtained favorable ruling for a university in a First Amendment case alleging that the school improperly limited the free speech rights of non-sponsored speakers.
• Successfully represented a lender in the establishment of a receivership of a regional healthcare company and the successful liquidation of the debtor’s assets.
• Obtained order compelling class action against insurance carrier to arbitration, where the class claims were completely dismissed.

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Presentations and Publications

• A Ballpark Overview: The Field of Sports Law, NCAA Compliance Panel, October 13, 2017
• Jay M. Ezelle, “Insights to Litigation,” The Birmingham Business Journal, August 18, 2017  
• Jay M. Ezelle and Cole R. Gresham, “Big Verdicts, Limited Discovery: The Rising Importance of Trade Secrets in Alabama,” in the Cumberland Law Review, Vol. 44 at 55 – 77 (2014).
• Jay M. Ezelle and C. Clayton Bromberg, Jr., “The Internal Affairs Doctrine in Alabama”, The Alabama Lawyer, Vol. 72, No. 2, at 143 – 147 (March 2011).
• Potential Liability Arising from Mass Epidemics, International Association of Defense Counsel Seminar in Scottsdale, AZ (February 21, 2017).
• Don’t Be Fumbled or Be Intercepted: Legal Observations from the Sidelines, Birmingham Bar Association CLE (September 8, 2016).
• Sports Law CLE, Birmingham Bar Association CLE (March 5, 2016).
• Compliance Under the  NCAA’s New Enforcement  Model, Alabama Chapter – Association of Corporate Counsel Seminar in Birmingham, AL (September 20, 2013).

News & Insights

• Starnes Davis Florie Ranked in the 2019 Edition of Benchmark Litigation
• THIRTY-ONE SDF ATTORNEYS NAMED TO THE 2018 EDITION OF MID-SOUTH SUPER LAWYERS
• Twenty-Seven SDF Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2019
• SDF Ranked A Top Firm by Chambers USA 2018
• 8 SDF Partners Named “Leaders in their Field” in Chambers USA 2018
• Twenty-Eight SDF Attorneys Named to the 2017 Edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers
• Twenty-Six SDF Lawyers Listed in the 2018 Edition of Best Lawyers in America
• Starnes Davis Florie Named a Highly Recommended Litigation Firm in the 2018 Edition of Benchmark Litigation
• SDF and Jay Ezelle Featured in Birmingham Business Journal’s Insights to Litigation
• Starnes Davis Florie Receives Top Tier Ranking in Chambers USA 2017
• Seven Starnes Davis Florie Attorneys Named “Leaders in their Field” in Chambers USA 2017
• Twenty-Six SDF Attorneys Named to the 2016 Edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers
• Twenty Starnes Davis Florie Attorneys Named to the 2017 Edition of Best Lawyers®
• Starnes Davis Florie Receives Top Tier Ranking in Chambers USA 2016
• Seven Starnes Davis Florie Attorneys Named “Leaders in their Field” in Chambers USA 2016
• Benchmark Litigation 2016 Named Starnes Davis Florie a Highly Recommended Litigation Firm
• Twenty Starnes Davis Florie Attorneys Named to the 2016 Edition of Best Lawyers®
• Starnes Davis Florie Wins Alabama Supreme Court Decision in Professor Shooting Suit
• Twenty-Six SDF Attorneys Named to 2015 Alabama Super Lawyers
• Seven Starnes Davis Florie Attorneys Named “Leaders in their Field” in Chambers USA 2015