Highlights

• Obtained from the Alabama Supreme Court a reversal and remand of a plaintiff’s verdict and judgment in a medical malpractice case on behalf of a defendant anesthesiologist due to the plaintiff’s failure to produce a qualified expert witness during trial.
• Obtained an affirmance by the Alabama Supreme Court of a defense verdict in favor of an OB/GYN in a retained foreign body/surgical sponge case.
• Obtained a favorable opinion from the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals affirming the dismissal of a complaint arising from orthodontic care and treatment.
• Obtained a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court of Alabama affirming the trial court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of their clients in a case involving allegations of harm caused by the long-term use of a medication.
• Obtained a favorable ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court on behalf of their clients, a national little league baseball program and its local director, after a spectator was hit by a baseball and sustained a serious brain injury/bleed.
• Obtained a favorable opinion from the Supreme Court of Alabama reversing and remanding a trial court’s denial of a client’s request to compel arbitration of claims filed against his business in Baldwin County, Alabama.
• In June 2015, Sybil Newton, along with Jay Ezelle and Randy Sellers, obtained favorable ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court on behalf of a university provost in a suit involving an on-campus shooting of six faculty members. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed all of the decisions of the trial court and rejected plaintiffs’ request for a rehearing.

• In February of 2015, Sybil Newton, along with Gray Stiff, and Scott Stevens, obtained a favorable ruling from the 11th Circuit in a holding which affirmed the District Court’s (Southern District of Alabama) grant of summary judgment to insurance carrier in a case brought by an Alabama bank seeking payment under a financial institution bond. The bank alleged breach of contract and bad faith and sought over $1,000,000 from the carrier after a customer of the Bank defaulted on loans secured, in part, by a stock certificate which he had obtained fraudulently.  The primary issue on appeal was whether the fraudulently obtained stock certificate met the definition of a “counterfeit” under the terms of the bond.  The trial court held, and the 11th Circuit agreed, that the stock certificate at issue was an authentic document, even if procured under false pretenses, and does not meet the definition of “counterfeit” or trigger coverage under the bond.  The Bank’s application for rehearing en banc was denied by the 11th Circuit on April 20, 2015. The opinion issued by the 11th Circuit was the subject of several articles in Appellate Law 360.
• In August of 2014, obtained favorable ruling from the 11th Circuit Court in favor of a national grocery store chain, affirming the district court’s grant of summary judgment in this premises liability/slip and fall case.  Warren Butler and Scott Stevens successfully obtained summary judgment for our Defendant, and Sybil Newton handled the briefing before the 11th Circuit following the Plaintiff’s appeal.  The case contains helpful language regarding the Plaintiff’s burden on causation, the need for expert testimony on issues outside of a layperson’s understanding, and the impropriety of basing a theory upon speculation.
• In August of 2014, obtained ruling from The Alabama Supreme Court overruling Boudreaux v. Pettaway, 108 So.3d 486 (Ala. 2012), and expressly rejecting  the  prior holding in Boudreaux  that a potential bad faith claim against a defendant  physician ’s insurer should be considered as a  present  asset in determining whether a judgment should be remitted.
• In July of 2014, Obtained favorable ruling  for a Defendant/coal mining company from the Alabama Supreme Court in a case which arose from a claim for benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act .   The Alabama Supreme Court  affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the case and held that it lacked jurisdiction to consider this issue outside of the federal framework for BLBA actions.

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News & Insights

• Twenty-Six SDF Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2021
• Another Appellate Win for SDF – Affirmance of Defense Verdict at Trial
• SDF Appellate Win – AL Supreme Court Grants Reversal & Remand
• Appellate Win for Starnes Davis Florie
• Appellate Win for Starnes Davis Florie
• THIRTY-ONE SDF ATTORNEYS NAMED TO THE 2019 EDITION OF MID-SOUTH SUPER LAWYERS
• Bob MacKenzie, Sybil Newton, Warren Butler, and Clayton Bromberg Obtain Ruling from The Supreme Court of Alabama Affirming Dismissal of Legal Malpractice Action
• Chris Eagan, Sybil Newton, and Sarah Chamberlain Obtain Favorable Ruling from the Supreme Court of Alabama
• Thirty SDF Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers 2020
• SDF Attorneys Sybil Newton & Jordan Gerheim Obtain Favorable Ruling From Alabama Supreme Court
• SYBIL NEWTON REAPPOINTED TO A 4th TERM ON THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON AL RULES OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE & FEATURED IN THE BBJ FOR HER DEDICATION TO CASA
• 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
• Twenty-Eight SDF Attorneys Named to the 2017 Edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers
• Newton Butler and Presley Obtain Favorable Ruling from The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals
• Twenty-Six SDF Lawyers Listed in the 2018 Edition of Best Lawyers in America
• SDF Attorneys Obtain Favorable Opinion From Supreme Court of Alabama
• Twenty-Six SDF Attorneys Named to the 2016 Edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers
• Sybil Newton Appointed to Serve a Third Term on the Standing Committee on Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure
• Starnes Davis Florie Wins Alabama Supreme Court Decision in Professor Shooting Suit