Cases
Sylva-Kalonji v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, 2009 WL 1418808 (S.D. Ala. 2009)
Represented the Mobile County School Board in a Title VII discrimination case filed by an employee who sought an upgrade in pay. Obtained summary judgment on the grounds that the employee was not similarly situated with the other employees receiving higher pay.
Mobile County Water, Sewer and Fire Protection Authority v. Mobile Area Water and Sewer System, 564 F. 3d 1290 (11th Cir. 2009)
Represented the Mobile County Water Board in a federal anti-trust claim filed by a competing water system. Obtained summary judgment by establishing the Board had state action immunity because its conduct followed a clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed state policy.
Stabler v. City of Mobile, 844 So. 2d 555 (Ala. 2002)
Represented the City of Mobile in a claim for libel, the tort of outrage and negligent supervision. Obtained summary judgment on the grounds that the plaintiff’s filing of an EEOC charge did not satisfy the notice provisions contained in Ala. Code B’ 11-47-23 and Ala. Code B’ 11-47-192.
Crowne Investments Inc. v. Reid, 740 So. 2d 400 (Ala. 1999)
Represented the administratrix of a nursing home patient who died after choking when his wife was feeding him. Obtained a $750,000 jury verdict against the nursing home for negligently breaching the standard of care.
Cooley v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, 2009 WL 424593 (S. D. Ala. 2009)
Represented the Mobile County School Board in a claim filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act by a teacher who claimed she was totally disabled. Obtained summary judgment by establishing that the teacher could not perform the essential functions of her duties with or without a reasonable accommodation.
McCann v. Tillman, 526 F. 3d 1370 (11th Cir. 2008)
Represented the Sheriff of Mobile County in a Title VII claim filed by an employee claiming a hostile work environment. Obtained summary judgment establishing that alleged derogatory language was too sporadic and isolated to establish that the employer’s conduct was so objectively severe and pervasive as to constitute a hostile work environment.
Fisher v. Dodge, 2008 W L 450371 (S.D. Ala. 2008)
Represented the Mobile County School Board and its superintendent in a civil rights claim filed by a student who was assaulted by two other students at a public park near the school. Obtained summary judgment by establishing that the defendant neither knew of nor disregarded an extremely great risk to the plaintiff’s health or safety.
C. B. v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, 261 Fed Appx 192 (11th Cir. 2008)
Represented the Mobile County School Board in an action for injunctive relief filed by a student who claimed the Board violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying him a transfer to a school closer to his home. Obtained a Court Order denying injunctive relief by establishing the student did not suffer immediate and irreparable harm because the ADA had not been violated and the plaintiff failed to show that the denial of injunctive relief would circumvent the purposes of the federal statute.
West v. Tillman, 496 F. 3d 1321 (11th Cir. 2007)
Represented the Sheriff of Mobile County and jail employees in a civil rights action filed by jail inmates alleging the jail failed to property process court orders authorizing release from custody. Obtained summary judgment by establishing the jail records staff was not deliberately indifferent to the inmates’ due process right to timely release.
Byther ex rel Byther v. City of Mobile, 398 F. Supp 2d 1222 (S. D. Ala. 2005)
Represented the City of Mobile in a civil rights action filed by an arrestee for a police officer’s alleged use of excessive force. Obtained summary judgment by establishing that the alleged wrongful acts of the police officer did not occur as a result of a custom or policy of the City.
City of Mobile v. Robertson, 897 So. 2d 1156 (Ala. Civ. App. 2004)
Represented the City of Mobile in a Personnel Board Hearing. The Personnel Board imposed punishment on a City employee but the Circuit Court reversed the punishment on constitutional grounds. Obtained a reversal of the Circuit Court’s decision by the Alabama Supreme Count which held that the Circuit Court improperly substituted its judgment for that of the Personnel Board because there was substantial evidence to support the punishment.
Other Decisions
Alabama Education Association v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, Mobile County Circuit Court, Case No. 2007-001716.51
Represented the Mobile County School Board against a teacher’s union who sought injunctive relief in seeking the names and applications of all persons who applied for the vacant superintendent’s position. Obtained a ruling from the Circuit Court denying injunctive relief and recognizing the confidentiality of the information sought.
Marzi v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, Mobile County Circuit Court Case No. CV-07-900494
Represented the Mobile County School Board in a breach of contract action brought by the Assistant Superintendent of Information Technology claiming that he was illegally discharged in violation of the Teacher Tenure Act. Obtained summary judgment by establishing that the use of the term “Assistant Superintendent” in the Teacher Tenure Act did not refer to all Assistant Superintendents, but rather to Assistant Superintendents who were educators who held a certificate from the State Department of Education.
Hooker Construction, Inc. v. Mobile Housing Board, Southern District of Alabama, Case No. 01-0362-P-L
Represented the Mobile Housing Board in a breach of contract and fraud action arising out of liquidated damages withheld by the Board in a 17 million dollar renovation project. Obtained a summary judgment by establishing that the plaintiff itself breached the contract by not timely completing the work within the deadline established by the written contract and that alleged prior oral statements relating to deadline extensions made by a Board employee were not made with a present intent to deceive to support a claim for promissory fraud.
Macbrooks, LLC. v Ellis, et al., George County, Ms. Circuit Court Case No. 2009-0111(1)
Successfully obtained judgment for unrestricted 30 foot wide, 1/4 mile long easement for access and utilities from landlocked property to public road.
Obtained $60,000.00 settlement from contractor and property owner on behalf of family whose property was damaged due to water, silt, mud and debris runoff from adjacent construction site.
Obtained $99,000.00 settlement from local municipality on behalf of construction supply company after municipality refused to pay for construction materials it had purchased for a parking lot project.
