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Sean Guy

  • Sean represented a family whose relative died in an automobile accident after having illegally been served alcohol at a local restaurant and bar. Sean reached a settlement of the case after lengthy and complex litigation.

  • Sean assisted in the successful defense of global and national credit insurance companies in hundreds of lawsuits filed by individuals who claimed to have been defrauded when they purchased insurance in conjunction with loans and other financing.

  • After a lengthy and thorough investigation of witnesses and facts, Sean successfully obtained a dismissal of all felony charges against a client who was wrongfully accused of felony theft.

  • Sean successfully negotiated a settlement for a class of satellite dish installers who were not being paid for overtime hours.

  • Sean successfully obtained a dismissal of all driving under the influence charges for a client who refused to take a breathalyser test.

Tad McCraney

  • Tad currently serves as local counsel for a foreign sovereign state that has been sued in a Mississippi federal court by the Mississippi Department of Insurance for allegedly participating in a fraudulent scheme to purchase insurance companies. The case, which has been pending since 2003, raises a number of complex issues under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

  • Tad represented hundreds of individual plaintiffs in a federal multi-district litigation proceeding in Seattle, Washington, regarding the drug phenylpropanolomine (“PPA”), which was the active ingredient in many over the counter cough and cold remedies. The FDA pulled PPA from the market in 2000 after studies showed PPA caused an increased risk of stokes. Tad helped his cients recover over $3 million in settlements from the manufactures of PPA.

Steve Montagnet

  • Steve has represented several banking institutions in defense of claims brought by customers claiming to have been defrauded by the imposition of collateral protection insurance. While some plaintiffs obtained multi-million dollar awards for similar claims, none of Steve’s clients were found liable or paid any money in settlement. All claims were dismissed.

  • Steve has represented a class of several hundred security system installation employees who were not paid for their actual hours worked or for overtime. Steve successfully negotiated a settlement on behalf of all claimants.

  • Steve represented an elderly widow who had been defrauded out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by her attorneys and by county governmental officials. The client recovered the swindled funds, and the litigation spawned criminal and ethical investigations which ultimately resulted in wholesale changes within the county’s government.

  • Steve represents a fortune 150 corporation, and its subsidiary, in defense of allegations by thousands of welders who claim to have been injured by inhaling manganese, a component of welding fume. Steve was instrumental in the removal of the actions filed in Mississippi courts and in the creation of the federal multi-district litigation. Though some of the plaintiffs in these cases have had success, neither of Steve’s clients have paid any money in settlement, and they have been dismissed from thousands of cases brought against them.

  • Steve represented a widow and her two children who lost their father in an automobile accident. The responsible party was insured and the insurance company refused to answer the complaint, resulting in a multi-million dollar default judgment against an insolvent truck driver. Steve obtained an assignment from the truck driver, and successfully pursued complex claims against the insurer and others who were responsible for failing to defend the insured. As a result of Steve's innovative legal strategy, and following years of litigation in both state and federal courts, the client and her minor children recovered their judgment.

  • Steve successfully defended a commercial kitchen equipment manufacturer in two product liability lawsuits involving an explosion in a truck stop kitchen. Alleging defective design, the plaintiffs claimed Steve’s client caused the death of one of the plaintiffs and seriously injured the other. Following discovery, Steve proved the equipment was not the cause of the injuries, and the cases were dismissed.

Doug Noble

  • Along with his partners, Doug participated as lead debtors’ counsel in In re Mississippi Chemical Corporation (US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Mississippi) and In re President Broadwater Hotel, LLC (US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Mississippi), both resulting in successfully confirmed plans of reorganization.

  • Representation of the petitioning creditors in the involuntary proceedings in In re LSP Pike Energy, LLC (US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Mississippi), a subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc., that were eventually resolved as part of the concurrent Chapter 11 proceedings in In re NRG Energy, Inc., et al., in the Southern District of New York.

  • Doug was lead counsel in a bench trial in US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, in obtaining a judgment of possession and for monetary damages, executing upon both, and successfully defending against counterclaims on behalf of his client, a national floor plan lender, in Bombardier Capital, Inc. v. Royer Homes of Mississippi, Inc., et al.

  • Service as lead debtors' counsel for the owner of seven nursing homes and an assisted living facility in In re CareCorps Management Company, LLC, et al. (US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Mississippi), which resulted in a successfully confirmed plan of liquidation.

  • Lead debtor's counsel in In re Deuce McAllister Nissan of Jackson, LLC (US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Mississippi).

  • Lead counsel to the unsecured creditors' committee in the Chapter 9 reorganization of In re Natchez Regional Medical Center (US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Mississippi), also resulting in a successfully confirmed plan.

Billy Quin

  • Billy was retained as a Special Assistant Attorney General to prosecute claims against MCI which arose out of the income tax fraud of MCI’s predecessor company, WorldCom, Inc. The State alleged that WorldCom had engaged in a scheme to avoid the payment of $95 million in tax through the mischaracterization of income. The State settled its claims against MCI for $100 million in cash, $7 million in property, $4.2 million in payments to the Children’s Justice Center and $14 million in attorneys’ fees. Billy served as co-lead counsel for the State and has widely been credited as the architect of the State’s suit.

  • Billy was retained as a Special Assistant Attorney General to prosecute claims against Eli Lilly on behalf of the State’s Division of Medicaid and Employees’ Health Plan to recoup money misspent on the prescription medication, Zyprexa®. The State alleged that Eli Lilly had improperly promoted Zyprexa® for non-medically necessary uses, thereby causing the State to wrongfully expend millions of dollars. The State settled its claims against Eli Lilly for $18.5 million in cash and $3.7 million in attorneys’ fees.

  • Billy was retained by the State of Mississippi to prosecute claims against Pfizer on behalf of the State’s Division of Medicaid and Employees’ Health Plan to recoup money misspent on the prescription drug, Bextra®. The State alleged that Pfizer had improperly promoted Bextra® for non-medically necessary uses, thereby causing the State to wrongfully expend millions of dollars. The State settled its claims against Pfizer for $5,000,000 in cash and $500,000 in attorneys’ fees.

  • Billy was retained by hundreds of individuals and businesses that invested and lost millions in WorldCom stocks and bonds as a result of the Company’s fraudulent business practices. Billy filed numerous securities fraud lawsuits against CitiGroup, Arthur Andersen and various individuals which led to confidential settlements on behalf of Billy’s clients. Billy’s successful efforts in this case were made the focus of the PBS television news program, NOW with Bill Moyers.

  • Billy was retained by five separate individuals who were catastrophically injured when the recovery boiler at the Vicksburg, Mississippi facility of International Paper Company exploded during start-up. The injuries in these cases included severe burns, brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Billy filed four separate lawsuits against International Paper in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi and spearheaded the mass litigation which arose out of this horrific incident. Billy’s cases favorably settled for confidential sums during court-ordered mediations with Magistrate Judge John Roper. International Paper Company overhauled their recovery boiler safety standards as a result of the lawsuits brought by Billy’s clients.

  • Billy represented a 19 year old lady who sustained severe traumatic brain injuries when the Ford Explorer in which she was a passenger crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was owned and operated by a Fortune 500 poultry company. Billy brought suit against the poultry company and the manufacturer of the involved trailer. After two years of heated litigation, the lawsuit favorably settled for a confidential sum.

  • Billy represented a young girl and the estate of her 89 year old great-grandmother for claims arising out of a propane gas explosion in which the young girl sustained third-degree burns on over 65% of her body and her grandmother died. Billy brought a lawsuit on behalf of his clients against three separate propane gas companies that had an obligation to conduct a safety inspection of the great-grandmother’s home, and failed to do so. The lawsuit favorably settled for a confidential sum in voluntary mediation.

  • Billy obtained a $2.9 million jury verdict in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi against United Parcel Service on behalf of a young man who sustained severe traumatic brain injuries when an UPS tractor-trailer collided with the overhead bucket in which he was working in a highway repair zone. This jury verdict has been reported to be among the largest ever rendered in this federal district court.

  • In addition to being elected by his peers to serve as Chairman of the Science Committee in the national consolidated multi-district litigation pending in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Billy represented three young ladies who developed fungal infections in their eyes after using Bausch & Lomb’s contact lens cleaning solution, ReNu with MoistureLoc®, including a nurse who was forced to have her left eye surgically removed. Billy settled the claims of his clients for $2.95 million, which remains among the highest settlements in the country within the ReNu with MoistureLoc® mass tort litigation.

  • Billy and his law partners obtained a $749,000 judgment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi for a ninety-one year old World War II veteran who was blinded during a routine cosmetic eye procedure performed at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. In discussing his verdict, Judge Tom Lee stated that “but for the statutory cap [of $500,000 on non-economic damages], the court, taking into account future non-economic damages, would have been inclined to award more than $500,000.” This Associated Press reported on this verdict, and Judge Lee’s frustration with the medical malpractice damage cap, in a nationwide news report.

  • Billy represented the widow of a 42 year old business owner who unexpectedly passed away from complications associated with brain cancer in an insurance bad faith action brought in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Hartford was the life insurance company of the decedent, and refused to tender its $250,000 death benefit to the decedent’s widow on the ground that the decedent had not identified an emergency room visit for indigestion on his application for insurance. The widow argued that the decedent had disclosed the visit to his agent, and that the emergency room visit for indigestion was immaterial to the risk assumed by the life insurance company. The case settled favorably for a confidential sum in court-ordered mediation.

  • Billy represented several insureds of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi whose claims for health insurance benefits were wrongfully denied on the basis of the company’s “pre-existing condition” exclusion. In each instance, Blue Cross claimed that its insured had made a claim for the treatment of a pre-existing condition under circumstances in which the insured had no diagnosed or diagnosable illness. Each lawsuit settled in court-ordered mediation for an amount which was several multiples of the insured’s original claim for insurance benefits.

  • Billy represented a disabled attorney from the Mississippi Gulf Coast whose claim for disability income insurance benefits was denied by his insurer. The insurance policy allowed for a lifetime benefit in the event of a disability caused by injury, and two years of benefits in the event of a disability caused by sickness. The disabled attorney claimed that his disability arose when he injured his back lifting a heavy object, while the company claimed that his disability arose from arthritis. The lawsuit settled for a confidential sum in voluntary mediation.