Joseph P.H. Babington named Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation

Joe Babington, partner at Helmsing Leach, has been named Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation by Best Lawyers®. Only one lawyer in a geographic location and practice area each year is given this distinction among their peers. Best Lawyers® are chosen through peer-feedback surveys. Joe was also recognized as a Best Lawyer in America in commercial litigation, construction litigation, mass tort litigation/class action defense, personal injury litigation defense, and product liability litigation defense. Joe was first named to Best Lawyers® in 2007.

For more information about Joe’s practice, visit https://helmsinglaw.com/attorneys/joseph-p-h-babington/.

Joe Babington presents “Anatomy of a Trial: Expert Witnesses” at FDCC annual meeting

Helmsing Leach partner and FDCC member Joe Babington chaired and presented in a CLE panel entitled “Anatomy of a Trial: Expert Witnesses” at the Annual Meeting of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC), held in Seattle, Wash. on July 25-29, 2022. The panel of three experienced trial lawyers discussed how to prepare, challenge, cross-examine and present expert witnesses in state and federal courts. The FDCC, composed of recognized leaders in the legal community who have achieved professional distinction, is dedicated to promoting knowledge, fellowship, and professionalism of its members as they pursue the course of a balanced justice system and represent those in need of a defense in civil lawsuits. For more information about the FDCC, visit www.thefederation.org.

Helming Leach adds associate attorney Rachel Buddrus

Helmsing Leach is pleased to announce the addition of associate attorney Rachel Buddrus to the firm. A graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law, Rachel has experience in an array of practice areas from mass torts to real estate law. While attending the University of Mississippi School of Law, Rachel worked for a local real-estate law firm and was admitted to limited practice as a student-attorney through the UM Low-Income Housing Clinic. As a law student, Rachel wrote and published research through the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program on emerging issues in coastal and water law. After graduating law school, Rachel practiced as a litigation associate with a Texas-based firm. Most recently, Rachel clerked for the Honorable Judge Michael P. Windom in the Circuit Court for Mobile County.

“My clerkship exposed me to a wide variety of areas of the law,” Rachel said. “I am excited to join Helmsing Leach—a firm with an excellent local reputation—and learn from the firm’s attorneys while gaining more experience in civil litigation and transactional law.”

Bio

Rachel’s legal experience covers a range of civil litigation and transactional matters. While attending the University of Mississippi School of Law, Rachel worked for a local real-estate law firm and was admitted to limited practice as a student-attorney through the university’s Low-Income Housing Clinic, where she assisted clients on litigation and business matters in property. As a law student, she wrote and published research through the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program on emerging issues in coastal and water law.

Before joining Helmsing Leach, Rachel clerked for the Honorable Judge Michael P. Windom in the Circuit Court for Mobile County and previously was a litigation associate with a Texas-based firm.

Rachel is a native of Dallas, Texas now residing in Springhill. Rachel loves the Ole Miss Rebels, walking her dog, and spending time with family and her fiancé. She is a member of St. Ignatius Catholic Church and the Junior League of Mobile.

Education

  • The University of Mississippi, B.A. (2016)
  • The University of Mississippi, J.D. (2019)

Bar Admissions

  • State Bar of Texas, October 2019
  • Alabama State Bar, April 2022

Professional Memberships

  • Mobile Bar Association (2021) 
  • Texas Bar Association (2019)

Areas of focus

  • Civil litigation
  • Transactional law

Helmsing Leach welcomes its summer 2022 law clerks

Helmsing Leach is pleased to welcome its three summer law clerks for 2022—Lisee Conwell, Thomas Hannahan, and Alex Gressett. Lisee has completed her first year at the University of Alabama School of Law. Thomas and Alex are both studying at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, where Thomas has completed his first year and Alex has completed her second year. Each of the clerks will work across our wide array of practice areas to expose them to as many areas of the law as possible.

For more information about Helmsing Leach’s Summer Associate Program, visit https://helmsinglaw.com/careers/.

Tom Gaillard and William Watts obtain summary judgment for police officer and municipality on claims of liability for conspiracy and extortion

On March 29, 2022, Tom Gaillard and William Watts obtained summary judgment for the City of Robertsdale, Ala. and one of its police officers in an action seeking to hold the City and its officer liable for their efforts in the recovery of a stolen RV that had been sold to the plaintiff by a third party. The plaintiff alleged that the officer attempted to “extort” him during the officer’s efforts to recover the trailer as stolen property. Gaillard and Watts argued that no such cause of action exists under Alabama law and that the officer and the City had immunity from such claims in any event. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment in favor of the City and the officer.

William W. Watts, III and Jeffery Hartley Win Reversal of Trial Court Judgment on Subrogation Claim

In March of 2021, firm members William W. Watts, III and Jeffery J. Hartley, representing the Chapter 13 Trustee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama, obtained an order from the Court of Civil Appeals reversing a trial court’s judgment awarding reimbursement to the employer of workman’s compensation benefits paid to the debtor out of proceeds collected by the debtor in satisfaction of a judgment against an underinsured motorist insurer.  The Court held that employers are not entitled to be reimbursed their payment of worker’s compensation benefits out of the proceeds collected by the employee on a claim for underinsured motorist benefits arising out of an automobile accident which occurred in the course and scope of the employee’s employment.  The Court rejected the argument that the employer should be entitled to be reimbursed UM proceeds if they are collected under a policy of uninsured motorist benefits that the employer itself obtained for the benefit of its employees while driving in the course and scope of their employment.

Helmsing Leach Recognized as a Tier 1 Law Firm

U.S. News – Best Lawyers has recognized Helmsing Leach as a Tier 1 law firm in its 2022 edition of Best Lawyers in America.  This recognition is reserved for those firms that score in the top percentile during the annual review process.

Samantha Gunnoe Joins Helmsing Leach

Helmsing Leach is pleased to announce that Samantha Gunnoe has joined the firm as a litigation associate.  Prior to joining Helmsing Leach, Samantha practiced at a civil defense firm in the Mobile area and clerked for the Honorable Robert H. Smith and the Honorable S. Wesley Pipes of the 13th Judicial Circuit of Alabama.  Samantha’s background includes general insurance defense, motor vehicle litigation, and premises liability litigation.  Samantha obtained her law degree from Loyola University New Orleans and earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mississippi.

Casey Pipes and Warren Herlong recover $3,694,118.00 Judgment for Homeowners in Condemnation Action

Warren and Casey finished a jury trial in October of 2021 in which their clients’ home was being condemned for a new highway.  Their clients had assembled over 250 acres of land in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and they had improved it with a home that was over 7,000 SF in size.  The home was located inside a 5/8 mile race-horse practice track.  A new State highway project took about 22 acres of land, the home, the racetrack, and a pond, and it left their property divided by the new highway.  The State Department of Transportation put on evidence that it owed around $1.3 million.   The jury returned a verdict for over $2.9 million, and after adding prejudgment interest, the final judgment amount was $3,694,118.  This final judgment amount was nearly three times more than the State’s position of what it owed, and it was the just compensation that the homeowners were entitled to.

A. Edwin Stuardi, III Inducted as Fellow of American College of Trial Lawyers

Helmsing Leach is pleased to announce that A. Edwin Stuardi, III has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) at their Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois on October 3, 2021.

Founded in 1950, the ACTL is composed of the best of the trial bar for the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the ACTL is extended by invitation only after careful investigation. Fellows must be experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by high standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. A lawyer must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship. Membership in the ACTL cannot exceed 1% of the total lawyer population of any state or province.

Stuardi has represented clients in hundreds of cases during his 25-plus years of practice in Alabama. His active trial practice includes all types of complex litigation, although he focuses mainly on representing hospitals, physicians and long-term care facilities across Alabama in medical negligence lawsuits and other healthcare-related litigation. Stuardi has been recognized by Best Lawyers of America and Super Lawyers every year since 2009 and he has an AV-preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubble.