Casey Pipes named 2024 Lawyer of the Year in Municipal Law

Best Lawyers® has recognized Helmsing Leach partner and managing attorney Casey Pipes as the Lawyer of the Year in the field of Municipal Law for the Mobile, Alabama metropolitan area. The Lawyer of the Year distinction is awarded to lawyers with the highest peer ratings among top lawyers in a practice area and location. Only one lawyer per metropolitan area and practice area can receive this honor each year. Casey was also recognized by Best Lawyers for his work in the fields of eminent domain and condemnation law, land use and zoning Law, land use and zoning litigation, real estate litigation, and real estate law. Casey has been named to Best Lawyers® for the past 10 years.  Casey has been recognized as a Lawyer of the Year in the Mobile metropolitan market in seven out of the last eight years.

To learn more about Casey’s legal practice, visit https://helmsinglaw.com/attorneys/j-casey-pipes/.

Jeffery Hartley named 2024 Lawyer of the Year in Bankruptcy Litigation

Best Lawyers® has named Helmsing Leach partner Jeffrey Hartley the Lawyer of the Year in Bankruptcy Litigation. Only one lawyer is recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” for each legal specialty and location. In addition to this honor, Jeffery was also named a Best Lawyer in America in the fields of bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law and bet-the-company litigation. Jeffery has been recognized as a Best Lawyer in America since 2008. In 2015 and 2018, he was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States, John G. Roberts, to serve on the influential Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.

For more information about Jeffery’s legal practice, visit https://helmsinglaw.com/attorneys/jeffery-j-hartley/.

Joe Babington named Lawyer of the Year in Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions & Product Liability Litigation

Helmsing Leach’s Joe Babington has been named Best Lawyers’ 2024 Lawyer of the Year in both Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions and Product Liability Litigation (Mobile, Ala.). Best Lawyers, a highly regarded legal publication, recognizes top lawyers throughout the country via extensive peer review. Only one lawyer can be named Lawyer of the Year in a practice area and location. Joe has been consistently named to Best Lawyers since 2007.

In addition to Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions and Product Liability, Joe was recognized in Best Lawyers’ 2024 edition in the following practice areas:

  • Commercial Litigation
  • Litigation – Construction
  • Litigation – Environmental
  • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants

Visit Helmsing Leach’s practice area pages to learn more about our work:

14 Helmsing Leach attorneys recognized by Best Lawyers in America for 2024

Fourteen Helmsing Leach attorneys were named to Best Lawyers in America for 2024. Best Lawyers is regarded as a leading publication in the legal field, with tens of thousands of lawyers confidentially ranking their peers each year.

The attorneys and their respective practice areas, year first recognized, and number of years named to Best Lawyers are below:

  • Alan Alexander (2007) [15 years]
    • Health Care Law
    • Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants
    • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
    • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
  • Joe Babington (2007) [15 years]
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Litigation – Construction
    • Litigation – Environmental
    • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
    • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
    • Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
  • Russell Buffkin (2013) [10 years]
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Litigation – Real Estate
  • John Dukes (2019) [5 years]
    • Commercial Transactions / UCC Law
    • Real Estate Law
  • Jeffery Hartley (2008) [15 years]
    • Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
    • Bet-the-Company Litigation
    • Litigation – Bankruptcy
  • Warren C. Herlong, Jr. (2006) [15 years]
    • Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
    • Litigation – Antitrust
    • Litigation – Real Estate
  • Karen Tucker (2023)
    • Appellate Practice
  • Jim Newman (2007) [15 years]
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Insurance Law
    • Litigation – Banking and Finance
    • Litigation – Construction
    • Litigation – Labor and Employment
  • Casey Pipes (2011) [10 years]
    • Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
    • Land Use and Zoning Law
    • Litigation – Land Use and Zoning
    • Litigation – Real Estate
    • Municipal Law
    • Real Estate Law
  • Robert Rouse (2007) [15 years]
    • Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)
    • Tax Law
    • Trusts and Estates
  • Win Stuardi (2009) [15 years] 
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Litigation – Construction
    • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
    • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
    • Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants
  • Bill Watts (2009) [15 years]
    • Appellate Practice

Jim Newman, Jeffrey Hartley, Casey Pipes, John Dukes, Joe Babington, Robert Rouse, Warren Herlong, and Bill Watts were given the publication’s highest distinction, Lawyer of the Year. There is only one Lawyer of the Year for each practice area and geographic location (Mobile, Ala.).

Additionally, two attorneys were named 2024 Lawyers to Watch:

  • Philip D. Mahoney (*)
    • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
  • W. Kirkland Mattei (2021)
    • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
    • Product Liability Litigation – Defendants

Casey Pipes helps business owner get just compensation for property

Helmsing Leach partner Casey Pipes recently finished a three-day jury trial in Mobile County involving the condemnation of his client’s business property. The site was approximately half an acre on the Mobile River and had been the location of a family-owned business for multiple generations. The Alabama Department of Transportation took the entire site in a right of way acquisition for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge project. The state of Alabama put on evidence that it owed only $675,000 to the owner, but the jury returned a verdict for $1,636,975. The addition of interest brought the total recovery in the case to $1,965,964.60.

For more information about the firm’s eminent domain practice, visit this link.

Casey Pipes co-authors article in The Practical Real Estate Lawyer’s July 2023 issue

Helmsing Leach partner Casey Pipes co-authored an article on differentiating between easements and fee takings in the context of condemnation actions that was published in the July 2023 edition of the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (ALI CLE)’s The Practical Real Estate Lawyer. The article addresses situations when the taking of an easement should be valued as if fee title was being condemned (or more), and procedural tools the lawyers can use in these situations to represent their clients. This publication is a follow up to a live continuing legal education presentation Casey gave earlier in 2023 in Austin, Texas on this subject.

To learn more about the firm’s eminent domain practice area please visit this link.

Firm Has 7 Recognized by Best Lawyers as a Lawyer of the Year

Best Lawyers has identified seven of the Firm’s lawyers as being the “Lawyer of the Year” in the Mobile, Alabama market for 2020 in their respective areas of practice.  Included in this year’s recognition by Best Lawyers are Joe Babington, Jeffery Hartley, Warren Herlong, Jim Newman, Casey Pipes, Robert Rouse, and Bill Watts.

Casey Pipes Elected to ACREL

Casey Pipes was elected a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL). The College was founded in 1978 and Fellows are elected to membership based on their legal ability, experience and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice of real estate law. For more information about ACREL, please visit their website at www.ACREL.org.

Jim Newman Inducted As Fellow Of Alabama Law Foundation

The firm is proud to announce that Jim Newman has been inducted as a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation. Membership in the Foundation is by nomination of its existing members and is limited to one percent of the membership of the Alabama State Bar. Mr. Newman joins Helmsing Leach’s John Leach as a member of the Foundation.

Firm wins summary judgment for defendant pharmaceutical company in Stephens-Johnson Syndrome case in federal court

Glenn S. Kerner and Joseph P.H. Babington

Glenn S. Kerner, chair of the Mass Tort and Class Action SLG of DRI’s Product Liability Committee and partner of Goodwin Procter LLP in New York City, teamed with Joseph P.H. Babington, partner of Helmsing, Leach, Herlong, Newman & Rouse, P.C., in Mobile, Alabama, recently to obtain summary judgment in favor of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. (Teva) in a product liability action involving the prescription drug cephalexin in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Barnhill v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., et al., case no. 06-cv-00282 (S.D. Ala. May 10, 2011). Plaintiff’s negligent failure to warn claims were dismissed on the basis of the learned intermediary doctrine. In dismissing the plaintiff’s claim for negligent failure to conduct post-marketing surveillance, the court declined to extend Teva’s post-marketing surveillance duty beyond the requirements of FDA regulations. The court also dismissed the plaintiff’s breach of implied warranty of merchantability claim.

The plaintiff alleged that, at age 12, she developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a rare and severe hypersensitivity reaction, as a result of ingesting Teva’s antibiotic cephalexin. Plaintiff’s complaint asserted various claims under Alabama law, including strict liability, misrepresentation, negligence, breach of express warranty and breach of implied warranty of merchantability. Early in the litigation, Teva prevailed on a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s strict liability and misrepresentation claims. All remaining claims were dismissed on summary judgment, including negligent failure to warn, negligent failure to conduct post-marketing surveillance and breach of implied warranty of merchantability.

The court held that summary judgment for Teva was warranted on the failure to warn claim because the plaintiff could not establish proximate cause under Alabama’s learned intermediary doctrine. The plaintiff’s prescribing physician had testified at deposition that she still prescribes cephalexin today, despite being aware of the potential risks. Given that testimony, the court held there was no evidence to support the plaintiff’s allegation that a more forceful warning would have changed the physician’s decision to prescribe cephalexin for the plaintiff. In so holding, the court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that a heeding presumption should apply in this case.

The court rejected the plaintiff’s claim that Teva had a legal duty to conduct post-marketing surveillance beyond the requirements of FDA regulations. Teva demonstrated that it complied with all FDA regulations relating to reporting adverse events. However, the plaintiff argued that Teva was obligated to monitor and report adverse events from other manufacturers’ cephalexin products, as well as its own. The court found that the plaintiff provided no support for her argument that such a duty existed.

The court also rejected the plaintiff’s breach of implied warranty of merchantability claim, holding that the plaintiff presented no evidence to rebut the presumption under Alabama law that cephalexin, as an inherently dangerous product, is fit for its intended use.