Sample of Significant Cases
Plaintiffs' Class Action and Mass Litigation
Jefferson County, Alabama v. Weissman, 69 So. 3d 827 (Ala. 2011)
Represented a taxpayer class of 300,000-plus against County for unconstitutional imposition of an occupational tax. Certified as class counsel; obtained class certification; and prevailed on the merits at trial court and at Supreme Court. Briefed and orally argued the case in the Alabama Supreme Court. The judgment for the Plaintiff class included obtaining a recovery of $23 million in escrowed taxes, as well as an order enjoining collection of a tax generating $65 million annually; total injunctive relief exceeded $200 million in value. This case precipitated in part the $4.5 billion bankruptcy of Jefferson County, Alabama, which was the largest municipal bankruptcy in the U.S. until the City of Detroit.
Richards v. Izzi, 819 So. 2d 25 (Ala. 2001)
Jefferson County, Alabama v. Richards, 805 So. 2d 690 (Ala. 2001)
Represented the "professional" taxpayer class (approx. 30,000 individuals) regarding the constitutionality of several occupational tax statutes and the legality of imposing the tax on the professionals. Briefed and orally argued these cases in the Alabama Supreme Court. The result to the class was the recovery of $9.3 million in escrowed tax revenues and an injunction barring imposition of the taxes on professionals (value of approximately $15 million annually at the time).
Jefferson County, Alabama v. The Taxpayers & Citizens of Jefferson County, Alabama, CV 2015-903133 (Circ. Ct. Jeff. Co. 2015), 232 So. 3d 845 (Ala. 2017)
Represented certain taxpayers of Jefferson County in successfully invalidating a proposed $650 million bond issue in the Circuit Court due to the constitutional invalidity of the sales tax funding mechanism. The Alabama Supreme Court reversed, due to an intervening constitutional amendment which retroactively “cleansed” otherwise unconstitutional legislation.
Hillis v. Equifax Consumer Services, Inc., 2007 WL 1953464 (N.D. Ga. 2007);
Slack v. Fair Isaac Corp., 3:05-CV-00257-MHP (N.D. Cal., consolidated with Hillis)
Townes v. TransUnion, LLC, 2007 WL 2457484 (D. Del. 2007)
Certified as class counsel (along with Prof. Arthur Miller and others) in three nationwide consumer classes (consisting of 75,000 – 400,000 members) asserting violations of the Credit Repair Organizations Act in connection with credit reporting agency offerings of credit-monitoring and score-enhancement products. Cases settled after four years of litigation for substantial class relief.
Amason v. Kangaroo Express, 2013 WL 985536 & 2013 WL 987935 (N.D. Ala. 2013)
Certified as class counsel for consumers asserting violations of the FACTA amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, concerning masking of credit card numbers. District court approved class settlement for 275,000 class members.
Ex parte State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 118 So. 3d 699 (Ala. 2012)
Briefed and orally argued case before the Alabama Supreme Court and prevailed for insured. Issue: whether insurer abrogated the "common fund" doctrine through contractual disclaimer in subrogation recovery by insured of medical payments coverage benefits (PIP or MPC benefits). This case led to the settlement of a companion class action, Light v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., CV 2008-900201 (Circuit Court of Walker County, Alabama), in which I was class counsel.
Selected Trial and Appellate Case List
Wilson is regularly engaged to handle trials and appeals and has appeared as lead counsel in the following:
Federal Appellate Cases:
USA v. Meyers,
820 F. App’x 958 (11th Cir. 2020)
Counsel for Defendant; admissibility of hearsay in federal sentencing.
USA v. Walker,
777 F. App’x 478 (11th Cir. 2019)
Counsel for Defendant; substantive reasonableness of federal sentencing.
Younger v. Experian Info. Solutions, Inc.,
817 F. App’x 862 (11th Cir. 2020)
Lead counsel for Plaintiff; orally argued; willfulness standard under Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681i.
Thurman v. Judicial Correction Services, Inc.,
760 F. App’x 733 (11th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 2646 (2019)
Lead counsel for Defendant; orally argued; Rooker-Feldman doctrine barred
§ 1983 claims asserted in putative class action for Bearden-based violations.
Caver v. Central Alabama Elec. Coop.,
845 F.3d 1135 (11th Cir. 2017)
Lead counsel for Plaintiff; orally argued; federal officer removal under 28 U.S.C
§ 1442; legality of electric cooperative financial practices under Ala. Code § 37-6-20.
Emerald Grande, Inc. v. Junkin,
334 F. App’x 973 (11th Cir. 2009)
Lead counsel for Defendant; contract dispute.
In re OCA, Inc.,
551 F.3d 359 (5th Cir. 2009)
Lead counsel for Defendant; orally argued; obtained reversal of $750,000 judgment.
Sayer v. AmSouth Investment Services, Inc.,
228 F. App’x 963 (11th Cir. 2007)
Lead counsel for Plaintiff; orally argued; fraud action.
Federal District Cases (all orally argued, unless noted NOA):
Ray v. Judicial Correction Services, Inc.,
333 F.R.D. 552 (N.D. Ala. 2019)
Lead counsel for Defendant; obtained denial of class certification of multiple classes
asserting claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Bearden-based violations. This and related
cases settled in an “inventory” settlement of 131 plaintiffs, mediated over four years
by Judge Ott.
Woods v. Judicial Correction Services, Inc.,
2019 WL 2388995 (N.D. Ala. 2019)
Co-lead counsel for Defendant; partial grant and partial denial of summary judgment in
action asserting 42 U.S.C. § 1983 violations based on Bearden.
Twomey v. City of Tuscaloosa,
2019 WL 2325945 (N.D. Ala. 2019) (NOA)
Lead counsel for City; obtained Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of § 1983 excessive force claims
arising from injury allegedly sustained during booking.
Ray v. Judicial Correction Services, Inc.,
270 F. Supp. 3d 1262 (N.D. Ala. 2017)
Co-lead counsel for Defendant; partial grant and partial denial of summary judgment in
action asserting 42 U.S.C. § 1983 violations based on Bearden.
Thurman v. Judicial Correction Services, Inc.,
2017 WL 4079039 (N.D. Ala. 2017)
Lead counsel for Defendant; obtained summary judgment in putative class action based
on Rooker-Feldman doctrine (see above).
In re: Harrelson,
537 B.R. 16 (Bankr. M.D. Ala. 2015)
Lead counsel for Defendant; arbitrability of potentially “core” bankruptcy claims.
FCCI v. Capstone Process Systems, Inc.,
49 F. Supp. 3d 995 (N.D. Ala. 2014) (NOA)
Co-lead counsel for Defendant; coverage dispute concerning third-party liability
action of $1.2 million in an Idaho arbitration.
Amason v. The Pantry, Inc.,
2013 WL 987935 (N.D. Ala. 2013)
Co-lead counsel for Plaintiff; putative class action concerning credit-card “masking”
under the FACTA amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act; class-action settlement
ultimately obtained for a class of 275,000 class members.
Fast & Easy Food Stores, Inc. v. Greene Beverage Co.,
2013 WL 12136610 (N.D. Ala. 2013) (NOA)
Robinson-Patman Act price discrimination case involving wholesale beer sales.
Dees v. Colonial Bancgroup, Inc.,
2009 WL 1033258 & 2009 WL 1285424 (M.D. Ala. 2009)
Lead counsel for one set of Plaintiffs; this was a “lead plaintiff” fight under the PSLRA
for control over a specific fraud claim arising from Colonial Bancgroup’s representations
regarding assistance from the Federal Reserve before its demise. Client lead plaintiff had
the largest loss attributable to that specific representation, but lead Plaintiff status was
awarded a pension fund which asserted broader and non-specific securities fraud claims.
Hillis v. Equifax Consumer Services, Inc.,
2007 WL 1953464 (N.D. Ga. 2007)
Townes v. TransUnion LLC,
2007 WL 2457484 (D. Del. 2007)
Slack v. Fair Isaac & Co., Inc.,
390 F. Supp. 2d 906 (N.D. Cal. 2007)
Co-class counsel for Plaintiff (along with Prof. Authur Miller and others); interrelated class actions brought against credit reporting agencies and Fair Isaac (the keeper of FICO credit scores) for sales of services in violation of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), 15 U.S.C. § 1679. All cases settled on class-wide basis after several years of litigation for significant class relief.
Alabama Supreme Court Decisions (OA denotes oral argument):
Campbell v. City of Gardendale,
--- So. 3d ---, 2020 WL 5268049 (Ala. 2020)
Lead counsel for certified taxpayer class challenging under the Alabama Constitution two ad valorem taxes in the City of
Gardendale earmarked for school purposes. The alleged illegality of the taxes stemmed from the Eleventh Circuit’s holding in Stout v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ., 882 F.3d 988 (11th Cir. 2018), prohibiting Gardendale from forming a “splinter” school district in the Jefferson County desegregation case.
LMN1, LLC v. TP Properties, LLC,
296 So. 3d 792 (Ala. 2019)
Lead counsel for Defendant; favorable ruling on tenant’s breach of commercial lease based on failure to maintain environmental coverages and for breach of additional insurance obligations.
Recherche, LLC v. Baldwin Electric Membership Corp.,
295 So. 3d 1041 (Ala. 2019)
Lead counsel for plaintiff class challenging electric cooperative’s allocations of “patronage capital” credits to cooperative members as failing to satisfy the requirement in Ala. Code § 37-6-20 that cooperatives distribute excess revenues on an annual basis, either in the form of patronage refunds or general rate reductions.
Jefferson County v. Taxpayers & Citizens of Jefferson County,
232 So. 3d 845 (Ala. 2017)
Lead counsel for Taxpayer class challenging constitutionality of Jefferson County’s one-cent sales tax underlying a bond validation proceeding. Prevailed in the trial court in a ruling finding that the underlying legislation was unconstitutional, prompting the Legislature to pass a state-wide constitutional amendment which retroactively cured the constitutional defect, resulting in loss on appeal.
U.S. National Bank v. Shepherd,
202 So. 3d 302 (Ala. 2015)
Co-lead counsel at bench trial and lead counsel on appeal. The Supreme Court reversed our client’s favorable $4 million judgment based on the Court’s conclusion that the mortgagee had an equitable mortgage on real property which was unencumbered.
Ex parte Spencer,
111 So. 3d 713 (Ala. 2012)
Lead counsel for Petitioner; successfully obtained writ of mandamus directing trial court to vacate order enforcing a forum selection clause. Respondents waived their right to enforce the clause.
Ex parte State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.,
118 So. 3d 699 (Ala. 2012) (OA)
Lead counsel for Respondent insured in certiorari posture. Prevailed in argument that insurance contract did not preclude recovery by insured of attorneys’ fees for recovery by insured against third-party tortfeasor of insurer’s reimbursement for Medical Payments payments made to insured. The case addresses the “common-fund” recovery of attorneys’ fees. This case prompted a class-action settlement in a case in Walker County, Alabama in which I was lead counsel.
Jefferson County v. Weissman,
69 So. 3d 827 (Ala. 2011) (OA)
Lead counsel for certified class of all payors of the Jefferson County Occupational Tax. We obtained an order declaring unconstitutional the statute authorizing the tax, resulting in a recovery of approximately $22 million in escrowed tax proceeds and an injunction barring the tax.
Ex parte Greenetrack, Inc.,
25 So. 3d 449 (Ala. 2009)
Lead counsel for Respondent. This was a mandamus petition on a venue question, in which the Supreme Court held that Defendant’s picking up and dropping off customers in Pickens County using a bus for transport to Defendant’s facility did not constitute doing business by agent under Ala. Code 6-3-7.
Ex parte Allianz Life Ins. Co.,
25 So. 3d 411 (Ala. 2009)
Lead counsel for Respondent in a discovery dispute concerning scope of document production.
Lunsford v. Jefferson County,
973 So. 2d 327 (Ala. 2007)
Lead counsel for Plaintiff-Appellant in putative class action, in which we unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality (under Ala. Const. Amend 73) of imposition of liens on Jefferson County landlords’ properties for non-payment of sewer obligations by tenants.
American Medical Security, Inc., v. Parker,
612 S.E.2d 261 (Ga. 2005) (OA in Alabama Supreme Court)
Co-lead counsel for AMS. AMS settled a class action in Alabama; the Parker plaintiffs
were carved out of the Alabama settlement but tried to enjoin the class settlement in Alabama, which the Georgia court rejected. The settlement was approved in Montgomery County over the objections of clients of counsel also representing the Parker plaintiffs; they appealed the settlement approval to the Alabama Supreme Court. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed without opinion.
Ameriquest Mortgage Co. v. Bentley,
851 So. 2d 458 (Ala. 2002)
Lead counsel for Defendant; successfully enforced arbitration.
Leonard v. Terminix International LP,
854 So. 2d 529 (Ala. 2002)
Co-lead counsel for Defendant. This actually remains an important decision in the context of arbitration enforcement issue in a class-action context.
Richards v. Izzi,
819 So. 2d 25 (Ala. 2001)
Jefferson County v. Richards,
805 So. 2d 690 (Ala. 2001) (OA)
Co-lead counsel for the “Professional” classes in the first Jefferson County Occupational Tax cases. The Professionals successfully collaterally attacked the imposition of the original 1967/1988 tax on professionals, then successfully invalidated on constitutional grounds certain 2001 legislation which attempted to impose the Tax on professionals. These resulted in injunctions barring taxation on professionals and a return of about $9 million in unlawfully collected taxes.