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At LOWE & GRAMMAS LLP, with offices in Birmingham, Alabama, we represent plaintiffs in complex cases involving business relationships, consumer rights and personal injury. Our experienced attorneys have more than 35 combined years of success using strategically aggressive tactics to win million-dollar-plus verdicts and settlements for our clients. We offer free consultations and look forward to the opportunity to discuss how we can use our knowledge and expertise to protect your legal rights. Please contact us today for a consultation with one of our lawyers. The attorneys at LOWE & GRAMMAS LLP, have been involved in complex litigation on behalf of classes, individuals and corporations. The following is a representative sample of cases. Although the summaries of these cases are accurate, they are representative only and should not be viewed as an assurance of a particular result. Each case must stand on its own facts and circumstances. Advanced Business Systems, Inc. v. Philips Information Systems, et al. This case was tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Clay Lowe and others represented the plaintiff, who alleged wrongful termination as a dealer of Philips Information Systems' products. After a five-week jury trial and immediately prior to closing arguments, Philips offered to settle the case for the full amount of plaintiffs last settlement demand prior to trial. Plaintiff countered that the settlement amount needed to additionally include all legal fees and expenses incurred by our client during the trial. The case was concluded on that basis, though the dollar amount of the settlement is confidential. Master Lock v. Alabama Bolt & Nut, Inc. Pete Grammas and others represented the plaintiff, a manufacturer of locks, alleging that it had been supplied with defective components. The case was prosecuted in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama and settled for a confidential amount. Wilson v. Dahlberg. This case was a class action prosecuted in the Circuit Court of Barbour County, Alabama. Clay Lowe served as lead counsel for the plaintiffs. The complaint alleged that the defendant's hearing aids failed to perform as represented. The case was settled, with benefits to the class in excess of $50 million. Image Com, et al. v. GTE. This case was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and later referred to arbitration in Washington, D.C., before a three-member panel of arbitrators. Clay Lowe represented three plaintiffs who alleged wrongful termination of their optical imaging agencies. The defendant, GTE, had prevailed against another law firm in a similar case tried against six former dealers represented by a Denver law firm. After some pretrial rulings favorable to our clients, the case was settled for the payment to plaintiffs of $2.15 million. Hammack v. Quaker State Corp. This case was prosecuted in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, Alabama. Clay Lowe represented a plaintiff class of retail purchasers of Slick 50 brand motor oil additive claiming the distributor falsely represented the potential benefits of the product. The case settled with benefits to the class valued in excess of $20 million. Singleton v. SplitFire, Inc. This case was prosecuted in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, Alabama. Clay Lowe represented a plaintiff class of retail purchasers of SplitFire brand spark plugs against the distributor of such spark plugs claiming false representation concerning the potential benefits of its product. The case settled with benefits to the class valued in excess of $60 million. Mutino, et al. v. GTE. This case was pending before the American Arbitration Association in Washington, D.C. Clay Lowe represented seven former executives of GTE Vantage Solutions concerning their wrongful termination of employment when GTE decided to withdraw from the optical imaging business. (These former GTE executives were witnesses for GTE in the Image Com, et al. v. GTE case noted above. After that case settled, these executives came to us to pursue their claims against GTE.) After the arbitrator ordered GTE's CEO to appear for deposition, the case settled for a confidential amount, despite at-will termination and damage limitation language in the employment agreement signed by each executive. Dyer v. Monsanto. A $43.7-million settlement was reached in this case filed in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County, Alabama. Clay Lowe and Pete Grammas represented a plaintiff class of approximately 4,000 persons who claimed pollution of Lake Logan Martin by Monsanto. The settlement was, at the time, one of the largest settlements in Alabama history. Executone of the Permian Basin, Inc. (EPB) v. Executone Information Systems, Inc. This case was prosecuted in the District Court of Midland County, Texas. Clay Lowe represented EPB, a terminated Executone telephone systems dealer, in a claim for breach of contract and fraud. After a favorable summary jury trial verdict, the case settled for the payment to our client of $1 million. ILD Telecommunications Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. and Simplified Teleysis, Inc. This case was prosecuted in the District Court of Travis County, Texas. Clay Lowe represented ILD seeking to prove damages for alleged wrongful conduct by Cisco and Simplified relating to the sale and installation of millions of dollars worth of computer networking hardware and software. The case settled for a confidential amount. Triantos v. Jefferson County and Izzi v. Jefferson County. This case was prosecuted in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama. Clay Lowe and Pete Grammas represented a class of taxpayers in opposition to Jefferson County's occupational tax as it was applied to "professionals," such as doctors and lawyers. The lawsuit resulted in a refund of approximately $10 million to taxpayers, and cessation of the tax. Garza v. Dura Lube. In the District Court for Starr County, Texas. Clay Lowe represented a plaintiff class of Dura Lube purchasers regarding defendant's alleged fraudulent advertising practices. The case settled with benefits to the class valued at over $20 million. Van Comfort v. Kimberly-Clark Corp. Pete Grammas and others represented over three thousand individuals in a class action lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark over the pollution of Lay Lake and its tributaries relating to the operation of a paper production facility. The case settled for a cash value of approximately $6.5 million and with a commitment by Kimberly-Clark to upgrade its plant facilities and operations valued at over $20 million. Lane v. Champion Paper Company. Pete Grammas and others represented over 2500 individuals from both Alabama and Florida in a class action lawsuit against Champion Paper Company over the pollution of Perdido Bay relating to the operation of Champion's paper production mill in Cantonment, Florida. Champion agreed to settle the case for $6.5 million. Branch v. Weyerhaeuser. Pete Grammas and others represented over 1500 individuals from both Alabama and Mississippi in the class action lawsuit against Weyerhaeuser Paper Company over the pollution of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Water Way relating to the operation of Weyerhaeuser's paper production facility in Columbus, Mississippi. The lawsuit settled for approximately $2.5 million. Notergiacomo v. DoubleClick. In the District Court of Brownsville, Texas. Clay Lowe and Pete Grammas represented a plaintiff class of individuals against DoubleClick, an Internet company, for invasion of privacy regarding placement of "cookies" upon class members' computers. The parties reached a class settlement including monetary and injunctive relief. Ishee v. Grumman Technical Services, Inc. Pete Grammas represented a widow and her daughter for claims arising over the wrongful death of her husband. Her husband's death occurred when his parachute failed to fully and properly deploy following an emergency ejection from a naval aircraft at the Meridian Naval Air Station. Grumman Technical Services was responsible for servicing and maintaining the parachute and ejection equipment used in the aircraft. After an approximately four-week trial, the jury found Grumman liable and rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for $1.9 million. The jury only apportioned 20% fault to him. Hodges v. Mississippi Valley Gas. Pete Grammas and others represented the mother and sister of a nine-year-old child who burned to death in a fire caused by a gas-fired hot water heater. Plaintiffs sued Mississippi Valley Gas for negligence. The case settled for a confidential amount. Jackson, et al. v. Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone-Firestone, Inc. Pete Grammas represented two families in the deaths of their fathers and husbands and one individual for his personal injuries in a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone-Firestone over defective tires. The case involved the tread separation of the left rear tire, which caused the vehicle to overturn and resulted in the death of three of the four occupants and injuries to the fourth. After months of intensive settlement negotiations, the case settled for a confidential amount. Crotwell, et al. v. United States of America. In the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Pete Grammas represented Joseph Crotwell and his wife in a personal injury lawsuit against the United States of American under the Federal Tort Claims Act. In this action, the plaintiffs alleged the government was negligent in the designing and implementing certain parachute equipment it asked Mr. Crotwell to use during testing of a new parachute system for the E-2C Naval Aircraft. During testing, the parachute prematurely deployed and caused Mr. Crotwell to become a quadriplegic. The Department of Justice defended the government. After intensive discovery, the United States agreed to pay $18 million to settle the claims. Ashworth v. Compass Bank. In the Circuit Court for Jefferson County, Alabama, the firm represented beneficiaries of an estate administered by Compass Bank. The primary asset of the estate was a vending and amusement machine business which plaintiffs' expert valued at over $20 million. Compass sold the business, over the beneficiaries' objections, for $1.9 million. The beneficiaries sued for breach of fiduciary duty. The case settled for a confidential amount on the first day of trial. OTC, Inc. v. Versa-Matic Tool, Inc. and IDEX Corp. Clay Lowe represented OTC and its principals against Versa-Matic Tool and IDEX in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. OTC was a distributor of Versa-Matic industrial pumps for the State of Alabama and portions of Florida and Mississippi. The defendants terminated the OTC distributorship agreement. Plaintiffs alleged that prior to termination the defendant's had repeatedly assured plaintiffs that they would not be terminated. Plaintiffs sued for fraud, breach of contract and claimed in excess of $3 million in damages. After the Court denied defendants' motion for Summary Judgment on plaintiffs' fraud claims, the case settled for a confidential amount during mediation. GPS Marketing, Inc. v. Discrete Wireless, Inc. Clay Lowe represented GPS Marketing against Discrete Wireless and certain of its officers in the Circuit Court for Fulton County, Georgia. Discrete manufactured GPS tracking devices for installation in commercial trucks and other vehicles. GPS Marketing agreed to be Discrete's Master Dealer and create a distribution network for the Discrete products. Discrete later terminated the agreement and plaintiffs sued. The case was settled for a confidential amount as a result of mediation. MasterQuote, Inc. v.Progressive Insurance. Clay Lowe represented MasterQuote, then the largest independent producer of Progressive insurance in the State of Alabama against Progressive in the Circuit Court for Jefferson County, Alabama. MasterQuote alleged Progressive wrongfully terminated its producer's agreement. The firm was successful in precluding enforcement of the agreement's arbitration clause. The case settled for a confidential amount. Gadson v. American Medical Services. The firm represented a class of insureds in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Alabama against American Medical and others for breach of fiduciary duties and other claims arising from the sale of medical insurance policies. The case settled on a class-wide basis. The Collegiate Internet Company, LLC v. Tidwell De Witt, LLC. The firm represented Collegiate Internet against Tidwell DeWitt, a CPA firm. The plaintiffs alleged breaches of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and other claims arising from Tidwell DeWitt's business management and other services. The case was submitted to arbitration and settled for a confidential amount prior to the final hearing. Browning v. Yahoo!, Inc. The firm represents a putative class of purchasers of credit reports and credit monitoring products against Yahoo!, Experian and ConsumerInfo.com in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case alleges the defendants violated the Credit Repair Organizations Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., in the sale of their credit monitoring products. The case is pending final court approval of a class-wide settlement. Autrey Petroleum v. BP Products of North America. The firm represents a putative class of BP jobbers against BP for alleged violations of the Uniform Commercial Code and breaches of contract in the pricing and sales of motor fuels and for manipulation of a prompt pay discount. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. D. S. McClanahan & Son, Inc. v. Kerr-McGee. The firm represented D. S. McClanahan, a general contractor against Kerr-McGee (now known as Tronox) for its termination of McClanahan' s contract to serve as "in-house" contractor. The case was pending in the Circuit Court of Monroe County, Mississippi. It settled for a confidential amount after the Court denied defendants' motions for partial summary judgment. Almon v. McWane, Inc. The firm represents a putative class of residents of Calhoun County, Alabama against McWane for its alleged pollution of the residents' properties with lead and other hazardous wastes. The case is pending in the Circuit Court for Calhoun County, Alabama. Evans v. Walters Industries. The firm represents a putative class of property owners against various foundries in the Anniston, Alabama area for allegedly polluting class members' properties. The case is pending in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Steber v. Bagby Elevator Co., Inc. The firm represented Arthur Steber, former President, Director and Minority Shareholder of Bagby Elevator Company. Mr. Steber was "squeezed out" of the company by the majority shareholder and denied the value of his stock, employment and other benefits. The firm pursued claims for minority shareholder oppression and breach of fiduciary duties. The case was tried for two weeks to a panel of three arbitrators who found in favor of claimant Steber. Barber v. United Parcel Service, Inc. The firm represents an individual in a putative class action lawsuit against United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS). The key allegation in the lawsuit is that UPS is incorrectly measuring packages and improperly assessing back charges to its customers after their packages are shipped. The case is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. |
Verdicts & Settlements
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