We are pleased to announce that Brian McCarthy has joined our firm as Senior Counsel.  Brian brings over fifteen (15) years of significant litigation experience  to the firm.  Brian has earned the respect of his peers, clients, and bench and has been named a Georgia Super Lawyer.  Brian’s practice will focus on matters involving general civil and business litigation, insurance defense, insurance coverage, motor vehicle liability, premises liability, and construction litigation.

We are pleased to announce that Becky Gabelman has been elected to partnership in the firm.  Becky has been instrumental to our firm’s success and is a vital part of our future.

On April 21, the Saturday Lawyer Program for the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers’ Foundation featured the strong efforts of six (6) of WACHP’s associates: Lindsay Mayo, Luciana Aquino, Andrea Baker, Casey Brown, Heather Keller, and Kayla Bell.   We are proud to have them represent our firm and are thankful for their donation of time to this great cause.  

WACHP is proud to announce that Adam P. Smith has been named a partner at the firm.

WACHP is pleased to announce that Rakhi McNeill has been named a partner of the firm.

We are pleased to announce that Kevin Reardon has been named a partner of the firm.

WACHP would like to congratulate Jonathan Adelman, Dan Prout, Trevor Hiestand, and Russell Waldon for being named 2016 Georgia Super Lawyers.  WACHP would also like to congratulate Rakhi McNeill and Ashley Rice for being named 2016 Georgia Rising Stars.

On July 6, 2015, in the case of Zaldivar v. Prickett et al., No. S14G1778, 2015 WL 4067788, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously held that Georgia’s apportionment statute allowed a jury to apportion some fault for plaintiff’s damages to plaintiff’s employer. The case concerned an automobile accident between two drivers where the defendant alleged that the plaintiff’s employer was partially responsible for its employee’s injuries based on negligent entrustment. The defendant argued that the jury should be allowed to apportion some fault to the non-party employer based upon its allowing the plaintiff to drive a company truck on business, even though three complaints had been filed against him for poor driving. In ruling in favor of the defendant, the Court held that Georgia’s 2005 apportionment statute, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, requires the trier of fact to consider the fault of a non-party (i.e., the plaintiff’s employer) when the non-party is shown to have committed a tort against the plaintiff that was a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury. Specifically, the Court held that the apportionment statute contemplates the fault of every tortfeasor, regardless of whether he or she may have an affirmative defense or claim of immunity against liability to the plaintiff. The Court also explained that a non-party’s negligent entrustment of an instrumentality can be a proximate cause of an injury to the person to whom the instrumentality was entrusted. This is known as “first-party” negligent entrustment, which is typically not a workable legal theory of recovery available to […]

On April 20, 2015, the Georgia Supreme Court held that an insured’s negligent failure to settle a claim against an insurance company was barred when the insured settled the underlying claim against it without the insurance company’s authorization. Piedmont Office Realty Trust v. XL Specialty Insurance Company, 771 S.E. 2d 864 (2015). There, the applicable insurance policy contained a “consent-to-settle” clause and a provision that there could be no action against the insurance company without full compliance with the provisions of the policy. The insurance company provided a defense to the insured in the underlying case. The insured consented to a settlement without the insurance company’s authorization and then attempted to recover the settlement amount from the insurance company. The Georgia Supreme Court held that the insured could not sue for bad faith refusal to settle. The Georgia Supreme Court recognized, however, that if the insurance company denied coverage outright and refused to provide any defense, the insured could enter into a settlement agreement without the insurance company’s authorization and then proceed with a potential bad faith action against the insurance company.

It’s been a busy summer for defense litigation shop Waldon Adelman Castilla Hiestand & Prout. Over a period of three weeks, the 32-member firm tried nine jury cases to victory or minimal plaintiffs’ awards, continuing a courtroom-heavy schedule that has seen its members handle 23 jury trials this year. View the full article here: Daily Report Article