|
Michael Alston is a member of the General Business Litigation, Product Liability and Toxic Tort, Appellate and Complex Litigation, and Labor & Employment Practice Groups in the Chattanooga, Tennessee office of Husch & Eppenberger, LLC.
Mike has represented clients in the areas of contract and tort commercial litigation, premises liability, professional negligence, employment, insurance, and products liability law. He has handled extensive and complex product liability litigation for clients in the automotive and pharmaceutical industry for several years. Mike has also assisted in the prosecution of a civil case where the client, a major air products company, was supplied defective carbon dioxide contaminated with hydrogen cyanide, which ended up in retail carbonated beverages and in medical products, resulting in an FDA medical product recall.
In Russo v. BIC Corporation, Mike defended a lighter manufacturer against the personal injury claims of a burn victim. Hundreds of pages of pretrial briefs prepared on behalf of BIC Corporation resulted in the United States District Court striking the plaintiff's punitive damages claim, and rendering inadmissible the majority of the plaintiff's key evidence. In turn, the action was settled for a nominal sum following voir dire.
In Smith v. General Motors Corporation, 913 F. Supp. 1077 (E.D. Tenn. 1995), Mike represented General Motors in a products liability action in which the plaintiff suffered serious and debilitating injuries from alleged carbon monoxide poisoning. The District Court granted summary judgment to General Motors on statute of limitations and incompetency grounds.
In Anderson v. Mead Johnson Nutritional Group, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 910 F. Supp. 376 (E.D. Tenn. 1996), Mike defended the pharmaceutical company against a Title VII claim for race and gender discrimination. After limited discovery, the Court granted summary judgment to the defendant in this serious employment action.
In Hickson Corporation vs. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 260 F.3d 559 (6th Cir. 2001), Mike assisted with the representation of the tank car manufacturer (Union Tank Car Company) in a complex products liability action involving a leak of arsenic acid at a local railroad yard. After months of investigation and years of litigation, Union Tank reached a favorable settlement with its co-party and indemnitor, Hickson Corporation, and was ultimately voluntarily dismissed by Norfolk Southern prior to the retrial of the action.
Mike also served as counsel in the following reported cases: Arch Trims, Inc. v. Emerson Electric Co., 872 F.Supp. 473 (E.D. Tenn. 1994), a products liability case; and Bill Brown Constr. Co. v. Glens Falls Ins. Co., 818 S.W. 2d 1 (Tenn. 1991), an insurance coverage action which Mike argued before the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Prior to joining Husch, Mike was a member of another Chattanooga law firm.
Practice Areas:
General Business Litigation, Labor & Employment, Product Liability and Toxic Tort, Appellate and Complex Litigation Support Group
Education:
J.D., Cumberland School of Law of Samford University (1989); Order of the Barristers; Moot Court Board; National Insurance Moot Court Competition (Semifinalist).
B.B.A., Management, Texas A&M University (1986).
Admissions:
Tennessee (1989); Alabama (1991).
Legal Associations:
Tennessee Bar Association; Alabama State Bar; Chattanooga Bar Association (Immediate Past President); Defense Research Institute; Federal Bar Association; The Justices Ray L. Brock, Jr. and Robert E. Cooper American Inn of Court (2001-present; Program Chairman and Member of Executive Committee, 2004-2006).
Civic Organizations:
First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga (Ruling Elder and Chairman of World Missions Executive Committee).
Publications:
Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Trial Advocacy.
| 