Christopher D. Cobb

Full Bio

Chris practices in LGWM’s General Liability, Construction and Professional Liability Practice Groups. Chris’ litigation experience covers a wide variety of cases from construction related matters to trucking litigation to personal injury claims. Chris has represented general contractors and trade contractors in construction related matters, home inspectors and commercial real estate inspectors in property damage cases and transportation companies in personal injury cases and cargo and property damage cases. Chris also represents companies in blasting cases. The rest of Chris’ practice is devoted to representing other professionals, including subcontractors, firefighters, pharmaceutical representatives, various board members and shareholders.

Professional Profile

Member, Alabama State Bar
Member, Birmingham Bar Association

Admitted

All Alabama State Courts
United District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama
United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Education

• Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, J.D. (1999)
• – Scholar of Merit Awards
• – American Jurisprudence Award
• Davidson College, BA in Economics (1994)

Cases of Note

Construction:

• Represented a general contractor in a suit brought by husband and wife that hired our client to build a $1.2M home. Homeowners claimed general contractor failed to build their “retirement home” pursuant to plans and written contract. The home had significant moisture intrusion through windows and doors during very light rain storms. Plaintiffs sought damages in excess of $3 Million dollars. The case was arbitrated for a week in March, 2012. We obtained a Final Award of $600,000 against the contractor, which was settled for significantly less than the Final Award amount.

• Represented several general contractors involving two dozen Chinese Drywall cases. Those cases were stayed and consolidated as a part of the Louisiana Multi-District Litigation. After the health related damages and remediation damages to Plaintiffs’ homes were resolved by the Drywall Manufacturers, the cases proceeded to arbitration and trial in Alabama. We successfully argued that the general contractor’s purchase agreements limited Plaintiffs’ recovery and resolved all of these matters significantly below Plaintiffs’ damage estimates.

• Represented a general contractor who constructed a $2M dollar dental clinic pursuant to a written contract. Plaintiff claimed that the foundation experienced substantial cracking and the building had to be razed and rebuilt. Plaintiff claimed damages in excess of $3M. We tried the case and a verdict was returned for $915,000 against the general contractor.

• Represented a general contractor who built a $500,000 residence. Husband and wife claimed the general contractor negligently built the home asserting damages in excess of the value of the home. The case was tried for a week in June, 2014. The jury returned a verdict of $17,000 finding that general contractor had built the home correctly, except for a retaining wall near the driveway.

General Liability:

• Represented Alabama manufacturer to recover money owed from a foreign corporation. After receiving a significant judgment on behalf of client, we argued jurisdictional issues before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld judgment against the foreign corporation.

• Represented heavy machinery and crane contractor in disputes involving ThyseenKrupp installation and construction of its steel processing plant in Calvert, Alabama. After extensive discovery, we were able to resolve the construction liability issues.

• Represented electrical contractor related to claims of minor being electrocuted at Municipal Park. Through expert discovery, we were able to show that our client’s work on the subject transclosure causing the electrocution was not related to the cause of the injuries to the minor. We were dismissed from the lawsuit.

Wrongful Death

• Represented trucking company against claims by family for personal injury and wrongful death claims. Claimant was hospitalized for 4 months prior to his death claimed to have been caused by the subject accident. We participated in extensive medical and accident reconstruction discovery, minimizing our client’s liability.

• Represents trucking company involving a pre-suit claim brought on behalf of the estates of five decedents. Our client is claimed to have been inattentive hitting passenger vehicle head-on killing all of its occupants.

• Represented general contractor concerning a flight display board at airport becoming detached from wall and killing a child. Through extensive discovery, we were able to exonerate our client’s involvement in the upgrades, design and installation of the flight display board.

• Represented petroleum contractor alleged to have improperly installed dispensing petroleum equipment at an Alabama convenience store causing the death of patron by electrocution. Through expert discovery, we were able to resolve the matter for significantly less than settlements with other co-defendants.

• Represented a HVAC contractor that provided commercial HVAC units to be used to cool tents at an air show. One of these units became airborne during the show killing a five-year old boy. We were able to resolve this matter after considerable discovery was completed.

Products Liability:

• Represented a company that sold a commercial grade zero turning radius lawnmower. The lawnmower fell into a hole killing the claimant. Claims against our company included defective design of lawnmower and failure to install safety equipment provided for similar lawnmowers. We conducted extensive expert and factual discovery and resolved the case.

• Represented metal recycling plant in a lawsuit involving a severe industrial accident involving burns to 50% of claimant’s body. Allegations were that we failed to segregate and process raw materials of molten aluminum appropriately causing an explosion. We successfully conducted discovery obtaining a dismissal of our client from lawsuit without payment.

Reported Cases

• Sloss Indus. Corp. v. Eurisol, No. 05-15890 , UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, 488 F.3d 922; 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 13294; 20 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 694, June 8, 2007, Decided , June 8, 2007, Filed
• Bowie v. Sims, No. 07-15267 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, 277 Fed. Appx. 884; 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 10651, May 13, 2008, Decided, May 13, 2008, Filed, Rehearing, en banc, denied by Bowie v. Sims, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 27738 (S.D. Ala., July 11, 2008), US Supreme Court certiorari denied by Bowie v. Pers. Bd., 129 S. Ct. 767, 172 L. Ed. 2d 755, 2008 U.S. LEXIS 9165 (U.S., 2008)
• Henry v. Jefferson County Pers. Bd., No. 07-11333 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, 252 Fed. Appx. 308; 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 25244 October 25, 2007, Decided, October 25, 2007, Filed, Rehearing, en banc, denied by Henry v. Jefferson County Pers. Bd., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 8277 (11th Cir. Ala., Jan. 3, 2008
• Henry v. Jefferson County Pers. Bd., Case No.: 2:05-CV-1788-RDP, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, SOUTHERN DIVISION, 519 F. Supp. 2d 1171; 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83234; 101 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1775, February 23, 2007, Decided, February 23, 2007, Filed, Affirmed by Henry v. Jefferson County Pers. Bd., 252 Fed. Appx. 308, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 25244 (11th Cir. Ala., Oct. 25, 2007)
• Carmichael v. Pers. Bd., CV 05-B-2371-S, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, SOUTHERN DIVISION, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96990, September 26, 2006, Decided, September 26, 2006, Filed
• Bowie v. Sims, CASE NO. 2:05-cv-1050-RDP, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, SOUTHERN DIVISION, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45789, December 7, 2005, Decided, December 7, 2005, Filed, Affirmed by Bowie v. Sims, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 10651 (11th Cir. Ala., May 13, 2008)

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Practice Areas

Construction

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General Liability

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Professional Liability

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