Steve is the Managing Shareholder for LGWM. Steve co-chairs LGWM's Insurance Coverage Practice Group, and he leads LGWM's Professional Liability Practice Group. Steve primarily has defended insurance agents and brokers and insurance companies for the past 25 years. In addition, Steve regularly has defended a wide array of professionals in malpractice claims, including attorneys, appraisers, real estate agents, title agents, third-party administrators, and accountants.
Steve's Insurance Coverage practice includes assisting carriers in making coverage determinations and rendering coverage advice; prosecuting and defending declaratory judgment actions; defending bad faith actions; and providing monitoring counsel services throughout the southeast United States. Steve's coverage experience encompasses a broad range of coverage forms including D&O and E&O, GL, EPL, Property, Pollution, Garage Keepers, and Excess.
Steve has defended close to 500 cases on behalf of insurance agents and brokers in a variety of disciplines including, life, health, disability, personal lines, property and casualty, commercial property, general liability, commercial trucking, pollution, directors and officers, employment practices, errors and omissions, and fidelity bonds.
AV Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell
Member, American Bar Association
Member, Alabama Bar Association
Member, Birmingham Bar
Member, Defense Research Institute
Member, Professional Liability Underwriting Society
Member, Claims Litigation Management
Bmetro Magazine – 2010 Birmingham's Top Legal Minds
Alabama Super Lawyers – 2010-2016 Insurance Coverage and Professional Liability
Birmingham Business Journal Who's Who in Law, 2015 and 2016
All State Courts in Alabama
United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama
United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Alabama Supreme Court
United States Supreme Court
United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
University of Alabama, J.D., summa cum laude, 1989
- Senior Editor, Alabama Law Review
University of South Alabama, B.A. English and Philosophy, 1986
Coverage Cases:
Professional Liability Cases:
Colony Ins. Co. v. C & M Const. Co., 8 F.Supp.3d 1356 (S.D. Ala. 2014)
Tomberlin v. Clark, 1 F.Supp.3d 1213 (N.D. Ala. 2014)
Robinson v. Hudson Specialty Ins. Group, 984 F.Supp.2d 1199 (S.D. Ala. 2013)
Roberson v. American General Life and Acc. Ins. Co., 607 F.Supp.2d 1248 (N.D. Ala. 2009)
Kanellis v. Pacific Indem. Co., 917 So.2d 149 (Ala. Civ. App. 2005)
Unum Life Ins. Co. of America v. Wright, 897 So.2d 1059 (Ala. 2004)
Adair v. Johnston, 221 F.R.D. 573 (M.D. Ala. 2004)
York v. Ramsay Youth Services of Dothan, 313 F.Supp.2d 1275 (M.D. Ala. 2004)
Byrd v. Lamar, 846 So.2d 334 (Ala. 2002)
Thomas v. Gulf Coast Credit Services, Inc., 214 F.Supp.2d 1228 (M.D. Ala. 2002)
Cimarron Mortg. Co. v. Wright, 831 So.2d 18 (Ala. 2002)
Gardner v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 842 So.2d 1 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002)
Mays v. Julian LeCraw and Co., Inc., 807 So.2d 551 (Ala. Civ. App. 2001)
Oskars, Inc. v. Bennett & Co., Inc., 132 F.Supp.2d 1333 (M.D. Ala. 2001)
Yelder v. Credit Bureau of Montgomery, L.L.C., 131 F.Supp.2d 1275 (M.D. Ala. 2001)
Hardy v. Welch, 135 F.Supp.2d 1171 (M.D. Ala. 2000)
Folmar & Associates LLP v. Holberg, 776 So.2d 112 (Ala. 2000)
Hill v. MONY Life Ins. Co., 75 F.Supp.2d 1328 (M.D. Ala. 1999)
New York Life Ins. Co. v. Robinson, 735 So.2d 463 (Ala. 1999)
Stern v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of N.Y., 968 F.Supp. 637 (N.D. Ala. 1997)
Peek v. State Auto Mut. Ins. Co., 661 So.2d 737 (Ala. 1995)
Gilmore v. Shell Oil Co., 613 So.2d 1272 (Ala. 1993)
Bishop v. SouthRail Corp., 595 So.2d 857 (Ala. 1992)
Picker Intern., Inc. v. Parten, U.S. Court of Appeals for 11th Circuit, 935 F.2d 257 (Ala. 1991)