Taffi S. Stewart

Full Bio

Taffi is a Shareholder, heads the LGWM Labor and Employment Practices Group and is a member of LGWM’s Executive Committee. Taffi has a wide range of litigation experience in both state and federal courts throughout Alabama and before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Taffi has successfully represented non-profit organizations, municipal organizations, educational institutions, financial institutions, manufacturing facilities, professional employer organizations, franchise owners, general contractors, government contractors, security companies, retail entities, restaurant owners, grocers, hotel owners, and other local and national businesses against claims of race discrimination, age discrimination, gender discrimination, national origin discrimination, disability discrimination, religious discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation under the various federal and state employment statutes; claims of retaliatory discharge under Alabama’s Workers’ Compensation Act; claims for violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993; and individual claims and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Taffi also assists businesses with internal investigations, preparation of employment policies and procedures, diversity training, employee discipline decisions and other personnel and compliance issues.

Taffi has also represented business owners and property managers with regard to claims for public accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and claims for discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.  

The remainder of Taffi’s practice is devoted to Professional Liability and Casualty.  Taffi has represented professionals in malpractice actions and professionals and businesses in actions involving allegations of negligence, wantonness, fraud, personal injury, wrongful death and breach of contract. 

Professional Profile

• Member, Alabama Bar Association
• Member, Birmingham Bar Association
• Alabama Super Lawyers – 2010 Rising Star (Labor and Employment)
• The Best Lawyers in America 2019, 2020 & 2023

Admitted

• All Alabama State Courts
• The United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama
• The United States Circuit Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits

Education

University of Alabama School of Law, J.D. (1998)

• Editor, Law & Psychology Review
• Member, Bench and Bar Legal Honor Society

University of Alabama, B.S. in Commerce and Business Administration (Finance), magna cum laude (1995)

• Recipient, Presidential Scholar Award
• Recipient, Joe M. Hinds, Jr. Endowed Scholar Award

Cases of Note

• Represented a national retail sales company against a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act filed by eight former employees on behalf of themselves and similarly situated sales representatives who claimed they were not paid for overtime hours worked. With liability fairly certain and the potential for a collective of 169 members, Taffi successfully obtained a class-wide settlement.
• Represented trucking company in race discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC and obtained summary judgment in favor of trucking company which was upheld by the Eleventh Circuit.
• Represented large blood bank against collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act in which more than 140 current and former employees opted in.
• Represented civic center against whom four plaintiffs alleged various claims of race discrimination and obtained jury verdict in favor of civic center.
• Represented international company providing quality control services to the automotive industry against claims of race discrimination and retaliation by a former employee and obtained a jury verdict in favor of the company.
• Represented large commercial real estate firm against claims of sexual harassment in which its Chief Executive Officer was the alleged harasser.
• Represented mining company with regard to claims for violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act and Alabama’s Workers’ Compensation Act in which District Court granted summary judgment and the Eleventh Circuit upheld the District Court’s decision on appeal.
• Represented multiple property managers and owners with regard to disability discrimination claims filed by the United States Government on behalf of a disabled resident for which the Parties successfully entered a Consent Decree.
• Represented steel fabrication facility with regard to claims of fraud and breach of contract and obtained reversal of erroneous jury verdict against facility from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Represented companies and individuals with regard to claims of fraud asserted by more than 225 homeowners and club members relating to the closing of a local area golf course where claims were in excess of $12,000,000.00.
• Represented a civic center against claims of race discrimination filed by four former employees. The District Court granted summary judgment with regard to all claims asserted by the plaintiffs other than their pay discrimination claims under Title VII. Taffi tried the pay discrimination claims before a jury and obtained a jury verdict in favor of the civic center.
• Represented a quality control company working for a large automobile manufacturing facility with regard to claims of race discrimination and retaliation by a former employee. The claims were tried before a jury, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the quality control company with regard to all claims.
• Represented a trucking company in a suit filed by the EEOC on behalf of two job applicants. The EEOC contended that the trucking company failed to hire the applicants on the basis of their race. After extensive discovery, including expert discovery regarding racial profiling, the District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the trucking company.
• Represented multiple property owners and management companies against disability discrimination claims under the Fair Housing Act asserted by the United States Government on behalf of a disabled resident. After extensive negotiations, the Parties successfully reached a Consent Decree resolving all claims against all owners and managers.
• Represented a company and its president against claims of harassment based in state tort law asserted by a former high level employee. Taffi obtained summary judgment with regard to all claims asserted by the former employee.
• Represented a mining company against retaliatory discharge claims by a former employee under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the mining company. The former appealed the summary judgment ruling to the Eleventh Circuit, and the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of the former employee’s claims.
• Represented a drug treatment center in two lawsuits filed by two former employees – one who asserted nine claims of sex and race discrimination and one who asserted 12 claims of sex and race discrimination and for violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Taffi successfully obtained summary judgment with regard to all claims asserted by each plaintiff in both cases.
• Represented a commercial real estate firm against claims of sexual harassment involving the firm’s president and chief executive officer. The claims required an extensive firm-wide investigation which resulted in the recommended termination of the president and chief executive officer.
• Represented limited liability companies and individuals against claims for fraud, breach of contract and interference with business relations asserted by more than 200 homeowners after the closing of a private golf club. The homeowners sought in excess of $12 million. The claims were successfully settled after the first of several claims were partially tried and the homeowners’ witnesses performed poorly on the stand.

Reported Cases

• Allen v. Stephens, 875 So.2d 1207 (Ala. Civ. App. 2003).
• Ex parte American Timber & Steel Co., Inc., 102 So.3d 347 (Ala. 2011).
• Ex parte Western Mental Health Center, 884 So.2d 835 (Ala. 2003).
• General Southern Industries v. Shub, 300 Fed.Appx. 723, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 23921 (11th Cir. Nov. 18, 2008).
• In re Heatherwood Holdings, LLC, Bankruptcy No. 09-00076, 2009 WL 2211609 (N.D. Ala. Jul. 16, 2009).
• Mayflower National Life Insurance Company v. Thomas, 894 So.2d 637 (Ala. 2004).
• Nichols v. Security Engineers, Inc., No. 08-0616-KD-M, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104298 (S.D. Ala. Nov. 9, 2009).
• Rudy v. Walter Coke, Inc., 613 Fed.Appx 828 (11th Cir. June 2, 2015).
• Sparks v. Sunshine Mills, Inc., No. 3:12-cv-025414-IPJ, 2013 WL 476094 (N.D. Ala. Sept. 4, 2013).
• Wilson v. Coman, 284 F. Supp. 2d 1319 (M.D. Ala. 2003).

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Practice Areas

Employment

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Professional Liability

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