Jonathan R. Friedman

With a broad and winning first-chair litigation practice, Johnny Friedman serves as national counsel, regional counsel, trial counsel, and appellate counsel for companies in the automotive, consumer products, hospitality, industrial, and transportation markets. As a trusted advisor, Johnny counsels clients on risk avoidance, litigation management, and lean work solutions.

A recipient of ALM Law.Com's "Legal Innovator" Award in 2023, Johnny is a problem-solver, managing large volume dockets and high-value matters with data analytics, deep thinking, and strong “soft skills.” He uses legaltech and novel tools; and he is hyper-focused on the “more for less” challenge. Johnny is the Co-Founder of DataGavel, a legaltech platform designed to transform tort litigation and reduce its costs.

Johnny has been recognized for his litigation skills and business acumen by ALM Law.Com, Best Lawyers®, Super Lawyers®, and Martindale-Hubbell®. He has been profiled in The AmLaw Litigation Daily for taking a novel, “data-centric approach” to tort claims. He has been inducted as a Fellow into two invitation-only honorary societies, the American Bar Foundation (ABF) and Litigation Counsel of America (LCA), because of his effectiveness and accomplishments in litigation and superior ethical reputation.

Johnny graduated with honors from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of The Georgetown Law Journal.

Johnny has 10+ years of experience serving as national counsel for multiple clients. His national counsel experience includes managing product liability and catastrophic injury claims across the United States involving (1) consumer products, (2) passenger vehicles, and (3) light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles. Johnny is a thought leader in efficient litigation management, and he routinely works with and trains lawyers across the nation, teaching early assessment, right-sizing (ensuring that the work “fits” the risk), and smart pre-trial and trial practices. As trial counsel, Johnny has achieved uncommon success in courts across the nation, including these illustrative examples:

• Successful defense of a global logistics company in a three-week wrongful death trial venued in Florida.
• Successful recovery of $70 million for Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in litigation filed in New Jersey against 18 contractors for, among other things, the use of improper combustible exterior wall panels, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
• Successful defense of a pipeline owner in multiple personal injury lawsuits filed in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi seeking damages in excess of $45 million after a pipeline explosion.
• Successful dismissal of a consumer products manufacturer in a product liability lawsuit venued in New Jersey after claimant’s chief expert was struck.
• Successful prosecution of an anti-suit injunction for an engineering company in Delaware.
• Successful dismissal of a government contractor based on the political question doctrine in two wrongful death cases arising from wartime accidents in Iraq.
• Successful recovery of $34 million for KBR, Inc., against one of the world’s largest corrugated packaging companies in commercial litigation filed in Georgia.
• Successful dismissal of a class action in Georgia.
• Successful reversal on appeal of spoliation sanctions entered against a transportation company.

Reported Decisions

• United Parcel Service, Inc., v. Whitlock, 366 Ga. App. 542 (2023) (reversing trial court order granting spoliation sanctions in wrongful death action) 
• Domingue v. Ford Motor Co., 314 Ga. 59 (2022) (co-author of amicus brief for Georgia Defense Lawyers Association in wrongful death action) 
• Ntaganira v. HHC TRS FP Portfolio LLC, 1:17-CV-04291-JPB, 2019 WL 13019424 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 12, 2019) (granting, in part, summary judgment in favor of hotel in premises liability action) 
• Yanzhuo Zhang v. Fieldale Farms Corp., 3:16-CV-55(CDL), 2018 WL10733624 (MD Ga. July 20, 2018) (granting, in part, summary judgment in favor of truck operator in personal injury action)
• RockTenn CP, LLC v. BE&K Eng’g. Co., 103 A.3d 512 (Del. 2014) (affirming anti-suit injunction entered by Court of Chancery in commercial litigation) 
• O’Quinn v. Lamb-Grays Harbor Co., 1:03-cv-2040-HTW, 2011 WL 13177614 (N.D. Ga. March 11, 2011) (granting summary judgment in favor of equipment installer in wrongful death action) 
• Coffey v. Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., 1:08-CV-2911-JOF, 2009 WL 2515649 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 13, 2009) (granting motion to dismiss and compel arbitration in personal injury action)
• Vibratech v. Frost, 291 Ga. App. 133 (2008) (affirming trial court order denying motion to open default in wrongful death action), disapproved by Bowen v. Savoy, 308 Ga. 204 (2023) (reversing trial court order denying motion to open default) 
• Carmichael v. Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, Inc., 564 F.Supp. 2d 1363 (N.D. Ga. 2008) (granting motion to dismiss based on political question doctrine in wrongful death action), affirmed, 572 F.3d 1271 (11th Cir. June 30, 2009), cert. denied, 561 U.S. 1025 (2010) 
• Pearson v. Tippmann Pneumatics, Inc., 281 Ga. 740 (2007) (reversing defense verdict in personal injury action because jury charge error)
• Roland v. Ford Motor Co., 288 Ga. App. 625 (2007) (affirming trial court order denying class certification in product quality action)
• Whitaker v. Kellogg, Brown & Root, Inc., 444 F.Supp.2d 1277 (2006) (granting summary judgment in favor of government contractor on basis of political question doctrine in wrongful death action) 
• Culberson v. Mercedes-Benz, USA, LLC, 274 Ga. App. 89 (2005) (affirming summary judgment in favor of manufacturer in consumer litigation)
• Hill v. Mercedes-Benz, USA, LLC, 274 Ga. App. 826 (2005) (affirming summary judgment in favor of manufacturer in consumer litigation) 
• Indem. Ins. Co. of North Am. v. Am. Aviation, Inc., 891 So.2d 532 (Fla. 2004) (answering questions certified by 11th Circuit Court of Appeals involving Florida’s economic loss doctrine)
• Bridgestone/Firestone North Am. Tire, LLC v. Campbell, 258 Ga. App. 767 (2003) (affirming trial court order entering spoliation sanctions against plaintiff in wrongful death action) App. 2007), cert. denied (March 10, 2008).

ALM Law.com, "Legal Innovator" Award, Southeastern Legal Awards, 2023

The Best Lawyers in America®, Personal Injury Litigation: Defendants, 2017-2025

The Best Lawyers in America®, Product Liability Litigation: Defendants, 2017-2025

The Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation, 2022 - 2025

Martindale-Hubbell®, Client Distinction Award, 2013-2024

Georgia Trend, Legal Elite List, General Practice/Trial Law, 2024

Georgia Trend, Legal Elite List, Personal Injury Law, 2024

Super Lawyers®, Georgia Super Lawyers List, Civil Litigation Defense, 2016-2024

American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell ®, Top Rated Lawyer, Product Liability, 2013-2024

Corporate America News, Legal Elite - Georgia, 2015

Martindale-Hubbell®, AV Preeminent Rating 5.0/5.0, with "high ethical standing"

Law & Politics and Atlanta Magazine, Rising Star, Georgia, 2009 

Litigation Counsel of America, Fellow

American Bar Foundation, Fellow