Stephen W. Mooney

In a career spanning more than thirty-seven years, Steve Mooney has served as lead counsel on more than 300 lawsuits throughout the United States and tried a wide range of lawsuits, including high-stakes class actions to verdict in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee. 

His active and diverse practice focuses on complex and high-profile healthcare, ERISA, catastrophic injury, employment, and general liability litigation. Steve led a team that secured a $56M consent judgment in federal court in Texas against a group of laboratories and individuals engaged in a scheme to defraud one of the country's largest healthcare plans.  He has also developed a particular niche in representing the country's largest provider of funeral goods and services in a variety of tort and commercial matters. Steve approaches his cases with creativity, relentless preparation, and professionalism. 

Repeatedly recognized in Best Lawyers of America, Steve has been a frequent speaker at CLE seminars throughout the country on a variety of legal topics, including trial tactics and strategies and the use of demonstrative evidence at trial. His cases have been featured in front page news stories in the Dallas Morning News, as well as Law360, the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, and other national and regional publications.

• Co-lead trial counselor successfully defending one of the nation's largest mutual insurance companies in a closely watched three-week class action jury trial involving claims of independent contractor misclassification under ERISA involving approximately 7,000 class members and with liability exposure in excess of $900 million. Jammal v. American Family Ins. Grp., Case No. 1:13 CV 437, 2017 WL 3268032 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 1, 2017), rev’d, 914 F.3d 449 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 643 (2019), reh’g denied, 140 S. Ct. 985 (2020).
• Lead counsel in a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas where a $56 million consent judgment was obtained for a national healthcare provider.
• Successfully tried to verdict class-action lawsuit in Mississippi alleging claims of racial discrimination in hiring, promotion, and termination. Daniel Anderson et.al. v. Douglas Lomason Co. Inc. 26 F.3d 1277 ( 5^th Cir. 1994).
• Obtained summary judgment as well as sanctions in a shareholder derivative lawsuit in the Northern District of Georgia against a Fortune 500 company. Won defense verdicts in two separate lawsuits that emanated from same underlying action.
• Tried to verdict commercial, personal injury, and employment lawsuits in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.
• Obtained a "zero damages" result in a commercial vehicle accident in Northern Georgia where liability was admitted.
• Represented one of Nevada's largest casinos in a defamation lawsuit filed by O.J. Simpson.
• Won seminal decision from the Georgia Court of Appeals involving libel and slander claims. Palombi v. Frito-Lay 526 S.E.2d 375 (Ga. Ct. App. 1999).
• Successfully defended national pharmacy chain in wage-hour dispute in the Eastern District of Kentucky concerning exemption of pharmacists from overtime compensation requirements under Fair Labor Standards Act. Keith Saylor et. al. v. Rite-Aid Corp.
• Negotiated an "other than serious" citation from OSHA concerning an electrocution that led to a favorable resolution of a subsequent wrongful death lawsuit in Ector County, Odessa, Texas.
• Co-lead defense counsel in an alleged defective football helmet lawsuit in Lee County, Auburn, Alabama.

The Best Lawyers in America®, Litigation - Labor and Employment, 2017-2025