Jeffrey E. Nicoson

Bio

Mr. Nicoson is an Equity Member of the firm and located in the firm's Memphis office. His practice focuses primarily on products liability defense, healthcare liability, insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, commercial litigation, personal injury defense (premises/auto/trucking), defense of governmental entities and governmental immunity claims, and toxic tort/environmental litigation. He actively practices before state and federal courts, and has tried over a dozen matters and arbitration proceedings to verdict, including multiple jury trials. He is an experienced appellate practitioner with over a dozen briefs filed and numerous oral arguments as counsel of record in state and federal appellate courts. He was named a Mid-South Super Lawyer "Rising Star" in 2018 by Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine, and also recognized in 2022 by Best Lawyers in Products Liability Litigation, Medical Malpractice Law, and Insurance Litigation.

Mr. Nicoson is a member of the Defense Research Institute and an active participant in the Defense of Government Actions sub-litigation group for the Drug and Medical Device Committee.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and a native of Louisville, Kentucky, Mr. Nicoson received a Bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in Environmental Biology from Taylor University, a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Ball State University, and a Juris Doctor (cum laude) from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.

Before pursuing a legal career, Mr. Nicoson worked for a landscape architecture and architectural design firm in Nashville, Tennessee. He designed and planned large-scale residential, commercial, recreational, and mixed-use developments in Davidson County and the surrounding area, and helped obtain planning commission and city council approvals for those projects. Representative project work includes the Indian Lake Village development in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the Stockett Creek subdivision in Franklin, Tennessee, and the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

His personal interests outside of law include reading biographies and world history, golf and golf course design, Formula One and IndyCar racing, and spending time with his family and friends. He is an avid runner, with numerous half marathon and marathon finishes, including the Berlin Marathon. His dog, an energetic Weimaraner, often accompanies him on training runs.

Representative Client Work

• Successful defense of a county school board involving the board’s school bus in a multiple vehicle collision.
• Successful dismissal of retailer in a federal civil rights action brought by a customer.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment for a private military contractor based on the federal political question doctrine in a matter over the death of a Navy SEAL during a live-fire training exercise on the contractor’s property.
• Successful defense of insurance company in a consumer protection and bad faith action over a dispute in insurance coverage for an underlying lawsuit.
• Successful representation of property owner against its insurance company over unpaid insurance policy amounts owed due to damage to property by vagrants.

General Experience:

• Products liability defense of product manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers, including drug and medical device manufacturers and/or distributors.
• Representation of contractors and engineers in arbitration proceedings involving expanding project scope, design changes, delay issues, and failures by prime contractors to pay for the additional work required.
• Medical malpractice defense of doctors, medical practices, and clinical laboratories.
• Insurance coverage litigation over water damage, fire loss, and damage to equipment claims brought by insureds (defending the insurer) and/or by subrogees of the insureds (defending the accused tortfeasor).
• General tort liability including, but not limited to, trucking and auto accidents, premises liability, slip-and-fall accidents, general negligence, intentional torts, and defense of actions brought against governmental entities.

Representative Decisions:

• Mack v. Comcast Corp., No. W2017-02326-COA-R3-CV, 2018 Tenn. App. LEXIS 519 (Tenn. Ct. App. Aug. 31, 2018).
• Lloyd’s Acceptance, Corp. v. Carroll Prop. Mgmt., LLC, No. 2:17-cv-02203-SHM-tmp, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106505 (W.D. Tenn. June 26, 2018).
• Forest Creek Townhomes, LLC v. Carroll Prop. Mgmt., LLC, 695 Fed. App’x 908 (6th Cir. 2017).
• Taylor v. Airgas Mid-South, Inc., 2013 Tenn. LEXIS 304 (Tenn. Sp. Workers’ Comp. Panel Feb. 26, 2013).