Caplan Cobb Celebrates its Eighth Anniversary

CAPLAN COBB MARKS EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY WITH BIG WINS FOR

PLAINTIFFS, DEFENSE, AND PRO BONO CLIENTS

As we celebrate our eighth anniversary, we are grateful to our clients, co-counsel, and friends. Highlights of the year include significant wins for a wide range of our business and individual clients. For example:

In a nationwide class action, we secured a $67 million settlement and comprehensive injunctive relief in a case involving the nation’s largest prison telephone company’s policy of taking deposits from customers who hadn’t used the service for 90 days.
On the defense side, we won complete dismissal of all claims against a mortgage lender under the False Claims Act.
In a pro bono matter, we achieved a comprehensive settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of a class of incarcerated women with serious mental illness who were being held in unconstitutional conditions of solitary confinement. The settlement will significantly improve the treatment of female detainees in Atlanta.

Below are some of Caplan Cobb’s other notable achievements in 2021.

OUR CLIENTS

Adding to the firm’s diverse client base, our attorneys represented:

Fortune 100, 500, 1000, and 5000 companies, along with international businesses, in the healthcare, financial services, marketing, retail, manufacturing, media, professional services, insurance, real estate, and payment processing sectors.
A variety of healthcare clients, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and marketers, healthcare providers, and practice-management firms.
Media companies, including print and broadcast.
Technology companies in the retail, application development, consumer services and payment spaces.
A variety of municipal, county, and state governments.
C-suite executives of various publicly traded and privately held companies, as well as individual directors and officers, executives, business owners, lawyers, accountants, and medical professionals.
Individual consumers and public officials in cases involving consumer and contractual rights.

NOTABLE SUCCESSES

On behalf of plaintiffs, Caplan Cobb lawyers:

Won an arbitration on behalf of group of hotel franchise investors, which included a substantial award of attorneys’ fees and expenses of litigation.
Secured a favorable confidential settlement on behalf of a nationwide manufacturer in a contract dispute.
Secured a favorable settlement in a multi-jurisdictional business dispute that spawned litigation in three different courts around the country.

On the defense side, Caplan Cobb lawyers:

Won dismissal in a dispute involving restrictive covenants, leading to favorable settlement of all claims and dismissal of second, related suit.
Achieved complete dismissal of a suit seeking damages and a permanent injunction brought against former employees alleging theft of trade secrets, computer fraud, and abuse.
Won complete dismissal of all claims against a law firm in a dispute about alleged business torts.
Achieved complete dismissal of a class action brought against a business-interruption insurer, alleging COVID-19 related losses.
Successfully opposed a preliminary-injunction motion seeking to enforce restrictive covenants, and succeeded on a motion requiring the plaintiff to advance our clients’ attorneys’ fees and expenses.
Secured a favorable settlement of a breach-of-contract action involving the provision of software services.
Secured a settlement in a restrictive covenant dispute that not only allowed a physician to practice as she had originally planned, but also secured a significant payment to her from the plaintiff.
Successfully defended a real-estate company in a contract action, leading to a settlement releasing all claims against our client for no cash consideration.
On behalf of a major media group, secured pre-discovery settlement of alleged copyright infringement matter for less than 5% of demand.
Secured summary judgment as to all claims asserted against our client in a false-advertising dispute between drug manufacturers, and successfully defeated a motion for summary judgment as to our clients’ counterclaims.
Successfully defeated an attempt by two insurers to force their insured to repay millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees the insurers had paid out to defend the underlying insurance coverage case.

PRO BONO REPRESENTATION, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, AND EDUCATION

Caplan Cobb lawyers supported the following efforts over the past year. These projects let us see the law not just as a way to resolve disputes between private interests but to help improve our communities.

Caplan Cobb attorneys worked on a number of legal matters on a pro bono basis by:

Securing a settlement on behalf of American Oversight against the Secretary of State of Georgia in which the department agreed to reform its open records procedures and to pay a portion of American Oversight’s attorneys’ fees.
Filing an amicus brief on behalf of reproductive rights organizations and professors of public health in support of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective’s challenge to Georgia H.B. 481.
Serving as local counsel for the American Medical Association, who filed an amicus briefing in defense of the Biden administration’s executive order creating a vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
Preparing an amicus brief on behalf of administrative law professors in support of a petition for rehearing en banc filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in the D.C. Circuit.

Caplan Cobb supported the Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s 2021 Run for Justice and its holiday adopt-a-family program, as well as the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s annual Legal Food Frenzy. The firm also sponsored the Virginia-Highlands Winterfest, initiatives for the DeKalb Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, and the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Caplan Cobb lawyers and staff continued their community involvement by serving in leadership positions for a number of nonprofits, including the Southern Center for Human Rights, the ACLU of Georgia, the Decatur Education Foundation, the Atlanta Birth Center, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, and the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators.

Caplan Cobb attorneys maintained their involvement in continuing education and training:

Sarah Brewerton-Palmer served on the planning committee for the 30th annual (virtual) Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference in February.
Brandon Waddell contributed an article titled, “Mission Creep: The Evolving Impact of the Supreme Court’s Heightened Materiality Standard for False Claims Act Cases on Common-Law Fraud Claims,” to the Spring Journal for the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Business Torts and Unfair Competition Committee.
Cameron Roberts also contributed to the ABA Spring Journal with an article titled, “Supreme Court to Interpret the Scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”
Sarah Brewerton-Palmer authored multiple articles, including, “Restricting the Restrictive Covenant,” American Bar Association (2021) and “Will Knowing Less About Cyberattacks Really Make Georgians Safer?”, The Georgia First Amendment Foundation (2021). Sarah also presented “The Ins and Outs of Ethics in Dealing with the Media While Handling Big Cases” at the State Bar of Georgia’s seminar on “Handling Big Cases” (2021).

OUR TEAM

Brandon Waddell, who has been with the firm since 2014, was promoted to partner. Brandon is the fourth partner at the firm.

Paralegal Brittany Lewis was a very welcome addition in April 2021.

RECOGNITION

In 2021, Caplan Cobb and its attorneys were recognized by a variety of organizations and publications.

Late in 2021, the University of Georgia named Caplan Cobb to its list of the 2022 Bulldog 100, recognizing the firm as one of the 100 fastest growing businesses owned or operated by UGA alumni. This was the third time we earned this distinction.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle, for the fourth time, recognized Caplan Cobb as a “Best Place to Work.”
The firm was ranked a 2022 Tier 1 “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers ® for commercial litigation in Atlanta.
Caplan Cobb was named “Best Business Litigation & Consultancy Firm 2021 – Georgia” by New World Report (formerly US Business News).
Mike Caplan and James Cobb were included among the 2021 list of The Best Lawyers in America© in the category of commercial litigation.
Julia Blackburn Stone was recognized as an “On the Rise” honoree by the Daily Report’s 2021 Georgia Legal Awards.
James Cobb, Julia Blackburn Stone, and Mike Caplan were recognized as 2022 Georgia Super Lawyers by Georgia Super Lawyers Magazine. Sarah Brewerton-Palmer was selected by the same publication as a 2021 Rising Star in Business Litigation.