Michael L. Eber

Business Litigation

Michael represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of complex business disputes, including actions for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference, fraudulent transfer, false advertising, and RICO.

Appellate Practice

Michael’s appellate cases have addressed a variety of issues, including class certification, constitutional law, securities law, attorney’s fee awards, insurance coverage, negligence, nuisance, employment, attorney disqualification, civil procedure, and bond validation. His advocacy has been described as “unsurpassed” by those who have worked with him.

Class Actions

Michael has substantial experience representing clients in class actions and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants.

Complex Business Disputes

• Represented a poultry production company accused of participating in a wage-fixing conspiracy in violation of federal antitrust laws, obtaining an early settlement, with no monetary compensation to the plaintiffs, before the federal district court ruled on the client’s motion to dismiss.
• Represented a healthcare management consulting firm in a breach of contract and tortious interference case against a major Georgia hospital.
• Defended a leading research university in cases involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, false advertising, and breach of contract.
• Successfully represented one of the largest community banks in the Southeast in a complex lender-liability dispute, winning a critical Daubert motion to exclude most of the expert testimony underlying the plaintiff’s $40 million damages theory.
• Briefed and argued post-trial motions on behalf of former condominium association directors following an adverse jury verdict in the Northern District of Florida.

Appellate Litigation

• Briefed, argued, and won three appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on behalf of business clients seeking to recover damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, convincing the Fifth Circuit to vacate the denial of a $4 million claim, and winning affirmance of two awards totaling $86 million.
• Served as embedded appellate counsel for one of the world’s largest delivery and logistics companies during the trial of a personal injury case.
• Briefed, argued, and won an appeal in the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, on behalf of a prominent non-profit company, addressing issues of personal jurisdiction.
• Successfully briefed an appeal from the denial of a bond validation in connection with a multi-billion-dollar economic development project.
• Briefed, argued, and won a Georgia Court of Appeals case raising novel questions of nuisance liability, addressing whether a controversial business can be held liable for attracting third-party protestors.
• Represented a public school system before the Supreme Court of Georgia in an action challenging a municipal annexation ordinance on constitutional and statutory grounds.
• Wrote an amicus brief in the Florida–Georgia “water wars” case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Georgia local government and conservation organizations.
• Petitioned for certiorari to the Supreme Court of Georgia and obtained an expedited ruling in his client’s favor on an issue of appellate procedure.
• On behalf of a major international law firm, obtained affirmance of an attorneys’ fee award under Georgia’s offer-of-judgment statute.

Class Actions

• Represented a state-chartered bank in appellate litigation concerning the enforceability of class action litigation waivers.
• Represented a mortgage company in defense of a putative class action alleging that “post-payment” interest was improperly collected from over 40,000 borrowers, obtaining a settlement for a fraction of potential damages.
• Represented one of the country’s largest manufacturers of building and paper products in multiple product-liability class actions in federal courts all over the country.

Government Contracts

• Successfully represented one of the nation’s largest health insurance administrators in response to a flurry of bid protests challenging a multi-billion-dollar government contract.
• Successfully represented a construction firm in a municipal contract dispute.

• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants
• Super Lawyer, Business Litigation and Appellate Practice – Super Lawyers Magazine
• Rising Star, Super Lawyers Magazine
• 2018 Litigation Team of the Year (Appellate Practice – Midsize Firm), Georgia Legal Awards, The Fulton County Daily Report

• American Bar Association
• Appellate Practice Section, State Bar of Georgia
• Atlanta Bar Association
• Clarence Cooper Inn of Court, Emory University School of Law
• Eleventh Circuit Historical Society, Trustee

• Panelist, Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices for Writing Briefs in Georgia State and Federal Courts, Atlanta Bar Association[ME1] 
• Speaker, Summary Judgment in Contract Cases: Strategy and Tactics for Movants and Respondents, Strafford CLE Webinar
• Author, State Q&A, Litigation Overview: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Commencing an Action: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Responding to a Complaint: Georgia (2020–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Initial Civil Appeals: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Additional Civil Appeals: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Drafting and Issuing Discovery Subpoenas: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Responding to Discovery Subpoenas: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Author, State Q&A, Provisional Remedies: Georgia (2021–2024), Practical Law Litigation
• Speaker, Winning vs. Losing: Litigation Antics as Opposed to Litigation Advocacy, presented to the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia
• Speaker, Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege When Investigating Whistleblower Allegations, presented to the Georgia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel
• Author, When the Dissent Creates the Law: Cross-Cutting Majorities and the Prediction Model of Precedent, 58 Emory L.J. 207 (2008) (cited in Bryan A. Garner et al., The Law of Judicial Precedent (2016))

• Smith, Gambrell & Russell LLP
• Rogers & Hardin LLP