Phone: 205-250-6678
Fax: 205-328-7234
Email: sdstuart@csattorneys.com
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Staff: Tammy T. Love
Staff Phone: 205-795-6525
Staff Email: ttlove@csattorneys.com

Texas, 1990
Alabama, 1992
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Alabama
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Alabama

  • Business Services and Commercial Litigation
  • Class Actions & Toxic Torts
  • Insurance
  • Professional Liability
  • Product Liability
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Appellate
  • Labor and Employment
    • Samford University, 1987, B.S. (Dean’s List)
    • Samford University Cumberland School of Law, 1990, J.D. (ABA National Trial Advocacy Team; Cumberland Law Review, Associate Editor)
    • Judicial Clerkship, – Honorable Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, Chief Judge United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama

    Sharon Stuart is a founding partner of Christian & Small and has been with the firm since 1993. She devotes her practice to civil trial work and arbitration. She focuses on complex commercial and insurance litigation, and she handles a variety of pharmaceutical and medical device products liability litigation as national, regional or local counsel. Sharon’s trial experience includes a wide range of business tort claims, contract disputes, commercial and insurance fraud and bad faith suits, and wrongful death cases. She has defended dozens of class action lawsuits in areas as diverse as product liability/toxic tort, financial products, insurance and employment law. Prior to joining Christian & Small, she accumulated numerous skills working as a clerk for the first female federal judge in Alabama (1991-1993) and at a large national firm.

    Sharon’s approach is to become a business partner with her clients, to become fluent in their business, and to assist them with clearly defining their objectives and the process for meeting those goals. By collaborating in this way, she can provide the most effective counsel possible. Working closely with the offices of general counsel of several major corporations has afforded Sharon the opportunity to interact with business clients and develop an understanding of the dynamics associated with those relationships. This experience allows Sharon to steadily, yet diplomatically, guide her clients in lawfully accomplishing their business objectives.

    • Alabama Law Foundation, Fellow
    • American Bar Foundation
    • Birmingham Bar Foundation
    • Birmingham Inns of Court
    • International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC): Chair of the Insurance and Reinsurance Committee; Former Vice-Chair of Programs and Projects, Insurance and Reinsurance Committee; Former Vice-Chair of Diversity Programs; Former Vice-Chair for Newsletter, Insurance and Reinsurance Committee; Member, Class Actions and Multi-Party Litigation Committee; Member, Drug, Device and Biotech Committee
    • Alabama Defense Lawyers Association (ADLA): President (2017-2018); President-Elect (2016-2017); Secretary/Treasurer (2015-2016); Chair, Amicus Curiae Committee (2010-2016)
    • Birmingham Bar Association: Chairman, Long Range Planning Committee (2016); Member, Long Range Planning Committee (2010-present); Chairman, Civil Courts Procedures Committee (2008); Public Service Committee (2004); Chairman, Ethics Committee (2002-2003); Grievance Committee Young Lawyers Representative (1996)
    • Defense Research Institute (DRI): Center for Law and Public Policy; Women in the Law Committee, member of the Steering Committee; Vice-Chair of Expert Database (2016); Vice-Chair of the State Liaisons, 2013-2014
    • Master Bencher, American Inns of Court – Birmingham, Alabama;  Master Bencher and member of the Formation Committee, Judge James Edwin Horton American Inns of Court
    • Attorneys Insurance Mutual of the South, Risk Retention Group: Member, Board of Directors, and currently serving on the Executive, Underwriting and Marketing Committees of the Board
    • Samford University: Member, Board of Trustees
    • Cumberland School of Law: Judge H. Horton Inn of Court; Member, Dean’s Advisory Board (2011-2015)
    • Leadership Birmingham: Class of 2012
    • American Bar Association (ABA): Member
    • WBHM Public Radio 90.3 FM, Birmingham’s National Public Radio affiliate: Vice-Chairman, Friends Advisory Board
    • M-Power Ministries: Member, Board of Directors
    • Member of the Executive Committee of Christian & Small, 2001-2006, 2009-2011
    • Literacy Council of Central Alabama: Member, Board of Directors, 2006-2012
    • Adult Sunday School teacher, Dawson Memorial Baptist Church
    • Recognized by 2020 Chambers USA for Litigation: General Commercial Alabama
    • AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
    • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2019-2021 in the field of Appellate Practice,  2009-2021 in the fields of Commercial Litigation; 2011-2021 in the fields of Litigation – Labor and Employment and Litigation – Securities, 2012-2021 in the field of Product Liability Litigation – Defendants; 2013-2021 in the fields of Insurance Law and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants; 20202021  in the field of Litigation – Insurance, and 2021 “Bet-the-Company” Litigation
    • Selected by The Best Lawyers in America® in 2020 as “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation – Insurance;  2018 as “Lawyer of the Year” for Insurance Law
    • Selected for inclusion in Alabama Super Lawyers® 2010-2015; in Mid-South Super Lawyers 2016-2019 in the fields of business litigation, insurance coverage, product liability defense
    • Selected for inclusion in the Top 50 Women Mid-South Super Lawyers® 2017-2020; Top 25 Women Alabama Super Lawyers® 2010-2015
    • Named by the Birmingham Business Journal as one of its 2017 “Women to Watch”
    • Selected for inclusion in Benchmark Litigation’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation” 2018-2019; 2012-2014
    • Selected as a Benchmark Litigation Alabama Labor & Employment Star, 2018-2019
    • Selected as a Benchmark Litigation Local Litigation Star in 2019; as an Alabama Future Litigation Star, 2009-2015
    • Selected for inclusion in Benchmark Appellate as Eleventh Circuit Litigation Star in Alabama 2012 and 2013
    • Listed by B-Metro magazine among its 2016-2019 “Top Attorneys” and its 2015-2020 “Top Women Lawyers”
    • Listed in the Birmingham Business Journal’s “Best of the Birmingham Bar” in Insurance Law
    • Following settlement of a class action involving the Alabama state employee’s pension plan, tried and won on appeal the contractual indemnity claim of a co-defendant seeking over $1 million in legal fees.
    • Defeated class certification in federal case alleging defects in an infant product.
    • Obtained summary judgment for manufacturer in federal court case alleging FMLA, Title VII (race and sex) and ADA claims.
    • Obtained summary judgment for an insurance company in an FLSA and race discrimination case brought by associate agent involving issues of joint employer liability.
    • Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a defendant hospital in a hard-fought discrimination case filed by a surgeon who claimed his privileges were revoked based on race, national origin and religion.  The court’s 108 page opinion was filed under seal.
    • Defended a major international pharmaceutical company in the first of numerous “Average Wholesale Pricing” cases filed by Alabama’s Attorney General. The Alabama Supreme Court reversed a jury verdict for the State, resulting in a total victory for the defendant.  AstraZeneca LP v. State, 41 So. 3d 15 (Ala. 2009). The national press reported the Supreme Court’s decision, and it became the year’s most significant decision according to the Drug and Device Law blog.
    • Served as national coordinating counsel, with specific responsibility for Alabama state court litigation, in multi-jurisdictional products liability actions arising from the sale of a dietary supplement.
    • Obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer in two consecutive fidelity bond cases where the insured corporation alleged breach of contract and bad faith in connection with multi-million dollar employee theft claims.
    • Obtained summary judgment in federal court for a pharmaceutical manufacturer in a products liability case where plaintiff alleged that an antibiotic caused her to lose her vision.
    • Obtained summary judgment in large coverage case involving application of a pollution exclusion to claims of hundreds of landowner plaintiffs.
    • Obtained an order dismissing a putative class action relating to the Jefferson County, Alabama sewer bond default.
    • Obtained summary judgment in a case in which plaintiff claimed breach of a life insurance contract, bad faith and fraud.
    • Secured dismissal of suit against a life insurer. Plaintiffs claimed that insurer’s agent conspired with two brothers to take in homeless individuals, take out life insurance on them, and then murder them. Case received national notoriety.
    • Tried and obtained an appellate ruling for the defendant in the first punitive damages case decided by the Alabama Supreme Court following the U.S. Supreme Court decision BMW v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996).
    • Arnold v. United States Pipe & Foundry Company, LLC, et al., 274 F. Supp.3d 1272 (N.D. Ala. 2017)
    • Abner et al v. United States Pipe and Foundry Company, LLC et al, No. 2:2015cv02040 – Document 83 (N.D. Ala. 2017)
    • Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Inc. v. PEBCO, Inc., 161 So. 3d 1141, Alabama Supreme Court (Ala. 2014)
    • Foy v. Pat Donalson Agency, 946 F. Supp. 2d 1250 (N.D. Ala. 2013)
    • Clemmons et al v. Twin City Fire Insurance Company et al, No. 7:2013cv01341 (N.D. Ala. 2013)
    • Ex Parte Alabama State Personnel Bd., 54 So. 3d 886 (Ala. 2010)
    • AstraZeneca LP v. State, 41 So. 3d 15 (Ala. 2009)
    • Sparks v. Total Body Essential Nutrition, Inc., et al, No. 1071708 (N.D. Ala. July 17, 2009)
    • Ex parte Novartis Pharms. Corp., 991 So. 2d 1263 (Ala. 2008)
    • Hawk v. Roger Watts Ins. Agency, 989 So. 2d 584 (Ala. Civ. App. 2008)
    • Vulcan Materials Co. v. Ala. Ins. Guar. Ass’n, 985 So. 2d 376 (Ala. 2007)
    • Alabama v. Abbott Labs., Inc., No. 2:06-CV-920-MHT, 2006 WL 3170553 (M.D. Ala. Nov. 2, 2006)
    • Cent. Ala. Comprehensive Health Car, Inc. v. Aventis Pharms., Inc., 427 F. Supp. 2d 1129 (M.D. Ala. 2006)
    • Ex parte Nat’l W. Life Ins. Co., 899 So. 2d 218 (Ala. 2004)
    • Legg v. Wyeth, 428 F.3d 1317 (11th Cir. 2005)
    • Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Comm’r Soc. Sec. Admin., 216 F.R.D. 681 (S.D. Ala. Aug. 12, 2003)
    • Tucker v. Taco Bell Corp., No. CV-00-S-1848-NE, 2001 WL 36102289 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 30, 2001)
    • Ex parte Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 750 So. 2d 578 (Ala. 1999)
    • In re Diet Drugs, No. Civ. A. 98-20478-1203, 1999 WL 554584 (E.D. Pa. July 16, 1999)
    • Richardson v. Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 750 So. 2d 575 (Ala. Civ. App. 1999)
    • Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Allen, 699 So. 2d 138 (Ala. 1997)
    • Sullivan, Long & Hagerty, Inc. v. Goodwin, 658 So. 2d 493 (Ala. Civ. App. 1994)

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