A founding member of Christian & Small, Eddie was a long time partner with its predecessor firm, Rives & Peterson, and has been trying cases in federal and state court for more than 30 years. Eddie’s experience includes retail and premises liability, transportation, product liability, pharmaceutical litigation, medical malpractice, and a variety of insurance cases.

He combines his courtroom expertise and knowledge with the best technology available, efficient management of rigorous discovery demands, and an impeccable ability to organize and comprehend massive amounts of documentation. His reputation as a skilled litigator is recognized by his inclusion in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Best Lawyers in America® and Alabama Super Lawyers® in areas including Insurance Law, Transportation Law, Personal Injury Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation.

In addition to Eddie’s extensive experience in virtually all aspects of insurance litigation, he devotes much of his practice to defending commercial transportation carriers, pharmaceutical and drug producers, heavy equipment manufacturers, health care providers and insurance carriers in high-stakes matters involving catastrophic personal injury, professional liability, premises liability, medical malpractice and commercial disputes.

Professional and Community Involvement

  • American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)
  • Defense Research Institute (DRI): Member, Medical Malpractice Committee
  • American Trucking Association
  • Trucking Industry Defense Association: Member
  • Transportation Lawyers Association: Member
  • American Bar Association (ABA): Member, Commercial Transportation Section
  • Alabama State Bar: Member
  • Birmingham Bar Association: Member

Awards and Recognition

  • AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
  • Selected by The Best Lawyers in America® in 2019 as “Lawyer of the Year” for Transportation Law
  • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the fields of Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, Transportation Law
  • Selected for inclusion in Alabama Super Lawyers® in fields of transportation/maritime, personal injury defense (products and medical malpractice) since 2008 and 2012-2015 in the field of civil litigation defense; in Mid-South Super Lawyers in 2016-2019 in the field of civil litigation defense

Representative Experience

  • Served as both national coordinating counsel and liaison counsel in national dietary supplement–pharmaceutical drug litigation, in federal and state courts. This was one of only four cases assigned to the Northern District of Alabama by the Federal Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation. Christian & Small appeared in three of those matters.
  • Represents national transportation carriers in litigation ranging from claims dealing with personal and catastrophic injury to matters involving property and cargo damage, labor and employment disputes, and fraud allegations. Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a national transportation client in a jury case involving a catastrophic collision.
  • Represents both nationally-based and local retailers in premises-related litigation. These cases include claims by retail customers allegedly injured by products on display, customers allegedly injured by retail warehouse racking displays, third-party contractors allegedly injured by conditions on retail premises, customers allegedly injured in drive-through service areas, customers allegedly injured by foreign matter in food purchased, attendees allegedly injured at concert events, and customers allegedly injured from trip- or slip-and-fall on fixed or foreign substances.
  • Served as lead counsel for a life insurer accused of fraud in the sale of its life insurance policies by hundreds of its Alabama policyholders. After exhaustive and highly disputed discovery, he successfully negotiated a satisfactory resolution of that statewide litigation for the insurer.
  • Defended a builder in a construction defect wrongful death case. Settled case when other defendants opted to try the case and ended up with a $50 million verdict against them.

Publications and Presentations

  • Co-Presenter at the Primerus Defense Institute Transportation Seminar, “Use of an Attorney in Emergency Responses” (February 20, 2015)
  • Author, The Use of an Attorney in Emergency Response Situations, Christian & Small Nonstop Insights Blog (March 2015)
  • Author, Discovery Techniques for the Defense
  • Author, Paper Discovery: Specific Documents that Should be Discovered and Examined
  • Author, Depositions
  • Author, Opening Statements
  • Author, Demonstrative Evidence
  • Author, Cross Examination
  • Author, Closing Argument from the Defense Perspective
  • Author, Liability Insurance: Reservation of Rights, Intervention and Declaratory Judgments
  • Author, Supreme Court Considers HMO Malpractice Suits (2004).
  • Author, The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Its Impact on the Discovery of Customer Lists and Policyholder Files (2003)
  • Author, Sarbanes-Oxley: A Brief Overview (2002)
  • Author, Statutory Caps on Punitive Damages: Could What Was Once Old Be New Again? (2001)

Admissions

  • Alabama, 1982
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Alabama
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Alabama
  • Georgia, 2017

Practice Areas

Education

  • Washington & Lee University, 1979, B.A. magna cum laude
  • University of Alabama School of Law, 1982, J.D.
  • Judicial Clerkship, 1982-83, Honorable James H. Hancock United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama