Donna focuses her practice on appellate matters, pharmaceutical product liability defense, and media defense.
Overview
Donna focuses her practice on appellate matters, pharmaceutical product liability defense, and media defense.
Experience
- Johnson & Johnson, Inc. et al v. Fortenberry, 234 So.3d 381 (Miss. 2017) reversing nearly $2M judgment, rendering take-nothing judgment against the plaintiff on both the failure to warn and negligent marketing claims, and remanding negligent misrepresentation claim based on a defect in the jury instructions.
- Rebelwood Apartments RP, LP v. English, 48 So.3d 483 (Miss. 2010).
- Memphis Biofuels, LLC v Chickasaw Nation Indus., Inc., 585 F.39 917 (6th Cir. 2009).
- Grobelny v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 341 Fed.App’x. 803 (3d Cir. 2009).
- Morris v. Grusin, Tenn.Ct.App., 2009. 2009 WL 4931324, December 22, 2009.
- Barbour v. State ex rel. Hood, 974 So. 2d 232 (Miss. 2008).
- 3M Co. v. Johnson, 895 So.2d 151 (Miss. 2005) reversing $22.5 million judgment and rendering take-nothing judgment in favor of our client.
- Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. v. Armond, 866 So.2d 1092, Prod. Liab. Rep. (CCH) P 16,876 (Miss. 2004), resulted in new joinder and venue rules.
- Community Bank of Ellisville v. Courtney, 884 So.2d 767 (Miss. 2004), $5 million judgment reduced to $7,000.
- Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. v. Bailey, 878 So.2d 31, Prod. Liab. Rep (CCH) P 17,008. (Miss. 2004), $100 million verdict vacated.
Distinctions
- Fellow, Mississippi Bar Foundation
- Best Lawyers in America®
- Lawyer of the Year, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2023
- Lawyer of the Year, Appellate Practice, 2022
- Appellate Practice, 2007-2025
- Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2014-2025
- Super Lawyers®
- Mid-South Super Lawyers, Appellate, 2006-2022
- Top 50: Mississippi Super Lawyers, 2006, 2012
- Top 50: Women Mid-South Super Lawyers, 2011-2014
- Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business
- Litigation: Appellate (Mississippi), 2014-2016, 2021-2023
- Litigation Counsel of America, Senior Fellow
Bar Admissions
- Mississippi, 1989
- U.S. District Courts
- Michigan: Eastern
- Mississippi: Northern, Southern
- U.S. Court of Appeals
- 5th Circuit
- 6th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Education
- University of Mississippi, J.D., magna cum laude, 1988
- Symposium Editor, Mississippi Law Journal
- University of Mississippi, B.P.A., summa cum laude, 1985
- Clerkship, Judge Charles Clark, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appelas, 5th Circuit
Associations
- American Bar Association
- Forum on Communications
- Appellate Practice Committee
- Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Appellate Advocacy Committee
- Media Law Resource Center
- Mississippi Bar Association
- Capital Area Bar Association
- Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit
Papers, Presentations & Publications
- Co-Author, “Daubert and Frye and Anything Goes, Oh My!” Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 18, 2017.
- Presenter, "E-Discovery: This is What “Scary” Dreams are Made of," Joint Seminar for Mississippi Claims Association and MS Defense Lawyers Association, October 16, 2014.
- Co-Author, "The Path to Aggregate Settlements;" American Bar Association Mass Torts Litigation, Spring 2012, Vol. 10 No. 3.
- Author, "Navigating the Appeal – Practical Tips for the Occasional Appellate Practitioner," Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association Quarterly, May 2009.
- Mississippi Law Section, 50-State Survey of Law of Defamation and Invasion of Privacy
- Quarterly Procedural Update, Fifth Circuit Reporter