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George T. Lewis III is a shareholder in the Memphis office and chair of the appellate practice litigation group at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC. He focuses his practice on complex business, personal injury, insurance coverage, Consumer Protection Act, health care and class action litigation. He also has extensive experience in the areas of securities and governmental law. He is the former chair of the litigation department and business litigation group.
Q: What is the most challenging case you’ve worked on and why? A: The most challenging case involved an interlocutory appeal on the issue of whether the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act allowed class actions. One reason it was challenging was because it was an interlocutory appeal, which is rarely allowed by our appellate courts.
In this case, our intermediate appellate court had turned down the interlocutory appeal and our brief to the Supreme Court had to persuade the Supreme Court that the intermediate appellate court was wrong to decline the appeal and that the trial court was wrong in the way it analyzed the statute. There were also significant damages for the client. Also, the case was significant for the entire automotive dealership industry and for consumer class actions in every industry in Tennessee.