Mr. Colvin tries cases in the areas of construction, plaintiff personal injury, particularly medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and insurance coverage litigation. He has been recognized as a Mid-South Super Lawyer for plaintiff personal injury litigation continuously since 2012. He was recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Litigation-Construction in 2017 and 2018, and also for Litigation – Insurance in 2018. Best Lawyers recognized him as Lawyer of the Year for Chattanooga in Construction Litigation for 2019. He was recently selected as a Charter Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America.
He has developed a unique career in Chattanooga, serving individuals in mass tort and Multi-District Litigation involving personal injury as well as representing businesses, property owners and insurers in construction litigation. In mass tort and multi-district litigation cases, he has served on discovery committees, as class counsel, and as a judicial appointee to a common benefit fee review committee. As plaintiffs’ counsel in personal injury and commercial litigation over the last fifteen years, he has helped clients recover over $150,000,000 in damages. In construction litigation, he has successfully represented property owners and contractors in commercial and residential disputes and has obtained summary judgments for insurers in construction-related coverage disputes.
In all areas of his practice, he has served as local counsel, collaborating with other attorneys from around the nation in a variety of complex cases. In 2015, he was part of the trial team that won the longest civil jury trial in Hamilton County that resulted in the largest plaintiff verdict in county history in a breach of fiduciary duty case. He is also a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 Mediator for general civil litigation.
Mr. Colvin has given presentations on issues relating to construction law, expert testimony and complex litigation. He has published articles on insurance coverage, electronic communications in litigation, and arbitration. He is a founding member and past President of the Brock-Cooper American Inns of Court and Founding Member of the Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel.
Mr. Colvin is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga teaching a graduate level class on construction law in the construction management degree program. He served on active duty with the U. S. Navy from 1973 to 1976.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he has been married for 41 years to Jane Colvin. He enjoys time with their daughters, sons-in-law and granddaughters, golf, jogging and his church.
BAR ADMISSION
Tennessee, 1979
EDUCATION
Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, cum laude, 1979, JD
Vanderbilt University, 1973, BA
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ACTIVITIES:
Martindale–Hubbell Law Directory: AV Preeminent Rating (the highest rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and designated by their peers as preeminent in their field)
Best Lawyers in America – 2017, Litigation – Construction
Mid-South Super Lawyer – 2012 – 2019 Plaintiff Personal Injury Litigation
American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Forum of the Construction Industry, Member
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Tennessee Bar Association, Member
Chattanooga Bar Association, President 2017, Secretary 2016, Treasurer 2015, Board of Governors
Fellow, Chattanooga Bar Foundation
Brock-Cooper American Inns of Court, Master, Past President, Founding Member
American Association for Justice, Member
Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, Member
Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association, Member
Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel, Founding Member
Construction Lawyers Society of America, Charter Fellow
