Stites & Harbison, PLLC

         
J.D. Humphries is the Executive Member of the Atlanta office.  He has substantial experience in addressing and resolving problems and issues through negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation.  While a member of our Construction Service Group and working with general contractors, subcontractors, and developers, Mr. Humphries has served as corporate counsel and business advisor to numerous clients and has significant transactional, real estate and probate experience.  He has both created corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, family partnerships and dealt with control and management disputes arising from such entities.  He has represented various banks on numerous issues, and has dealt with fiduciary duty claim arising from a position held such as trustee, executor, director, or partner.  He has assisted resolution of partnership disputes involving various issues.  His litigation and business practice have interfaced with organized labor as well as employment issues, including restrictive covenants.  He has litigated securities and anti-trust issues.  He is consistently recognized and listed in Best Lawyers in America^® and as a Super Lawyer based in Georgia.  Professionally, he has served as a past president of the Lawyers Club of Atlanta and The Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc.   

Recent Assignments

• Obtained a $900,000 jury verdict on a road construction case involving drilling, blasting and crushing of rock into graded aggregate base while defeating a $600,000 counterclaim
• Acquired and then merged a Swiss owned Delaware corporation operating in Rhode Island into a Georgia corporation
• Obtained preliminary injunction regarding trade secrets and fraud former officer violated duty of loyalty
• Represented Canadian Indian cigarette fabricator with Georgia Attorney General
• Obtained the removal of a personal representative for breaches of fiduciary duty and obtained $14,000,000 judgment for misappropriated funds
• Obtained a favorable declaratory judgment on the enforceability of a liquidated damages provision in a New York contract in a Georgia court
• Closed an asset purchase of the assets of a gear grinding company for a metal coating fabricator
• Resolved 13 lien claims on a troubled construction project
• Arbitrated and settled a multi-million dollar delay and impact claim on an office building

Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications

• "Ethics and Leadership," Annual Meeting of ODK, Atlanta, Feb. 28, 2008
• "Proving and Disproving Construction Damages at Trial," Continuing Legal Education Institute of Georgia, Sept. 28, 2007
• Lecturer and Panelist for Annual Law Firm Management Symposium sponsored by Joel H. Rose of New Orleans
• Lecturer for the Georgia Chapter, Associated General Contractors on Georgia lien law, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Published Cases

• Pace Construction Corp. v. Northpark Asso. L.P., 215 Ga. App. 438, 450 S.E.2d 828 (1994)
• Impreglon, Inc. v. Newco Enterprises, Inc., 508 F.Supp. 2d 1222 (N.D. Ga. 2007)
• Ray v. Jolles, 280 Ga.452, 629 S.E.2d 250 (2006)
• Ray v. National Health Investors, Inc., 280 Ga. App. 44, 633 S.E.2d 288 (2006)
• James L. Warren, J.D., P.C. v. Weber and Warren Anesthesia Services, LLC, 272 Ga.App. 232, 612 S.E.2d 17 (2005)
• Swartz Investments, LLC v. VION Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 252 Ga.App. 365, 556 S.E.2d 460 (2001)
• Old Stone Mortg.& Realty Trust v. New Georgia Plumbing, Inc., 239 Ga. 345, 236 S.E. 2d 592 (1977)
• Pace Construction Corp. v. OBS Co., 531 So.2d 737 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988) rev'd 558 So.2d 404 (Fla. 1990)
• Rohrer Hibler & Replogle, Inc. v. Perkins, 728 F.2d 860 860 (7th Cir. 1984); cert. denied 469 U.S. 890, 105 S.Ct.265 (1984)
• Lester v. Zurn Industries, Inc., 33 F.3d 54 (6th Cir. 1994) cert. denied 510 U.S. 1181 U.S. (1994)

Before Stites & Harbison

Mr. Humphries came to Atlanta in 1969 following graduation from law school and joined a major Atlanta law firm where he met Morgan Varner and Dick Stephens. They eventually formed their own firm which merged with Stites & Harbison in 1999.

More than Stites & Harbison

He serves on the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's Advisory Board of Directors, as an usher at the Cathedral of St. Philip, and past president of the Georgia Lacrosse Foundation, Inc. He's also past president and Annual Fund Chairman (2003-06) for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc., which raised above their goal of $1,500,000. He is First Vice President and President-Elect of the Civil War Round Table of Atlanta. He has served as president of the Atlanta Chapter of the Washington & Lee Alumni Association, Inc.

Besides Stites & Harbison

J.D. is enthusiastically involved with the lacrosse community and is an avid high school and collegiate wrestling fan. He admits to partaking in a hacker's game of golf with an occasional run for fun.