Bet-the-Company Litigation Commercial Litigation
David G. Hymer
Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2007 Awarded Practice Areas
Biography
David Hymer is an accomplished trial lawyer who has 40 years of experience trying and arbitrating high-stakes disputes for a variety of corporate and individual clients across many disciplines. That broad-based trial experience gives him a unique perspective, enabling him to team with his clients to develop strategies that will guide them through complex and challenging disputes while staying focused on achieving his clients’ objectives.
David’s practice concentrates on complex business and commercial litigation, which includes a significant plaintiff’s practice on behalf of corporate clients, as well as a more traditional corporate defense practice. In addition to his trial work involving business and commercial disputes, he has tried to verdict or arbitrated to conclusion environmental, product liability, personal injury, antitrust, construction, professional liability, intellectual property, and class action disputes.
Some of his more notable trials include serving as lead counsel for a national healthcare company in a trial resulting in a $2.8 billion judgment in favor of the company against its former CEO for damages suffered because of the CEO’s orchestration of a fraudulent financial reporting scheme. Benchmark Litigation recognized this trial as the Alabama “Case of the Year.” David also served as lead counsel for the healthcare company in related litigation brought against the company’s New York investment banker and its Big Four accounting firm, the latter of which concluded with a 100-day arbitration.
In another high-profile case, David obtained a defense verdict in favor of a contractor in a $100 million bet-the-company lawsuit involving a claim for defective work arising out of the construction of a nuclear power plant in the State of Washington. The National Law Journal included that result in its annual listing of the nation’s top defense verdicts.
David has represented a wide variety of clients from Fortune 50 companies to small family-owned businesses and individuals. His clients have included former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and the Estate of Harper Lee, which he recently represented in connection with an arbitration regarding the stage rights to her novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
David recently served as one of the lead national discovery counsel for a Fortune 10 retail chain pharmacy in connection with widely publicized litigation arising out of the national opioid epidemic. That litigation involved thousands of cases, some pending in an MDL and some pending in various state courts, in hundreds of jurisdictions throughout the country. David’s role was to oversee the pharmacy’s review and production of millions of documents, to coordinate defense of the client with other national counsel, and to serve as lead counsel in various individual cases.
Since 2007, The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized David in the areas of Bet-the-Company and Commercial Litigation. He is ranked by Chambers USA for Commercial Litigation and listed in Mid-South Super Lawyers for Business Litigation. He was named by Benchmark Litigation's Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys as a Litigation Star in Alabama and by LMG Life Sciences as a Life Sciences Star.
The Birmingham Business Journal recognized him as a “Best of the Bar” honoree in 2024. He is also a Fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Litigation Counsel of America, and the Alabama Law Foundation.
David received his B.S. in Finance and his J.D. from the University of Alabama, where he served on the managing board of the Alabama Law Review and was elected to Order of the Coif. He has served as a member and past chair of the Alabama State Bar Board of Bar Examiners since 2001. He was twice awarded the Alabama State Bar President’s Award for meritorious service to the legal profession. He also is a recipient of the Alabama State Bar Award of Merit for outstanding and constructive service to the legal profession, which is the highest honor given by the Alabama State Bar to a lawyer. David has served on Bradley’s governing board and as the leader of the firm's Business Litigation team.
In addition, David often speaks on legal ethics, trial presentation, and the art of persuasion.
Overview
- The University of Alabama, J.D., graduated 1985
- The University of Alabama, B.S., graduated 1982
- Alabama, Alabama State Bar Association
- Alabama Defense Lawyers Association - Member
- Alabama Law Foundation - Fellow
- American Bar Association - Member
- American Board of Trial Advocates - Member
- Birmingham Bar Association - Member
- Board of Bar Examiners, Alabama State Bar - Chair
- Defense Research Institute - Member
- Alabama, Alabama State Bar Association
- Alabama Defense Lawyers Association - Member
- Alabama Law Foundation - Fellow
- American Bar Association - Member
- American Board of Trial Advocates - Member
- Birmingham Bar Association - Member
- Board of Bar Examiners, Alabama State Bar - Chair
- Defense Research Institute - Member
- The University of Alabama, J.D., graduated 1985
- The University of Alabama, B.S., graduated 1982
Client Testimonials
Awards & Focus
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for work in:
- Bet-the-Company Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
Additional Areas of Practice:
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
- Litigation - Intellectual Property
- Litigation - Environmental
- Personal Injury Litigation
Special Focus:
- Business Disputes
- Civil Litigation
- Commercial Disputes
- Complex Litigation
- Large Case Litigation
Awards:
Listed in Chambers USA for Commercial Litigation
- Listed in Benchmark Litigation Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys
- Listed in Alabama Super Lawyers, Business Litigation
Listed by LMG Life Sciences as a Life Sciences Star
- The National Law Journal, Defense verdict recognized as one of the nation's "Top Defense Verdicts" in annual listing.
- Recipient of the Alabama State Bar Award of Merit for outstanding and constructive service to the legal profession
Two-time recipient of the Alabama State Bar President's Award for meritorious service to the legal profession
American Board of Trial Advocates Fellow
Litigation Counsel of America Fellow
Alabama Law Foundation Fellow
News & Media
Case History
Cases
- Personal Injury Collins v. Marten Trucking Co.
Defended Marten in a wrongful death case involving an interstate head-on collision after truck crossed the median. David negotiated a favorable high-low agreement during trial that save the company several million dollars.
- Property Damage Environmental Claims Russell Corp. v. Sullivan, 790 So. 2d 940 (Ala. 2001)
Obtained victory for a textile manufacturer in an environmental action alleging trespass and nuisance claims relating to discharge of textile wastewater into a public lake. On appeal from a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and rendered judgment in favor of the textile manufacturer.
- Breach of Restrictive Covenants Cobbs, Allen & Hall, Inc. v. EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants(Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama)
Lead counsel for plaintiff, an insurance brokerage, in an action against four former executives asserting claims for breach of anti-piracy, non-compete, and confidentiality covenants. The lawsuit also asserted claims against their new employer for tortious interference with contractual relations. The trial court awarded $1.1 million in sanctions in favor of the plaintiff because of discovery abuses committed by the defendants. The Bradley team discovered that defendants were engaged in a scheme to conceal documents from production by placing spaces between letters of words in emails so the documents would not be found using electronic word searches. After years of contentious litigation, which included hundreds of thousands of pages of paper discovery and more than 40 depositions, the parties reached a settlement on the day the trial was to begin.
- Copyright Infringement Michel Keck v. Alibaba.com Hong Kong, Ltd., 369 F. Supp. 3d 932 (N.D. Cal. 2019)
Represented plaintiff on behalf of a class of visual copyright holders (i.e., artists) against Alibaba companies for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Alibaba is a Chinese company that operates e-commerce web platforms similar to Amazon. The Alibaba IPO was the largest in history, and the company is one of the top 10 most valuable companies in the world. Hundreds of thousands of counterfeit products, including artwork, are sold over the Alibaba platforms. The case involved counterfeit goods originating in China. The lawsuit touched on significant U.S. trade issues and addressed whether companies like Alibaba can hide behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor while knowingly providing platforms for and facilitating the sale of counterfeit goods. The case addressed the use of class action litigation to enforce copyrights, and class-wide damages claims that totaled hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. A confidential settlement was reached by the parties.
- Copyright Section 304(c) Notice of Termination and Breach of Licensing Contract Dramatic Publishing Co. v. The Estate of Nelle Harper Lee (American Arbitration Association)
Represented the Estate of Harper Lee in an arbitration proceeding relating to the stage rights in the theatrical dramatization of Ms. Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Ms. Lee had given a license to Dramatic Publishing Company to write a stage adaptation of the novel and to license the production in stock and amateur theaters. The core issues in the arbitration were the meaning of “stock and amateur” in the license agreement and the effect of a notice of termination under Section 304(c) of the Copyright Act.
- Steven McKinney, individually and derivatively on behalf of Primus, LLC v. Thomas Pinter (Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama)
Obtained a complete victory on all claims and counterclaims in a jury trial in favor of defendant/counterclaim plaintiff, a 50% owner of a manufacturing company, against his 50% co-owner in an action in which each asserted claims for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of the LLC operating agreement against the other.
- Public Nuisance Arising Out of the Opioid Epidemic
National discovery counsel for a national retail chain pharmacy defending thousands of opioid cases pending in an MDL and in various state courts throughout the United States. These cases were brought by governmental entities (i.e., cities, counties, and states), hospitals, third-party payors, and the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration. The lawsuits alleged that prescription opioid manufacturers, prescription opioid distributors, and national retail chain pharmacies contributed to the creation of the opioid epidemic by improperly marketing, distributing, or filling prescriptions for opioid medications.
- Personal Injury from Environmental Exposure Fannie Wayne v. Pharmacia Corporation
Defended Pharmacia Corporation and Monsanto Company against personal injury claims brought by multiple plaintiffs alleging various injuries due to exposure to PCBs. Following a two week jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Pharmacia and Monsanto on all of the plaintiffs'' claims.
- Wade Tucker v. Richard Scrushy
Represented HealthSouth Corporation in derivative lawsuit against former CEO in which a judgment in the amount of $2.8 billion was awarded in favor of the Company.
- Other Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
- United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama
- United States District Court, Middle District of Alabama
- United States District Court, Southern District of Alabama
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