Sharon D. Stuart
Awarded Practice Areas
Biography
Sharon Stuart devotes her practice to civil trial work and arbitration. She focuses on complex commercial and insurance litigation, and she handles a variety of product liability cases including pharmaceutical and medical device products liability litigation as national, regional or local counsel. Her trial experience includes a wide range of business tort claims, contract disputes, commercial and insurance fraud and bad faith suits, and wrongful death cases. She has defended dozens of class action lawsuits in areas as diverse as product liability/toxic tort, financial products, insurance and employment law.
Sharon’s approach is to become a business partner with her clients, to become fluent in their business, and to assist them with clearly defining their objectives and the process for meeting those goals. By collaborating in this way, she can provide the most effective counsel possible. Working closely with the offices of general counsel of several major corporations has afforded Sharon the opportunity to interact with business clients and develop an understanding of the dynamics associated with those relationships. This experience allows Sharon to steadily, yet diplomatically, guide her clients in lawfully accomplishing their business objectives.
Overview
- English
- Samford University, J.D., graduated 1990
- Samford University, graduated 1987
- Texas, State Bar of Texas
- Alabama, Alabama State Bar Association
- American Bar Foundation - Member
- Birmingham Bar Foundation - Member
- Alabama Defense Lawyers Association (ADLA) - President (2017-2018); President-Elect (2016-2017); Secretary/Treasurer (2015-2016); Chair, Amicus Curiae Committee (2010-2016)
- Alabama Law Foundation - Fellow
- American Bar Association (ABA) - Member
- American Inns of Court - Birmingham, Alabama - Master Bencher and member of the Formation Committee, Judge James Edwin Horton Inn, American Inns of Court; Member, Shores-Vance Inn of Court, American Inns of Court
- Attorneys Insurance Mutual of the South, Risk Retention Group - Member, Board of Directors, and currently serving on the Executive, Underwriting and Marketing Committees of the Board
- Birmingham Bar Association - Chairman, Long Range Planning Committee 2016 (Member, 2010-2017); Chairman, Civil Courts Procedures Committee (2008); Public Service Committee (2004); Chairman, Ethics Committee (2002-2003)
- Defense Research Institute (DRI) - Women in the Law Committee, member of the Steering Committee; Chair of WITL Toolkit Task Force; Vice-Chair of Expert Database (2016); Vice-Chair of the State Liaisons (2013-2014)
- International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) - Vice-Chair of Programs and Projects, Insurance and Reinsurance Committee; Vice-Chair of Communications, Class Actions and Multi-Party Litigation Committee; Member, Drug, Device and Biotech Committee; Member, Product Liability Committee
- Samford University - Member, Board of Trustees
- United States District Court
- English
- Texas, State Bar of Texas
- Alabama, Alabama State Bar Association
- American Bar Foundation - Member
- Birmingham Bar Foundation - Member
- Alabama Defense Lawyers Association (ADLA) - President (2017-2018); President-Elect (2016-2017); Secretary/Treasurer (2015-2016); Chair, Amicus Curiae Committee (2010-2016)
- Alabama Law Foundation - Fellow
- American Bar Association (ABA) - Member
- American Inns of Court - Birmingham, Alabama - Master Bencher and member of the Formation Committee, Judge James Edwin Horton Inn, American Inns of Court; Member, Shores-Vance Inn of Court, American Inns of Court
- Attorneys Insurance Mutual of the South, Risk Retention Group - Member, Board of Directors, and currently serving on the Executive, Underwriting and Marketing Committees of the Board
- Birmingham Bar Association - Chairman, Long Range Planning Committee 2016 (Member, 2010-2017); Chairman, Civil Courts Procedures Committee (2008); Public Service Committee (2004); Chairman, Ethics Committee (2002-2003)
- Defense Research Institute (DRI) - Women in the Law Committee, member of the Steering Committee; Chair of WITL Toolkit Task Force; Vice-Chair of Expert Database (2016); Vice-Chair of the State Liaisons (2013-2014)
- International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) - Vice-Chair of Programs and Projects, Insurance and Reinsurance Committee; Vice-Chair of Communications, Class Actions and Multi-Party Litigation Committee; Member, Drug, Device and Biotech Committee; Member, Product Liability Committee
- Samford University - Member, Board of Trustees
- Samford University, J.D., graduated 1990
- Samford University, graduated 1987
- United States District Court
Client Testimonials
Awards & Focus

- Insurance Law, Birmingham (2026)
- Litigation - Insurance, Birmingham (2020)
- Insurance Law, Birmingham (2018)
- Appellate Practice
- Bet-the-Company Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Insurance Law
- Litigation - Insurance
- Litigation - Labor and Employment
- Litigation - Securities
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
- Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
- Litigation - Environmental
- Reinsurance Law
- Civil Litigation
- Class Actions
- Complex Litigation
- Insurance
- Mass Tort
- Product Liability
- Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009 – 2016 in the categories of commercial litigation, labor & employment litigation, securities litigation, product liability defense litigation, mass tort litigation/class actions and insurance law
- AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
- Selected for inclusion in Benchmark Appellate as Eleventh Circuit Litigation Star in Alabama 2012 and 2013
- Selected for inclusion in Benchmark Litigation’s list of Alabama Future Litigation Stars 2009-2015
- Selected for inclusion in Benchmark Top 250 Women in Litigation 2012-2014
- Selected for inclusion in Alabama Super Lawyers® 2010-2015 in the fields of business litigation, insurance coverage, product liability defense
- Selected for inclusion in Top 25 Women Alabama Super Lawyers® 2010-2015
- Listed in the Birmingham Business Journal’s “Best of the Birmingham Bar” in Insurance Law
News & Media
Insights
Additional Information
Case History
- Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Inc. v. PEBCO, Inc., No. 1120806, Alabama Supreme Court (March 28, 2014)
- AstraZeneca LP v. State, 41 So. 3d 15 (Ala. 2009)
- Ex parte Novartis Pharms. Corp., 991 So. 2d 1263 (Ala. 2008)
- Hawk v. Roger Watts Ins. Agency, 989 So. 2d 584 (Ala. Civ. App. 2008)
- Vulcan Materials Co. v. Ala. Ins. Guar. Ass’n, 985 So. 2d 376 (Ala. 2007)
- Alabama v. Abbott Labs., Inc., No. 2:06-CV-920-MHT, 2006 WL 3170553 (M.D. Ala. Nov. 2, 2006)
- Cent. Ala. Comprehensive Health Car, Inc. v. Aventis Pharms., Inc., 427 F. Supp. 2d 1129 (M.D. Ala. 2006)
- Ex parte Nat’l W. Life Ins. Co., 899 So. 2d 218 (Ala. 2004)
- Legg v. Wyeth, 428 F.3d 1317 (11th Cir. 2005)
- Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Comm’r Soc. Sec. Admin., 216 F.R.D. 681 (S.D. Ala. Aug. 12, 2003)
- Tucker v. Taco Bell Corp., No. CV-00-S-1848-NE, 2001 WL 36102289 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 30, 2001)
- Ex parte Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 750 So. 2d 578 (Ala. 1999)
- In re Diet Drugs, No. Civ. A. 98-20478-1203, 1999 WL 554584 (E.D. Pa. July 16, 1999)
- Richardson v. Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 750 So. 2d 575 (Ala. Civ. App. 1999)
- Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Allen, 699 So. 2d 138 (Ala. 1997)
- Sullivan, Long & Hagerty, Inc. v. Goodwin, 658 So. 2d 493 (Ala. Civ. App. 1994)
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