Thomas H. "Tom" Wyatt

Tom Wyatt’s practice provides comprehensive and cost-effective service to a diverse client portfolio—from individuals to Fortune 500 companies—in litigation matters involving commercial and residential property development, land-use disputes, municipal interface and interference, complex commercial litigation, and products liability defense.

Tom has successfully tried cases to the bench and the jury, achieving judgments for his clients that have been affirmed on appeal. Tom has appeared before every circuit court in Arkansas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas and the Eastern District of Michigan, the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Tom currently serves as the Chair for DRI Young Lawyers, a national organization of civil defense counsel within ten years of bar admission, and as President for the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel, Arkansas’s premier association of civil defense attorneys. Tom was recognized in the 2025 Edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America in the area of Commercial Litigation for the fifth year in a row.

Tom’s recent work includes:

• Protection of a 150-unit LIHTC development from municipal interference and community opposition, resulting in federal injunctive relief against the municipality that allowed the development to proceed according to its phasing schedule and eventual occupancy.
• Summary judgment for a product manufacturer against a $9 million personal injury claim, exceeding policy limits, that was affirmed on appeal.
• Representation of a local financial institution in the successful enforcement of a purchase contract that was affirmed on appeal.
• Dismissal of a refrigerator manufacturer against a claim of fire loss to a residence.
• Securing approval for multiple contested building permits on behalf of a telecommunications company to construct telecommunications towers.
• Judgment in favor of a property developer that forced the sale of a parcel of timberland.
• Judgment in favor of an outdoor advertiser for an unlawful ejectment.
• Judgment in favor of property owners that achieved title to a disputed boundary line.
• Assisting bellwether trial counsel in the defense of a multi-billion-dollar, products liability, class-action lawsuit against a medical-device manufacturer.
• Seven-figure settlement for a former business owner against a controlling shareholder during trial.
• Made-whole settlement for a dealer of manufactured homes after damage was sustained to its show home in an automobile accident.

Tom and his wife, Katie, live in Little Rock with their daughter, Marley, and their dog, Dakota.

Associations and Affiliations

Chair, DRI Young Lawyers Committee
President and Young Lawyer Section Liaison, Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel
Fellow, Arkansas Bar Foundation
Member, Arkansas Bar Association
Member, Pulaski County Bar Association

Community Involvement

Little Rock Chamber of Commerce Leadership Greater Little Rock, Class XXXV

University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, Mentor

Education

University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, (J.D., with honors, 2013)
Executive Editor, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

University of California at Riverside (B.A., 2006)

Publications

Compelling and Staying Arbitration in Arkansas, Practical Law Arbitration, Westlaw (2019).

Unnecessarily Duplicative: Has the Sixth Circuit Gone Too Far in Upholding an Employer’s Ability to Require Incumbent Employees to Provide Doctor’s Notes After
Taking Sick Leave?, Lee v. City of Columbus, 636 F.3d 245 (6th Cir. 2011), 35 U. Ark. Little Rock. L. Rev. 713 (2013).