Practice Areas
Commercial Litigation
Litigation can have a significant impact on a company's ability to achieve its business objectives. We help companies involved in commercial litigation assess their options and make decisions consistent with their goals. Our commercial litigators have represented companies in complex litigation and alternative dispute resolution proceedings across a broad range of industries. We aggressively defend our clients' interests in matters such as breach of contract, corporate governance, trade secrets, dissolutions, fiduciary duties, and many other areas involving business disputes.
Business Organizations
The form of business chosen for a business entity potentially affects every aspect of its operations. Our firm assists our clients in formation and business planning in deciding whether they want to operate as a limited liability company, partnership, or corporation. We advise our clients about directors' and officers' liability, dissolution, reorganization, joint ventures, acquisitions, divestitures and business successions.
Commercial Real Estate
Since the inception of our firm, we have evolved with the changing local real estate market. In the last decade, we have helped clients respond to market forces and assisted clients in taking advantage of alternative financing sources, dealing with overbuilt markets and complying with a complex body of local, state and national environmental laws.
We work with developers, owners, property managers, tenants, financial institutions and investors in all types of transactions.
Our real estate practice includes:
- Acquisitions
- Construction-contract issues and litigation
- Contract negotiations
- Debt restructurings
- Foreclosures
- Landlord-tenant disputes
- Lease negotiations and contracts
Construction Law
Our firm represents owners, contractors, and suppliers in all aspects of the construction process, including contract negotiation and formation, contract performance,
mechanics' and materialmen's liens, payment and performance
bonds for public projects, and claims and dispute resolution.
Employment Law
We have the experienced staff and resources to address legal issues pertaining to employment and labor matters. Throughout our history, our employment and labor law practice has provided counsel to individuals and businesses in areas such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII and the Family Medical Leave Act.
Our employment practice includes:
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance issues
- Employee manual and personnel policy development
- Contract and tort matters
- Discrimination matters based on gender, age, disability, national origin, race or religion
- Hiring and firing; job interview practices
- Older Workers Benefits Protection Act issues
- Privacy and employee monitoring issues
- Wage and hour disputes
- Wrongful termination matters
Our attorneys have also handled litigation in state, federal and appellate courts and have represented employees and defended employers before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies.
Estate Planning
We handle a variety of estate planning matters, including planning for the distribution of an individual's property at his or her death and using wills, taxes, insurance, property, and trusts to gain the maximum benefit of all laws, while, at the same time, carrying out the person's wishes. Partner, E. Dale Dewberry, has more than thirty-eight years of estate planning experience. Under his leadership, our firm provides estate planning along a spectrum of income levels from hourly wage earners to physicians and other professionals with both family and business concerns. By way of example, estate planning may include wills, spousal and children's trusts, insurance trusts, special needs trusts, revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, advance medical directives, powers of attorney (general, special and medical), as well as an array of sophisticated planning techniques used to protect assets from unnecessary probate costs and taxation.
Probate and Estate Administration
Our firm has years of experience in Probate and Estate Administration. Probate is the legal process by which a person's debts are paid and assets are distributed upon her or his death. Estate Administration includes the probate process as well as non-probate transfers of the deceased's assets. State laws and procedures vary greatly, so, it is important to consult a firm with expertise in this area of the law to ensure that the deceased's assets are distributed correctly.
Insurance Coverage and Defense
A significant focus of our practice is the representation
of policyholders and insurance carriers in first-party
insurance coverage and bad faith matters. We provide our
clients with coverage interpretation and serve as litigation
counsel on matters including, but not limited to, arson,
fraud in the application and submission of the claim, bad
faith refusal to pay, unfair claims practices, cancellation
procedures, reservation
of rights, waiver and estoppel, right to
counsel and the insurer’s duty to defend.
In addition to first-party insurance issues, we have
extensive experience in defending liability claims,
including the representation of insureds through insurance
carriers and self-insureds.
Litigation and Appeals
Our firm has extensive knowledge, experience and training
in litigation and appeals. This experience has included the representation of parties in cases throughout Georgia. The firm has handled cases before the state and federal trial courts, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Georgia, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is the process of resolving legal conflicts without going to trial. We have extensive expertise in determining when a form of ADR is in the best interest of clients and meets their needs better than a traditional litigation. We have substantial experience and training in ADR and routinely advise our clients on the legal consequences flowing from particular terms and conditions of all ADR
options. In addition, partner John Bach is a certified
mediator.
Plaintiff's Personal Injury and Wrongful Death
Our firm represents individuals injured because of the negligent or intentional behavior of another. Victims of personal injury are entitled to financial compensation for their medical and property expenses, incidental costs caused by the accident, and may be entitled to additional damages to cover future expenses, pain and suffering, or other issues.
Wrongful Death is a legal term that refers to situations when a person dies due to the negligence of another. Wrongful Death cases may arise as a result of a variety of incidents, including car and other motor vehicle accidents. The goal of our firm is to make sure that the survivor and beneficiaries are maximally compensated for their loss. In times of grief it is obviously difficult for family members to understand the importance of a prompt investigation of the circumstances of death, preservation of evidence and identification of responsible parties. Let Bach, Dewberry & Hipes, LLC speak for you.
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