Mary Brunson is a partner in Johnston Barton’s Litigation Practice Group handling general civil litigation.
For more than a decade, Mary Brunson has successfully defended manufacturers, suppliers and other companies in product liability litigation. She was a key player in the firm’s defense of a major chemical manufacturer in one of the largest toxic tort cases ever filed in Alabama. She managed extensive pretrial discovery, including handling the depositions of more than 150 plaintiffs and witnesses. Recently, Mary Brunson helped formulate an aggressive defense strategy for a manufacturing client, achieving the dismissal of more than 75 asbestos cases filed in federal and state courts and dissuading plaintiffs’ counsel from filing additional lawsuits involving the client’s products.
In the financial sector, Mary Brunson defends the firm’s banking clients in sophisticated securities, mortgage and card product litigation. She recently helped achieve a summary judgment win for a global financial institution in a complex securities case, defeating claims in excess of $650 million. This win was recently affirmed on appeal, due in part to innovative graphics in the appellee’s brief crafted by Mary Brunson.
Mary Brunson has successfully recruited and worked with experts in investment banking, accounting, due diligence, underwriting, economics, technology, and retail. She regularly defends UCC claims in the retail banking context, as well as claims relating to alleged identity theft and credit reporting. She currently co-chairs the firm’s task force on the CARD Act and has expertise in emerging Dodd-Frank regulations and litigation, with particular emphasis on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Prior to joining Johnston Barton in 2004, Mary Brunson earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi (B.A., magna cum laude, 2000) and her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from The University of Alabama School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2003). While attending law school, she was a member of the Alabama Law Review.
Mary Brunson is a member of the American Bar Association, Alabama State Bar and Birmingham Bar Association. She is recognized as a Rising Star in the Alabama edition of Super Lawyers. For the past five years, she has served on the Grants Committee of the Alabama Bar Foundation.
- Arthritis Foundation, Alabama Chapter
- Voices Against Violence
- Grants Committee, Alabama Law Foundation
- American Bar Association
- Alabama State Bar Association
- Birmingham Bar Association
- Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2012-13
- Defense Research Institute
- Co-author of ”Recent Constitutional Challenges to Dodd Frank ” (2013)
- Co-author of “Challenges and Changes as Dodd-Frank Matures” (2013)
- Co-author of the American Bar Association 50 – State Survey of Class Action Law (2006 – 2012)
- Secured the dismissal of more than 75 asbestos cases for a manufacturing client and dissuaded plaintiffs’ counsel from filing additional lawsuits involving the client’s products.
- Worked successfully with experts in investment banking, due diligence and technology to help obtain summary judgment for a major financial institution in a complex securities case, which was affirmed (without opinion) by the Supreme Court of Alabama on appeal.
- Assisted with procuring summary judgment for a large mortgage servicer in a putative nationwide class action in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
- Engaged in extensive pre-lawsuit fact investigation for a manufacturing client following a fire at a plant in Alabama to help successfully resolve a multi-million dollar property damage claim.
- Successfully resolved product liability claims related to steel casting equipment for two manufacturing clients in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
