Related Information
Education
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University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
J.D. 1993
Dean's List; Moot Court Board
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University of Kentucky
B.A. 1990
Admissions
Kentucky
Tennessee
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
Service Areas
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Antitrust, Consumer Protection & Attorney General Defense
- Business Litigation
- Class Action, Mass Action & Multi-District Litigation
- Commercial Disputes - Contracts and Business Torts
- Complex / Large Litigation
- Pretrial Practice & eDiscovery
- Fiduciary Duty, Trade Secret and Unfair Competition Litigation
- Franchise, License and Agency Litigation
- Intellectual Property Litigation
- Toxic Tort & Environmental Defense
- Trial Practice
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Kentucky Bar Association
- Louisville Bar Association
- Memphis Bar Association
- Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Leo Bearman Jr. American Inns of Court Society
- Federal Bar Association
Community Involvement
- St. Agnes School, School Board Chair-elect
- St. Agnes Church, member
- Pi Kappa Alpha, Board of Directors
Thad Barnes is the leader of the Louisville Business Litigation group and chair of the firm's Pretrial Practice & eDiscovery subgroup. He is a veteran trial attorney with approximately 40 bench and jury trials to his credit. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, and health care litigation. Mr. Barnes also has extensive experience in cases involving complex electronic discovery issues and advises clients on privacy and information security issues and implements defensible approaches to the presentation, collection and production of electronically stored information (ESI) for litigation, government requests and investigations. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America® for 2012-13.
Recent Assignments
- Lead counsel in obtaining $40 million settlement for global flavor manufacturer V. Mane Fils (www.mane.com) against a competitor for claims of patent infringement, false advertising, and tortious interference. See:
- NEW YORK TIMES, IFF and Mane Announce Settlement of Mane’s Lawsuit Concerning Monomenthyl Succinate (December 29, 2011)
- V. Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 249 F.R.D. 152 (D.N.J. 2008), reported in NEW JERSEY LAW JOURNAL, Use of Attorneys' Letters To Woo Business Held To Waive Privilege (March 5, 2008)
- V.Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38637 (D.N.J. Apr. 8, 2011)
- V. Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49578 (D.N.J. June 23, 2008)
- V. Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63619 (D.N.J. Aug. 19, 2008)
- V. Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82540 (D.N.J. Oct. 15, 2008)
- V. Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56462 (D.N.J. July 1, 2009)
- V. Mane Fils S.A. v. Int'l Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45645 (D.N.J. May 6, 2010)
- Lead counsel in successful international arbitration trial involving pro audio music speaker manufacturer and foreign distributor for 40 countries
- Successfully defended a second request hospital merger challenge by Federal Trade Commission
- Co-counsel in multi-million dollar environmental remediation and allocation dispute involving international corporations. Westlake Vinyls, Inc. v. Goodrich Corp., 518 F.Supp 2d 902 (W.D. Ky. 2007) and Westlake Vinyls, Inc. v. Goodrich Corp., 518 F.Supp. 2d 918 (W.D. Ky. 2007)
- Developed numerous document retention/ESI policies for large U.S. corporations
- Litigated a trademark infringement action involving two U.S. restaurant corporations
- Successfully defended a complex business case involving a dispute over the sale of power generating equipment. The case involved over 150 witnesses, 2 million paper documents and in excess of three terabytes of electronic data.
- Represented a technology company in a complex business case involving breach of contract claims.
- Successfully defended several hospitals in medical malpractice cases.
- Successfully defended a manufacturer in an anti-trust case. The case involved an assessment of several terabytes of electronic information by a team of Stites lawyers.
Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications
- "Understanding and Managing New Issues in E-Discovery," Southern Law Network, December 2011
- "eDiscovery and Electronic Health Records," KHIMA Annual Meeting, June 2008
- "Should I Keep EVERY Email and Document, Just in Case?," co-author with Ronald J. Stay, TechLINKS, Sept. 17, 2007
- "Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Litigation," AOPA National Convention, Miami, Florida, October 2004
Before Stites & Harbison
Mr. Barnes was Vice President and General Counsel of Triangle Seafood Inc. where he handled the company's litigation, federal compliance work, and general corporate affairs. Prior to that he was associated with Brown, Todd, & Heyburn (now Frost Brown Todd). Mr. Barnes began his career working for the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, and Caldwell in Memphis, Tenn.
Besides Stites & Harbison
Thad and his wife, Laura, stay busy attending the sporting events for their five children.