Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin

Bovis Kyle Burch & Medlin's co-managing partner, Kim Jackson, will be speaking at the Ethical Dilemmas in Litigation seminar held by the State Bar and chaired by David Lefkowitz on March 27.? ? Kim has been part of the panel of this program on several occasions. Other panelists will include speakers from the Supreme Court of Georgia,? Court of Appeals of Georgia, Superior Court of Fulton County, State Court of DeKalb County, State Court of Henry County and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, as well as a handful of private practice ethical experts.? ? This is a great program for Georgia lawyers to get their ethics, professionalism, and trial practice hours (3/3/6, respectively).

The insurance coverage department went to Bury the Hatchet Friday evening and completed in multiple axe throwing games. Fun was mandatory and therefore had by all. Randy and his son, Will, left before we decided to take a picture.

Bovis Kyle Burch & Medlin’s Atlanta office had a lunch celebration on Monday! The staff gathered in the breakroom to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and eat together.?

Bovis Kyle Burch & Medlin’s partners,?Kim Jackson and Eric Ludwig took some time to enjoy the SEC basketball tournament together.?Kim and Eric are Kentucky boys through and through!?

Our lawyers care about our community!?Congratulations to the Honorees from Bovis Kyle Burch and Medlin and thank you for all you do for DeKalb Pro Bono! Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin’s lawyers care about its community. Dekalb Pro Bono provides free legal services to its residents, and BKBM showed its support as an Advocate Sponsor of Dekalb Pro Bono’s “Leading the Charge Awards Luncheon” on March 12, 2025. Their work makes Dekalb County safer for families facing Family Law issues and for survivors and victims of domestic abuse. Congratulations to the Honorees and thanks for all you do for DeKalb Pro Bono! Bovis, Kyle, Burch & Medlin supporters included (from left to right): Daniel Kilfoyle, Charles Medlin, Marilyn Kapaun, Erin Stone, and Eric Ludwig.

DRI is hosting its Insurance Roundtable Conference March 11-12, followed by the Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute Conference March 12-14 in Chicago. Our co-managing partner, Kim Jackson, will be attending the Insurance Roundtable. Greensboro Managing Partner Camilla DeBoard and senior counsels Garret Anderson & Chris Stastny will be attending the Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute. If you want to network with our Georgia and North Carolina coverage teams, look for them there.?

Bovis Kyle attorneys Kim Jackson and Garrett Anderson have just successfully defeated a motion for sanctions filed against their client. Kim and Garrett were retained to defend an insurance defense attorney that was facing a motion for sanctions filed by the plaintiff. The motion alleged that the attorney did not have the requisite attorney-client relationship with her client, an insured driver whom she had been unable to contact. Following service by publication, she filed a special appearance answer for her client. The plaintiff’s counsel sought to strike that answer. Kim and Garrett successfully argued that the attorney-client relationship was created by a written contract, the insurance policy, which was providing the insured a defense, and that the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct permits a lawyer to “take such action on behalf of the client as is implicitly authorized to carry out the representation.” This was a significant win involving a question faced by many insurance defense counsel: what to do when you are unable to contact a client.

Partner Wayne Tartline obtained a defense verdict and judgment in a trucking negligence case in Hart County, Georgia. This case arose from a serious collision that occurred between Plaintiff driving a Lincoln MKX and our client, the driver of a loaded Mack truck tractor trailer rig, in 2015. Plaintiff was 81 years old at the time of the accident and claimed significant injuries including first and second rib fractures, multiple cervical spine fractures at C6 and C7, thoracic spine fracture at T1, contusions to chest wall and neck, left wrist sprain, multiple large areas of bruising of her body, abrasions to her left arm and leg a left leg skin tear. The defense, through the use of expert testimony, showed that the illuminated tractor trailer rig was visible in the dark to the Plaintiff driver on the roadway for not less than 1,000 feet prior to the collision. Therefore, Plaintiff could have slowed, steered, or stopped her vehicle within 225 feet and could have avoided the tractor trailer rig and the resultant collision. After several days of trial in November, 2024, a verdict in favor of the Defendant driver and his employer trucking company was issued. A final judgment in favor of Defendants issued on January 14, 2025. Congratulations to Wayne on this excellent result.

Attorneys Wayne Tartline and Chang Zhou?obtain summary judgment for underinsured motorist carrier in serious collision case. Read more:

Camilla DeBoard of our Greensboro office, on behalf of her client, was victorious before the North Carolina Supreme Court when she convinced the Court to reinstate her trial court victory on a motion to dismiss. Camilla won dismissal of the first party insurance coverage action at the trial based on the plaintiff’s failure to prosecute the case.?The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal, but that ruling was reversed, and the trial court’s dismissal reinstated, by the Supreme Court of North Carolina.?