Attorney Bios

TOM DONNELL has spent his entire legal career with Stewart, Estes & Donnell, PLC and is presently serving as managing member of the firm.  During his more than 30 years in the practice of law, Tom has handled and tried a variety of lawsuits in both state and federal courts. 

Tom's practice includes the defense of clients in products liability litigation on a local and national basis, including lawsuits involving pharmaceutical products, medical devices, mechanical equipment, and food products. 

In addition, Tom's practice includes business and commercial litigation, general insurance defense, and the defense of electrical cooperatives.  He represents electrical cooperatives throughout Tennessee in the defense of electrical contact and fire loss claims.

Tom, as lead counsel for the defense, has obtained favorable results for the firm's clients in numerous cases, including the successful defense of electrical cooperatives in catastrophic brain damage and paraplegic cases; the successful defense of a food manufacturer in a products liability case wherein the plaintiff claimed millions of dollars in damages for personal injury and economic losses after his entertainment career was allegedly ruined as a result of consuming a defective food product; and the successful defense of the manufacturer of a piece of highway construction equipment in a products liability case wherein the equipment rolled over resulting in the death of the operator.  Tom also successfully represented 14 Tennessee counties in the case of Lane, et al. v. State of Tennessee, et al., an Americans With Disabilities Act case (ADA), wherein plaintiffs' motion to obtain class action status for approximately 250,000 people in a lawsuit against the state and counties alleging that the courthouses did not comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act was denied by the United States District Court Judge.

Tom is very active in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and has been involved in the successful resolution of numerous cases for clients through mediation and arbitration.  Additionally, he has been called upon by his peers and clients of his peers to act as a mediator or arbitrator to help resolve pending claims and lawsuits.

Tom is a member of the Nashville Bar Association and has been selected as a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation.  He is also a member of the Tennessee and American Bar Associations as well as the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association.  He has been an active Member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) since 1981 and served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the IADC from 1993 1996.  Tom is presently a Member of the IADC committees on Products Liability, Drug Device and Biotechnology and Business Litigation and has served as Chairman of the IADC Business Litigation Committee and the Municipal Liability and Civil Rights Committee.  He is an active Member of the Defense Research Institute and has been elected to the International Who's Who of Product Liability Defense Lawyers, based in London, England.  Tom has been selected by his peers to be included in the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America and the 2007 edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers. 

Tom has participated in numerous programs regarding civil litigation and served as a Faculty Member at the IADC Defense Lawyers Trial Academy.  Most recently, he co-authored the Tennessee Chapter for the Defense Research Institute publication titled, Products Liability Defenses: A State-by-State Compendium.