John C. Stivarius, Jr. - Partner
stivarius@elarbeethompson.com
(404) 582-8423

Practice Areas
Complex Litigation(Professional Liability, Error & Omissions, Directors and Officers, Specialty Claims)
Commercial Litigation
Product Liability
Environmental Litigation
Business Litigation
Employment Law
Class Actions
Consumer Protection Defense (FCRA, FACTA, TCPA)

Education
J.D., Emory University, 1980
B.S., University of Georgia, summa cum laude, 1977 (Analytical Chemistry, History)
B.S., University of North Carolina, 1975 (Chemistry)

Admitted to Practice
United States Courts of Appeal: Eleventh, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, and Fourth Circuits
United States District Courts of Georgia: Northern, Middle, and Southern
United States District Courts of Tennessee: Western, Eastern, and Middle
All Georgia and Tennessee State and Appellate Courts

Profile
John concentrates on complex litigation, focusing primarily on professional liability, errors and omissions, products liability, employment discrimination, wage and hour, environmental litigation, torts, malicious prosecution defense,fiduciary liability (corporate and directors’ and officers’ liability), business litigation (e.g., restrictive covenants, contracts), as well as class action and collective cases. He has participated as lead counsel in over fifty-four (54) jury trials during his 28 plus year career. He also has extensive experience in arbitrations, mediations, grievance hearings, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Areas of Practice
Complex Litigation
John has extensive experience in the complex litigation area, focusing most of his resources in this area, whether it is in the professional liability, commercial, or employment area. John has handled numerous class and collective matters, large multi-million dollar professional and miscellaneous liability cases, as well as errors & omissions matters. John has jury trial experience in wrongful death, product liability, engineer liability, construction cases, malicious prosecution, contractual matters, fraud, professional liability, and many other types of cases.In addition to these, John works on commercial disputes, both in the construction area as well as more traditional commercial disputes, handles contractual claims, and defends companies in products liability, toxic tort, malicious prosecution, and consumer defense cases, such as those under the FCRA, FACTA, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. John has worked closely with many Specialty Lines insurers for many years, and as a former Claims Counsel for Chubb, is well aware of the insurer's role and how to meet the needs of various insurers.

Employment Discrimination Litigation
John focuses on defending class or collective actions relating to race, gender, and age discrimination. John also handles all types of discrimination matters, as well as wage and hour matters exclusively for management. John also has tried numerous jury trials in the employment discrimination area.

Professional Associations
State Bar of Georgia
State Bar of Tennessee
American Bar Association
American Employment Law Council
Defense Research Institute
Georgia Defense Lawyers Association
Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA)
Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)

Awards & Honors
Georgia Trend's "Legal Elite" 2009