Pamela Warnock Blair

Pam Warnock Blair* is an equity member of McNabb, Bragorgos & Burgess PLLC.  She has a diverse state and federal court litigation practice including commercial litigation, tort claims, probate court disputes, and family law matters. She also maintains an insurance defense practice representing insured parties in premises liability, medical malpractice, construction negligence, wrongful death, and other issues. She has also represented plaintiffs and defendants in employment litigation and defendants in multi-district litigation. Pam has presented to lawyers, insurance adjusters, and law students on topics such as appellate advocacy, effective management of insurance defense files, premises liability, alternative dispute resolution techniques in family law, and the concept of lawyers as peacemakers. Pam serves on the fee dispute committee of the Memphis Bar Association. Pam is an adjunct professor at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law teaching the fundamentals of legal writing and reasoning as well as oral argument to first year students. She has been an active member of the Los Locos Triathlon team since 1997 and regularly participates in triathlon and multisport events in the southeast.

Education:
University of Memphis School of Law, Memphis, TN, 1983  J.D.                                           
University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, 1980  B.A.

Areas of Practice:                                                                                
Civil Litigation
Insurance Defense
Pharmacy Defense
Commercial Litigation
Personal Injury Law
Family Law 
Appellate Practice                                                                     
 
Admissions:
Tennessee, 1983
U.S. District Court Western District of Tennessee, 1985
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1986
U.S. District Court Middle of Tennessee, 1986
U.S. District Court Eastern of Tennessee, 2008
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Arkansas, 2010

Alternative Dispute Resolution:
Pam Blair is listed by the Supreme Court as both a family law and civil mediator.

Pam customizes family mediation services to the budget and goals of her clients.  In every case, her goal is to minimize drama and save expense for the divorcing couple.  The most common mediations occur when the Husband and Wife each have counsel and a mediator leads them toward an agreed settlement.  Mediation keeps the divorcing couple in control of the outcome.  When children are involved, mediated divorce agreements can be the start of the compromise necessary for future co-parenting between parties who otherwise might not get along.

Pam Blair will assist divorcing couples in an even simpler and less expensive path to divorce.  As a mediator, Pam Blair will meet with just the divorcing couple and assist them toward settlement, not as a lawyer for either party, rather as a mediator.  As a neutral leader, she will insure the parties equally understand the procedure of the path to the divorce.  The goal of the process is to reach a workable mediation agreement which the parties can take to the counsel of their choice for the final steps.  Because of the good work done with Pam Blair, there is much less work for counsel to do. 

Ideally, this results in less cost and turmoil to the couple.  If you wish to simplify your divorce or other family dispute, click here to determine if you are a good candidate for this process.

Representative Cases:
In a pharmacy error case litigated as a medical malpractice case by Pam Blair, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court summary judgment for Defendant pharmacy in Beal ex rel Putnam v. Walgreen Co., 408 Fed. 2010 WL 4669905 (C.A.6 (Tenn.)).   Pam Blair successfully negated essential elements of the Plaintiffs’ claim by excluding expert testimony and excluding Plaintiffs’ claim for punitive damages in the trial court.

Pam Blair successfully defended Plaintiffs appeal in a construction case, Watkins v. Tankersly Construction, W2004-00869.   The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s grant of a summary judgment arising from her assertion of a relevant statute of repose.  Argument centered on statutory interpretation.

On appeal, Nick Bragorgos and Pam Blair attained a large remittitur of a jury trial verdict in a minor pedestrian death case in Dunn v. Davis, W2006-00251.   The McNabb lawyers demonstrated limitations in the proof to the Court of Appeals that did not substantiate the original verdict.

In a construction case, Pam Blair defended a subdivision developer in a negligence claim.   The trial court interpreted the Tennessee statute of repose concerning improvement to real property and barred the Plaintiffs claim; Plaintiff appealed; the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court summary judgment.  Griffin v. Munford Development, W2007-00812 (perm. 2008),

Pam Blair defended a developer in a tragic pedestrian death case.  Plaintiffs asserted the absence of a sidewalk was the proximate cause of the death of two minors.   The trial court dismissed the claim as untimely filed after hearing argument over the determination of the date of the completion of the improvement to real estate.  Plaintiffs appealed unsuccessfully.  Jenkins v. Southland Capital, W-2007-01180 (perm. app. denied 2008)

In a procedurally complicated case, Pam Blair stepped in mid-litigation to defend the appeal of a Knoxville pharmacy error case in Massi v. Walgreen Co., 337 Fed. Appx. 542, 2009 WL 2230722 (C.A.6 Tenn.))  after a conflict developed.  The case hit the Sixth Circuit under two different docket numbers; the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal both times.

Family Law:
In an contentious probate court trial between family members, Pam Blair’s client, an administrator of an estate, recaptured greater than one million dollars to the estate when the Court found that a family member had exerted undue influence on the deceased family member.

Pam Blair has participated in divorce settlements using alternative approaches including collaborative law and mediation without mediators.   She believes in early settlement of as many issues in dispute as possible to keep costs and contention down.  This approach narrows the issues if a trial is necessary.

In a recent divorce trial, Pam Warnock Blair sought enforcement of a signed mediation agreement after the opposing spouse repudiated the agreement on grounds of duress.  In the same trial, the Court ordered the parenting schedule preferred by her client as opposed to the parenting schedule preferred by the opposing spouse.