Attorney Mark Davidson Morrow's Legal Cases

Personal injury

Ex parte Dorothy Free. In Re Dorothy Free v. Alan Lasseter & Church, Seay & Minor, P.C.

Jan 07, 2005

OUTCOME: The Alabama Supreme Court reversed the trial court and the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals orders dismissing the case. It became a very important case for suing lawyers under Alabama's legal services liability act.

Client's workman's compensation lawyer settled her workman's compensation case and kept an excessive fee above the statutory limit of 15%. I was hired to sue client's former lawyer and the firm he wor ... ked for. Trial court granted the Defendant lawyers' motion to dismiss her complaint and I appealed to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. The appellate court affirmed the trial court's order dismissing my client's complaint. I filed a writ of certiorari to the Alabama Supreme Court which granted the writ and reviewed the case for errors by the trial court and appellate court.

Ethics and professional responsibility

Mark D. Morrow v. Dan M. Gibson, 827 So2d 756 (Ala. 2002)

Feb 11, 2002

OUTCOME: I won the case and proceeded to collect over $120,000 for my client against the client of the attorney sued.

After suing a lawyer for legal malpractice, the trial judge who I had previously reversed in a case sanctioned me for damages incurred by the lawyer I sued under the Alabama Litigation Accountability A ... ct. The Alabama Supreme Court reversed the trial court saying, " upholding an award of attorney fees pursuant to the ALSLA in this case impermissibly crosses the line between discouraging groundless lawsuits and chilling attorney creativity in making good-faith arguments. The award of attorney fees is therefore due to be reversed."

Criminal defense

Larry Wade Cooley v. State of Alabama, 686 So.2d 546 (Ala.Crim.App. 1996)

Sep 27, 1996

OUTCOME: Won one, lost one. Client served minimal jail time after looking at a minimum mandatory 10 year sentence with no probation or parole.

Mr. Cooley was arrested on two separate cases for distribution of and possession of marijuana. In representing him a theory of "entrapment" was used to show how law enforcement had targeted him by for ... cing a former friend to set him up for sale. On two different occasions the friend/informant begged Mr. Cooley to sell him marijuana and would pay him in marked money. After arguments to the jury, Mr. Cooley was acquitted of the first incident based on the entrapment defense. However, the jury did find Cooley guilty on the second incident because he had shown a pre-disposition to sell as it related to the first time. On appeal, the argument that a YO conviction over 11 years before should not have been entered into evidence, but, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals held that it did not prejudice the jury since they accepted Mr. Cooley's entrapment defense and acquitted him on the first charges.

Criminal defense

Shirley Winters v. State of Alabama, 652 So2d. 258 (1994)

Dec 22, 1994

OUTCOME: My client won the case and did not lose her home.

I represented Shirley Winters who had her home seized by Law Enforcement after her son Joe was arrested for selling drugs from the home. I represented her at a bench trial and lost because a Circuit J ... udge who viewed the State's evidence and applied the law of civil forfeiture incorrectly to the facts of the case. I then appealed Mrs. Winter's case to the Alabama Supreme Court who reversed and remanded with instructions to vacate the order of forfeiture giving Mrs. Winter's her home back. The Supreme Court noted in its opinion that the trial court based its judgment on facts that were not in evidence.

Mark Davidson Morrow's Legal Cases (4)

Ex parte Dorothy Free. In Re Dorothy Free v. Alan Lasseter & Church, Seay & Minor, P.C.

Mark D. Morrow v. Dan M. Gibson, 827 So2d 756 (Ala. 2002)

Larry Wade Cooley v. State of Alabama, 686 So.2d 546 (Ala.Crim.App. 1996)

Shirley Winters v. State of Alabama, 652 So2d. 258 (1994)