Morgan & Morgan was the plaintiffs firm with the most employment cases in the region, according to the report. Photo: YouTube

Morgan & Morgan, The Buenker Law Firm, Barrett & Farahany, and Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart are among the busiest firms when it comes to employment litigation in Georgia, Florida and Texas, according to a new report issued Tuesday.

Morgan & Morgan was the most active plaintiffs firm in the region, with nearly 700 cases in Georgia, Florida and Mississippi from 2016 to 2018, according to the “Employment Litigation in the Southwest Report,” by Lex Machina, a legal analytics company.

In Texas, The Buenker Law Firm had the most cases at 179.

Barrett & Farahany was busiest in Georgia with 291 cases.

Florida is home to the top five plaintiff firms: Morgan & Morgan; Remer & Georges-Pierre; Marie A. Mattox; Wenzel Fenton Cabassa; and Richard Celler Legal.

On the defense side, Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart was most active, appearing in 1,000 cases, and outpacing other firms in Texas, Florida and Georgia.

Other top defense firms included Littler Mendelson, Jackson Lewis, Fisher & Phillips and FordHarrison.

“Defendants’ law firms generally saw discrimination and retaliation claims most often,” the report said.

Busy Courts

The Lex Machina report contains a large amount of data about the volume of federal employment litigation in Southeastern states, the outcome of cases, the damages that courts awarded, the top plaintiffs and defense law firms in the practice areas, and the companies that were sued most frequently.

It could offer federal employment litigators answers to strategy questions like what damages to seek, the chances of winning a trial, or the prudence of settling a case.

“At the end of the day, I think legal analytics answers more strategy questions,” said Rachel Bailey, a legal data expert at Lex Machina.

The report analyzed federal employment litigation in federal district courts in Texas, Georgia, Florida and other states within the districts of the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits. The types of cases included in the analysis were discrimination, harassment or retaliation claims under civil rights laws, wage and hour claims and retaliation claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Since 2009, there have been 68,000 cases filed in the region, which represents one third of the more than 218,000 employment cases across the nation. Each year for the past 10 years, there were more than 6,000 cases filed in the region.

Among 19,677 cases between 2016 and 2018, 75% likely settled, 10% represented defense wins, 3% represented plaintiff’s wins and 12% ended in for procedural reasons.

Florida, Texas awarded highest attorney fees

The Southern District of Florida was the busiest between 2016 and 2018, and 75% of its cases included Fair Labor Standards Act claims. The next busiest courts were in the Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Texas and Northern District of Georgia.

Typically, about 200 to 300 cases awarded damages each year. District courts in Florida and Texas generally awarded the most damages in collective action settlements from 2016 to 2018.

“Courts in Florida and Texas awarded the most attorneys’ fees and costs, both awarding about $6 million each,” the report said.

Employers Win

The companies that fielded employment lawsuits most often were Walmart Stores Inc. and Walmart Stores East; the U.S. Postal Service; Sandbox Transportation, a logistics company; and United Parcel Service Inc., said the report.

“Case resolutions and findings overwhelmingly favor employers with a large number of decisions made at the summary judgment state,” according to the report.

The most common reasons that judges granted summary judgment were that they found no retaliation, no race or color discrimination, no hostile work environment or harassment, or granted the defendants a legitimate reason defense.

“Despite the fact that people may be suing for these types of things, at the end of the day for defendants’ firms, the employers are winning,” Bailey said. “This is unique in this practice area, these massive amounts of employer wins.”