Contact

Jackson Office

One Jackson Place
188 E. Capitol Street
Suite 400
Jackson, MS 39201

P: 601.592.9916

F: 601.592.1416

Download vCard

Secretary:

P: 601.592.9929

Services

Attorney Information

Education

Mississippi College School of Law, J.D., 1997, magna cum laude, Best Oral Advocate 1997
Millsaps College, B.A., 1990

Clerkships

Honorable Rhesa H. Barksdale, United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit

Admissions

United States District Court, Northern District of Mississippi
United States District Court, Southern District of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court
Mississippi State Bar

Jeffrey R. Blackwood

Partner

Experience

Wilbourn v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc. of the U.S., 998 So.2d 430, 2008 WL 5174051, No. 2005-CT02244-SCT (Miss. December 11, 2008)

Wilbourn v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc. of United States, 998 So.2d 430, 2007 WL 2248046, No. 2005-CA-02244-COA (Miss. App. August 7, 2007)

Rice v. Equitable Variable Life Ins. Co., Not reported in F.Supp.2d, 2006 WL 2129787, No. 4:06CV54-D-B (N.D.Miss. July 31, 2006)

Gilky v. Equitable Life Ins. Co., Not reported in F.Supp.2d, 2006 WL 1228826, No. 5:05cv-175-R (W.D. Ky. May 05, 2006)

Blaylock v. Mutual of New York Life Ins. Co., 228 F. Supp. 2d 778 (S.D. Miss. 2002)

Denying motions to remand for 42 plaintiffs participating in ten nongovernmental plans and holding that the plans did not fall within the payroll deduction safe harbor exclusion from ERISA preemption.

Brown v. Mutual of New York Life Ins. Co., 213 Supp.2d 667, 2002 WL 1781232, No. CIV.A. 4:01CV177LN (S.D.Miss. May 06, 2002)

Peters v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 164 F.Supp.2d 830 (S.D. Miss. 2001)

Representation of a managing general agent in an alleged fraudulent insurance sales action (vanishing premium).

Erisa

The Firm has defended numerous class and mass actions involving a variety of ERISA claims, including claims pleaded as ERISA claims and claims pleaded as state law claims but successfully removed under ERISA. In one pre-CAFA mass action, Mike Pennington, Jeff Blackwood and Steve Thomas successfully and simultaneously removed 100 individual fraud actions simultaneously filed in various state courts in Mississippi by a notorious plaintiffs’ firm, ultimately resulting in a global settlement of those and several hundred other individual cases for a nominal per case amount. In another, Mike Pennington and Chris Christie defended an ERISA plan fiduciary against breach of fiduciary duty charges in an ESOP transaction, ultimately achieving a settlement in which the Firm’s client obtained a release without being required to contribute any out-of-pocket funds to the settlement. Chris devotes a large part of his practice to defending ERISA litigation.