Mao, Nancy

Tom Willingham graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 1987 and began his law career as a defense attorney, primarily representing automobile manufacturers.  After seeing first hand numerous cases where people were horrifically injured or killed in automobile accidents, Tom felt compelled to change the focus of his legal practice.  Since 1992, he has exclusively represented injury victims, primarily those who have been catastrophically  injured or killed in automobile accidents as a result of a defectively design automobile. 

Throughout his legal career, Tom has handled automotive product liability cases that have involved the following defects: lack of vehicle stability, defective steering system components, defective seatbelt restraints, defective airbags, defective fuel tanks, defective roof structure components, defective brakes, defective door latch components, failure to install electronic stability control, and cases involving a manufacturer’s failure to install rear seat lap shoulder belts.  In short, Tom has been involved in automotive product liability litigation involving virtually every identifiable vehicle defect and against virtually all automotive manufacturers, both domestic and foreign.

Tom’s early years of representing automotive manufacturers has given him a unique insight into screening, evaluating, and prosecuting these extremely complex product liability cases.  This background has enabled him to obtain verdicts and settlements in favor of his clients in excess of One Hundred Million Dollars during the course of his career.  He has litigated cases against General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Suzuki, Daihatsu, Hyundai,  Mitsubishi and Kia.  He has represented catastrophically injured clients or family members of deceased victims in State and Federal Courts in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Tom is an active member of the American Association for Justice and serves on its Product Liability Section.  He is also a Board Member of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group, which is a nationwide group of Plaintiff lawyers who actively prosecute automotive defect cases.  This group collectively pulls information and testing to assist their members in handling these extraordinarily complex and expensive cases. 

Tom is admitted to practice in all State and Federal Courts in Alabama and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He is also admitted to practice in the State of Georgia.  He is an AV Rated lawyer by Martindale Hubbell, which is the pre-eminent highest rating that a lawyer can achieve.