Val Leppert

is an associate in King & Spalding’s Atlanta office. Mr. Leppert focuses his practice on appeals and complex legal issues. He has worked on a variety of legal questions, including the scope of federal preemption, the application of punitive damages, the amount and source of attorney’s fees in class actions, the operation of the nonparty fault defense, the scope of appellate mandates, Daubert challenges to expert testimony, the jury-selection process, the work-product doctrine, and the crime-fraud exception.

Examples of Mr. Leppert’s appellate work include:

Co-authored petition for stay in Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Scott, 131 S. Ct. 1 (2010) (Scalia, J., in chambers) (granting stay of state court judgment in product-liability class action)

Authored brief for appellee in Toole v. Georgia-Pacific, LLC, 2011 WL 7938847 (Ga. App. Jan 19, 2011) (affirming defense verdict in mesothelioma trial)

Authored petition for certiorari and merits brief for petitioner in Georgia Pacific, LLC v. Fields, 293 Ga. 499, 748 S.E. 2d 407 (2013) (reversing trial court and intermediate appellate court after concluding that summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff on the defendants’ nonparty-fault defense was inappropriate)

Co-authored merits brief in Smith v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 410 S.W. 3d 623 (Mo. 2013) (Missouri Supreme Court accepting request for transfer and affirming trial court’s judgment after the intermediate appellate court had reversed in favor of the plaintiff)

Besides his appellate practice, Mr. Leppert also assists trial teams with legal issues that arise during trial. In this capacity, Mr. Leppert has prepared and argued motions and jury instructions. He also ensures preservation of legal error for appeal.

Examples of Mr. Leppert’s trial-support work include:

Morse v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 08-CA-6849 (Fla. 18th Jud. Cir. 2014) (granting defendant’s motion for mistrial based on improper comments by plaintiff’s expert witness)

Whitney v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. et al., No. 11-CA-286 (Fla. 8th Jud. Cir. 2013) (trial court directing verdict for R.J. Reynolds with respect to all claims arising from the use of Brown & Williamson products; jury retuned complete defense verdict on remaining claims)

In re: Tobacco Litigation (Individual Personal Injury Cases), No. 00-CA-5000 (Kanawha County, West Va., 2013) (jury returning virtually complete defense verdict in common-issues phase of mass-action trial)

Mr. Leppert served as law clerk to the Honorable Frank M. Hull, United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Leppert graduated, magna cum laude, from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University where he received the George W. Woodruff Award of Excellence as the top-ranked student in his class. While in law school, Mr. Leppert also served as Articles Editor of the Mercer Law Review and as Research Assistant to Professor Harold S. Lewis, Jr.

Mr. Leppert received a B.A. in International Business, Finance, and Marketing from Westminster College in Missouri. While in college, Mr. Leppert was named the 2004 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference South Most Valuable Player on Offense after quarterbacking the Blue Jays to consecutive football conference championships.

Mr. Leppert is a native of Frankfurt, Germany, and is fluent in German.