Owens & Millsaps, LLP

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Personal Injury Lawyers

Practice Areas:

Animal Attacks Asbestosis / Silicosis Aviation Civil Rights Defective Products Discrimination Eminent Domain Employment Law Environmental / Toxic Tort Insurance Bad Faith Wrongful Death of a Child/Adult Serious Injury to an Adult

Motor Vehicle Accidents Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Pharmaceutical Malpractice Premises Liability Professional Malpractice Railroad Accidents Recreational Injuries Serious Injury to a Child Sexual Abuse Stock / Securities Fraud Whistle Blower Business Torts Fraud

Owens & Millsaps is an experienced general practice law firm comprised of five attorneys with over 70 years of combined experience and a highly skilled staff. We have represented individuals and businesses in the North, West, and Central Alabama region.

Our years of experience before judges and juries have given us a foundation in the courtroom excellence that puts us at the forefront of the legal community. We use state-of-the-art technology to keep up with relevant changes of law and to present your case in the courtroom. Our unwavering advocacy on behalf of our clients and our courtroom experience frequently enables us to help our clients reach a successful resolution with the opposing lawyer through negotiation and settlement. We will always look out for the best interest of the client whether it be proceeding through a trial, reaching a settlement through mediation or direct negotiation or even occasionally, for certain types of cases, agreeing to binding arbitration instead of a trial.

We are committed to listening to our clients, discussing their business or personal needs, and then counseling and advising in a straightforward manner. We are available to travel to meet with clients and our clients appreciate that we keep them informed of the progress of the work we do on their behalf. We have purposely decided to keep our firm small so that we can provide the type of personal attention to our clients that is frequently unavailable from larger law firms.

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to try many civil jury cases representing the plaintiff and many representing the defendant. This is somewhat unique and gives us the advantage of understanding the problems and opportunities of both sides.

Our Attorneys

John A. Owens
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Senior Partner

Experience & Professional

Has tried some 200 civil jury trial cases to a verdict in State and Federal Courts in Alabama plus many more non-jury trials.  Has handled literally thousands of civil cases of all types.  Admitted to the Alabama State Bar in April, 1967. Practiced law continuously since that date in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with the firm of Phelps and Owens and its successor firms until March 31, 1994. Founded Owens & Carver, Attorneys at Law, April 1, 1994 with Susie Taylor Carver (became Owens, Carver & Almond January 1, 1997 then Owens & Almond, LLP January 1, 1998 then Owens & Millsaps in 2003). Served as a member of the Board of Bar Commissioners of the Alabama State Bar representing Tuscaloosa County in Place No. 2 from 1987 to 1994. Served as Vice President of the Alabama State Bar 1991-92; President-Elect 1994-95, President of the Alabama State Bar July, 1995- July, 1996. Served on several committees of the State Bar including service as Chairman of the Committee on Bail and Recognizance; Chairman of the Committee on the Future of the Profession and Chairman of the Task Force to review the Pro Hac Vice rules. President- Farrah Order of Jurisprudence/Order of the Coif Alumni Association 1994-1995. President- Farrah Law Society of the University of Alabama School of Law, 2000-2002.  President of The Alabama Law Foundation July, 2005-July, 2007.

Member of the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association, American Bar Association, International Association of Defense Counsel, American Trial Lawyers Association, Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, Tuscaloosa County Trial Lawyers Association, Alabama Defense Lawyer Association and the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the American Inns of Court in the category of Master of the Bench. Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Fellow Alabama Bar Foundation.

Education

Educated through high school in the public schools of Gordo, Alabama and was graduated from Gordo High School, Valedictorian, Class of 1957. Matriculated at the University of Alabama in August, 1957. Was graduated from the University of Alabama in May, 1961 with a bachelor of science degree in Commerce and Business Administration and a major in Accounting. Returned to the University of Alabama School of Law in September, 1964 and was graduated from its law school in January, 1967 standing first in the class.

Member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and served two terms as Treasurer. Was a member of the business staff of The Crimson White and served as assistant advertising manager, advertising manager and business manager. Member of Omicron Delta Kappa; Beta Alpha Psi; Alpha Kappa Psi and Druids; listed in Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, 1960-61 Edition.

Law School: Awarded the Lawyer's Title Award for Excellence in the field of Real Property; approximately seven book awards; served on Law Review; Farrah Order of Jurisprudence. (Predecessor to Order of the Coif at Alabama). Finished first in Law School Class of 1967.

Served with the United States Navy Reserve through the Reserve Officer Candidate Program while in college. This included two summer terms of OCS in Newport, Rhode Island in 1959 and 1960. Commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy Reserve, Supply Corps, upon college graduation in May, 1961. Served three years on active duty consisting of six months in Navy Supply Corps school in Athens, Georgia; one and one-half years aboard the USS POWER (DD-839) out of Mayport, Florida; one year at the United States Navy Reserve for eleven years and attained the rank of Lieutenant.

Apsilah Owens Millsaps "Appie"
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Partner

Experience & Professional

Member of the Zonta Club of Tuscaloosa, Vice President, 2 years; Board Member, President-Elect and President of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of West Alabama approximately seven years; initial community representative of Tuscaloosa's Challenge 21 project; Chairman of Tuscaloosa's Challenge 21 Quality of Life Task Force; Member of the Black Warrior Council of Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors; Member of Junior League of Huntsville, Alabama 1992-2001; Member First United Methodist Church, active on various boards and committees.

Appie has successfully practiced law in Alabama for over thirteen years.  Appie began practicing law in 1992 in Huntsville, Alabama with Lanier, Ford, Shaver & Payne.  She joined Owens & Carver in 1996 and became a partner in 1998.  In addition to devoting her energies to the practice of law, Appie has been an active member of her church, her community and the Alabama Bar Association

Education

Educated through high school at Tuscaloosa Academy. Graduated summa cum laude, Class of 1984. Graduated Dartmouth College, Class of 1988 with a degree in government. Graduated University of Alabama School of Law in 1992 with a Juris Doctor.

Member Dartmouth Riding Team and Club, lettered four years, president one year. Member Dartmouth Outing Club, student representative of Board of Directors one year. Member Delta Gamma Fraternity, house manager one year. Language Study Abroad in France.

Law School- Editor Alabama Law Review, 2 years, Chief's Award, Alabama Law Review, 1 year; Hugo L. Black Scholar; Judge Henry Mize Scholarship recipient; Member Bench & Bar Honor Society; Member Farrah Law Society. Best Paper Awards in Professional Responsibility and Decedent's Estates.

Anna Northington Hutcheson
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Partner

Anna Northington Hutcheson graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with Honors in Psychology from Vanderbilt University. She received her Juris Doctorate degree, cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law. Mrs. Hutcheson served as a Research Editor on the Law and Psychology Review. She was a member of the Bench and Bar Honor Society, Farrah Law Society, and served as President of Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity. She received the best papers in Estate Planning and Conflicts of Law.

Anna Hutcheson served as a law clerk for the Honorable W. Harold Albritton, III, U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama, and the Honorable Truman M. Hobbs, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama. After working as an associate with Balch & Bingham, LLP in Montgomery, Alabama, Anna joined Owens & Almond, LLP, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1998. Anna was named a partner in the firm in January 2000. She is admitted to practice in Alabama state and federal courts, including the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mrs. Hutcheson's honors research was published in Ashmead, D.H., Davis, D.L., & Northington, A., Contribution of Listeners' Approaching Motion to Auditory Distance Perception, JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: HUMAN PERCEPTION AND PERFORMANCE (1995). She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority and served as President of the Tri-Cities Girls Cotillion. She was also a member of the Junior League.

Susie Taylor Carver
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Susie Taylor Carver is a 1986 graduate of The University of Alabama School of Law. She was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1986, and is authorized to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Middle Districts of Alabama, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth and the Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the America Trial Lawyers Association, the Alabama State Bar Association and the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association. Mrs. Carver received a B.A. in English from the University of Alabama (1971).

W. Ivey Gilmore
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Associate

Ivey Gilmore was born in Eufaula, Alabama, on April 8, 1969. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1999, the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Middle Districts of Alabama in 1999. Prior to becoming an attorney, he spent several years in the insurance industry working with a major property and casualty insurance company. Following graduation from Law School, he practiced with the firm of Burgess & Hale, LLC in Birmingham for three years before returning to Tuscaloosa. He has assisted with the trial of several complex civil cases and obtained summary judgments on other cases. He is a member of the Alabama Bar Association, Birmingham Bar Association, Tuscaloosa County Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He practices general litigation, with an emphasis on insurance coverage issues and defense.

Owens & Millsaps, LLP, is a highly experienced and well-respected general practice law firm known throughout Alabama. Alabama requires that we state that no representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal service performed by other lawyers.