Mr. Paine is admitted to practice in the state and appellate courts of Georgia, and in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia and the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. He has represented Plaintiffs and Defendants in class action cases involving numerous business and commercial issues. His experience in the representation of Plaintiffs in class actions includes serving as co-counsel in Bateman v. State Farm, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Civil Action File Number CV183-254, a class action brought on behalf of Georgia insureds against State Farm for no-fault auto insurance fraud; Windmill v. Sullivan, Superior Court of Columbia County, Georgia, Civil Action File Number CV92-20, a class action brought on behalf of a residential property owners association and numerous individual property owners against a subdivision developer for breach of contract; Merkle v. Richmond County Board of Commissioners, Superior Court of Richmond County, Georgia, Civil Action File Number 93RCCV527, a class action brought on behalf of Augusta city residents against the County for the County’s failure to properly allocate 911 telephone charges paid by city residents; Tiller v. Cerulean Companies, Inc. and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Inc., Superior Court of Richmond County, Georgia, Civil Action File Number 98RCCV806, a class action brought against Blue Cross for its conversion of stockholder rights involving the wrongful diversion of equity interests worth over $150 million from more than 70,000 subscribers following the 1996 Blue Cross conversion to a for-profit entity; and Youngblood v. City of Grovetown, Superior Court of Columbia County, Georgia, Civil Action File Number 2016CV0413, a class action brought on behalf of customers of the City of Grovetown’s water, wastewater, and stormwater utility who were improperly over-billed for utility services by the City of Grovetown between September 1, 2011 and September 1, 2016, resulting in the City of Grovetown establishing a $1.5 million Settlement Fund.
Each of these cases was certified and subsequently settled without a single class member filing an objection to the certification of the class, the terms of the settlement, the distribution of funds, or the adequacy of the class or class counsel. In addition, Mr. Paine is experienced with municipal operations, having served on the City Council of Augusta, and he has extensive experience in the ownership, management and representation of commercial business and real estate interests that utilize municipal water service.