Experience

Since January 1987 Floyd Hale has concentrated his practice to serving as a mediator, arbitrator, and trainer of mediators. He has mediated approximately 2,000 cases. He has mediated a wide variety of cases, including employment, contract, environmental, commercial, personal-injury, wrongful-death, product-liability, divorce, securities, construction, stockholder, partnership, and other cases. He has mediated cases in New York, Washington, D.C., Illinois, Arkansas, Okalahoma, Ohio, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and throughout Georgia. He has mediated cases pending in state courts, U.S. district courts, and U.S. courts of appeals. He is skilled and experienced in mediating cases involving strong emotions and large numbers of participants. Floyd also has broad experience as an arbitrator in a variety of cases, including one involving $28 million. Before limiting his practice to serving as a neutral, he spent more than 20 years as a litigation attorney (16 years), an inside corporate attorney, and an adjunct professor of law.

Representative Cases Mediated

One of the settlements he mediated involved 86 named plaintiffs in an environmental case; another involved six corporate defendants, their insurers, and numerous cross claims in a personal injury case; and several others had multimillion-dollar present values. He has mediated scores of cases in which a Fortune 500 company was a party. Most of the hundreds of employment cases he has mediated have involved allegations of discrimination in employment based on race, sex, age, disability, national origin, religion, or retaliation. Many of those cases have involved allegations of sexual harassment or other sensitive or emotional issues and have been pending in a federal court. Others have involved alleged violations of wage-and-hour laws or alleged breaches of employment contracts, including claims by present or former executives, professionals, or highly compensated sales employees. He has mediated numerous cases for the EEOC and more than 175 employment disputes between the U. S. Postal Service and its employees in Miami, Tampa, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, and more than 15 other cities. In addition to employment cases, Floyd has mediated a wide variety of business disputes, including disputes between two telephone companies, between a major forest products company and its supplier, between partners, and between stockholders and their corporations or other stockholders. He has mediated major environmental cases, including Superfund cases and other cases involving large classes or groups of plaintiffs.

Representative Cases Arbitrated

He has arbitrated scores of securities cases and contract disputes between a hospital and an HMO and between a large textile manufacturer and its machinery supplier, as well as personal-injury, product-liability, and insurance cases. Many of his arbitration cases have involved alleged discrimination in employment or alleged breaches of an employment contract by a present or former executive, professional, or highly compensated sales employee. One of those cases involved serving as a court-appointed special master and arbitrator (approved by all counsel), holding numerous hearings, and deciding numerous back pay claims in an employment-discrimination class action pending in the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Calloway, et al. v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., et al., Civil Action 77-34-ATH (WDO).

Mediation & Arbitration Training

Floyd has served as a trainer of mediators for the American Arbitration Association and for the Resolution Resources Corporation since 1991. During that time he has helped train hundreds of mediators in scores of courses offered by those organizations in California, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. He has also received extensive training in mediation and in arbitration in scores of courses offered by 12 different organizations since 1986.

Education

University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1964)
Emory University (A.B. in Economics, 1961)

Awards & Honors

Certificate of Achievement from Rotary International District 6910 for Outstanding Vocational Service as a Mediator, 1993; National Honors Scholarship to the University of Chicago Law School (full tuition for three years); Lockheed National Leadership Fund Award (full tuition plus $500 per year for four years at Emory University)