Overton is chair of the firm’s Litigation Department. He focuses his practice on complex business litigation, including cases involving securities and shareholder class action defense, derivative actions, officer and director liability, intellectual property, breach of contract, business fraud, corporate and partnership dissolutions, lender liability, and trust and estates litigation.
Securities and Corporate: Overton has handled class actions, derivative actions, and merger and acquisition litigation for a number of public companies in cases pending in Tennessee, New York and Delaware. He was lead counsel for Genesco Inc. in its successful and much-publicized case involving the breach of a $1.5 billion merger agreement. The case, involving actions pending in both the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, was reported in both The Wall Street Journal and The American Lawyer magazine. Overton was also lead counsel for an institutional minority-shareholder in the successful defense of a shareholder derivative/breach of fiduciary case tried in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, Newcastle County. Overton has also handled cases involving alleged breaches of the securities laws, including particularly Section 10-b/10-b-5 cases.
Commercial and Banking: Overton has handled numerous cases over his career involving various commercial disputes. He has represented the plaintiff and defendant in a number of business fraud, breach of contract, and insurance disputes, representing companies in a wide array of industries. He has represented healthcare companies, senior-living providers, financial institutions and other businesses in cases pending in Tennessee and around the country. He has also represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a number of cases involving trusts and estates litigation.
Other Representative Matters include:
- Counsel for board of directors in successful defense of shareholder derivative action alleging defendants breached their fiduciary duty by manipulating the financial results and engaging in insider trading;
- Representation of mutual fund and fund investment advisor in class-action suit brought on behalf of former fund shareholders alleging various causes of action under federal securities laws and state common law;
- Representation of national accounting firm in securities class-action suit brought on behalf of shareholders of publicly-traded company alleging causes of action under federal securities laws;
- Representation of large national bank in consumer class action alleging violations of the Truth-In-Lending Act;
- Successful representation of start-up hi-tech manufacturing business in case alleging theft of trade secrets and breach of covenants not to compete;
- Successful representation of national bank in multiple lender liability claims asserted by purchasers of limited partnership interests in failed real estate ventures.
Overton is married with three children and enjoys tennis, fishing and hunting.
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