Scott A. Powell
Having already established a reputation as a trial lawyer with another firm, Scott Powell came to Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton as a full partner in 1986. Since that time, his diverse practice has taken him throughout the states of Alabama, Arkansas, and Missouri as well as Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Georgia, and Louisiana. Among the types of cases he has handled include litigation under the False Claims Act for qui tam plaintiffs, class action litigation involving complex legal issues, commercial litigation, as well as personal injury and wrongful death. He graduated cum laude in 1978 from the Cumberland School of Law.
Most recently Mr. Powell has been appointed co-lead plaintiff counsel in the In re Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litigation multi-district litigation (MDL 2591) by Judge John Lungstrum of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Mr. Powell will be working along side Mr. Don Downing, Mr. William Chaney, and Mr. Patrick Stueve as co-lead counsel. Mr. Powell and his three co-leads are the only lawyers authorized to control, prosecute, and settle the hundreds of lawsuits filed against Syngenta which are part of the federal multi-district litigation.
He has also served as lead counsel in the historic case of Schafer v. Bayer Cropscience. Rice farmers throughout the country suffered devastating market losses as a result of the contamination of the United States’ rice supply by genetically modified organisms produced by Bayer Cropscience. The Schafer trial took place in Lonoke County, Arkansas for eleven rice-farming families. The jury returned a verdict in their favor for more than $48 million dollars. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the punitive damages in that case and the trial court declared the punitive damage cap unconstitutional and the Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed the judgment in its entirety. In addition to the Schafer representation, Mr. Powell served as lead counsel for the firm in representing more than three thousand rice farmers throughout the rice belt and was one of the lead counsel negotiating an eventual settlement with Bayer Cropscience for those clients of $750,000,000.
In 2013, Scott Powell was appointed to the Plaintiff Steering Committee in re: Biomet M2a Magnum Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2391) by U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller who is presiding over the national Multi-District Litigation pending in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. His position on the PSC involves working alongside other lead counsel to develop discovery and trial procedure, review thousands of key documents, and pursue the best possible outcome to benefit plaintiffs nationwide who have suffered injuries related to their defective Biomet M2A Metal-on-Metal hip implants.
Mr. Powell served as co-lead counsel in the oil royalty litigation in eastern Texas. At the time of its resolution, it was the highest recovery on behalf of the United States in the history of the False Claims Act.
Scott is Past President of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association and Past President of the International Society of Barristers. He completed his term as President of the Barristers in March 2007. He served as Commissioner of the Judicial Compensation Commission from 2001-2005; is a member of the United States Magistrate Judge Selection Committee for the Northern District of Alabama; a Trustee of the Eleventh Circuit Historical Society, member of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society and state chair. He currently serves as Chairman of the Cumberland Law School Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Birmingham Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, the American Association for Justice, the American Bar Association and the Alabama Law Institute.
He is a Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers; Fellow, International Society of Barristers; Fellow, American Bar Foundation; Fellow, Alabama Bar Foundation, and is named to The Best Lawyers in America in three different practice areas. He was named Lawyer of the Year by Taxpayers Against Fraud in 2009 and was selected as 2013 Alabama Litigator of the Year by Benchmark Litigation.
