Thomas M. Kennaday
Tom Kennaday has practiced law in South Carolina since in 1999. In the early part of his career, he focused in the areas of business litigation and consumer financial class actions. Since 2004, Tom’s work has focused on product liability defense involving autos, pharmaceuticals and asbestos, although he still maintains a business litigation and outside general counsel practice with clients that he retained early in his career.
Tom currently represents housing developers, insurance companies, and asbestos defendants as a litigator, advisor and negotiator. He brings his business school training and acumen for the law to bear on complex business disputes and the always-developing law of product liability. In a typical day, Tom might negotiate a surety takeover agreement, depose an asbestos plaintiff or expert, or prepare to defend allegations of breach of contract, unfair trade practices, or misappropriation of trade secrets in court or before an arbitrator. Always learning, in 2008, Tom enhanced his skills of negotiation and persuasion by training to become a certified circuit court mediator.
Although not a native South Carolinian, Tom has been a resident since 1991 and holds two graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina. Appreciative of what the state has done for him, Tom has given back by serving as a subcommittee chair on the Governor’s Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance in 2003, and he currently serves on the board of advisors of the University of South Carolina’s Business Partnership Foundation. Tom has also become a member of South Carolina’s golf community, having twice finished in the top five of the South Carolina State Amateur Championship.
Representative Matters
Tom currently represents several pump manufacturers and other defendants in asbestos related personal injury litigation brought in state and federal court. Tom has taken over 30 depositions of plaintiffs, coworkers and experts for these clients in the last two years. Tom has argued dispositive and evidentiary motions, negotiated settlements, and participated in trial for these clients.
Tom is defending insurance companies in commercial contract, fraud, and trade secret litigation arising out of reinsurance and alternative market reinsurance arrangements.
Tom has defended automobile manufactures in product liability claims alleging defects in handling and stability, restraints, airbags, door latches and heat shielding. As part of this practice, Tom has deposed numerous fact and expert witnesses, prepared company witnesses for 30(b)(6) depositions about automotive engineering and claims handling, argued discovery motions, evidentiary motions, and dispositive motions, and served as second chair at a trial in which plaintiffs’ counsel demanded $12,000,000 from the jury
Tom has defended consumer financial services companies from individual and class action claims of state and federal statutory violations.
Tom represented a housing developer in its wrongful termination claim against the Housing Authority of the City of Columbia. Tom represented his client in this week long arbitration that resulted in a $1.6 million award for his client. The case also generated precedent in the South Carolina Court of Appeals upholding the enforceability of arbitration clauses. Tom continues to advise this housing developer on numerous matters, including development services contracts, performance and payment bond claims, and contractor claims. He negotiates on behalf of the developer with housing authorities, bonding companies, and contractors. He also continues to prosecute and defend litigation between the developer and housing authorities and between the developer and contractors.