Gray T. Culbreath

Gray Culbreath, managing partner of Collins & Lacy, possesses extensive federal and state trial experience successfully defending noted corporate clients in class action, products liability, toxic tort, and complex and catastrophic injury suits.  He also conducts an active appellate practice for his regional and national clients.  Gray’s reputation in the courtroom and professional standing among his peers have led him to be considered one of South Carolina’s preeminent attorneys, according to Martindale-Hubbell. He also is one of the Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession.

Practice Focus/Trial Experience

• Products Liability, defense of designers, manufacturers, and sellers of consumer appliances, construction products, recreation equipment, firearms, heavy industrial equipment, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and fire claims arising from product defects as well as successor liability claims 
• Class Action Litigation, both statewide and nationwide, involving product defect and warranty, debt collection practices, consumer financing, toxic tort and environmental contamination, and retirement benefits  
• Transportation Litigation, involving tractor trailers, logging trucks, tanker trucks, buses, and railroads involving allegations of death, brain injury, and paraplegia 
• Business/Commercial Litigation, including fraud and misrepresentation, piercing the corporate veil, breach of contract, and interference with contract 
• Professional Negligence Claims involving legal, architectural, engineering, and accompanying malpractice and negligence claims

Professional, Civic, and Community Involvement

• Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (2004-Present) 
  • Chair - Products Liability Section 
  • Chair - Judiciary Committee 
  • Vice Chair - Class Action & Multi-District Litigation Section (2005–Present); Chair - 2007
• International Association of Defense Counsel (2005-Present)
  • Products Liability Journal Editor 
  • Defense Counsel Journal - Board of Editors (2008- Present)
• Lawyers for Civil Justice
• Litigation Counsel of America 
• South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association 
  •  President-Elect (2010)
  •  Treasurer (2009)
  • Secretary (2008)
  • Editor - The Defense Line (2005-2007)
  • Executive Committee (2000-2007)
• Defense Research Institute
• University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association
  • Gold Compleat Lawyer Award (2009) 
• John Belton O'Neall Inn of Court
• American Board of Trial Advocates (2001-Present) 
• 2009 Leadership in the Law Award (South Carolina Lawyers Weekly)
• Best Lawyers © 2009, 2010 and 2011
• Super Lawyers 2008, 2009
• South Carolina State Museum Commission (Chairman 2002 - Present)
• Wofford College Terrier Club Board of Directors 
• Eastminster Presbyterian Church – Elder
• International Society of Primerus Law Firms
  • Former Chair - Defense Litigation Group

Papers, Presentations, and Publications 

•  South Carolina Civil Justice Reform - An Overview of Where We Have Been, Where We  Are, and Where We Are Going, ACC Inaugural CLE Program, March 19, 2010, Columbia, SC 
• Traps and Pitfalls Facing In-House Counsel, FDCC 2009 Corporate Counsel Symposium Moderator, September 2009, Dallas, TX
• Defending the Truck Driver Deposition, FDCC Annual Meeting, July 2009
• Ethical Issues Encountered in Multi-Claimant Litigation, Presentation with Walter W. Dukes, FDCC, July 2009, Philadelphia, PA
• Expert Witnesses, Primerus Convocation, April 2009, Tuscon, AZ
• Hellhole Jurisdictions, Primerus Transportation Conference, January, 2009, Dallas, TX
• Finders & Keepers:  How to Attract and Retain Top Level Associates, FDCC Annual Meeting, July 2008, Banff, Canada
• Class Actions: No Injury Classes, Wage & Hour Classes, and Other Hot Issues, FDCC Annual Meeting, July 2008, Banff, Canada
•  What is the New Business Court, and Why Would You Want Your Case in the Business Court?, South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association and Claims Management Association of South Carolina Joint Meeting, July, 2008, Asheville, NC
• Joint Defense Agreements, South Carolina Lawyer, May 2008, at 36 
• Successor Liability, 2007 International Association of Defense Counsel Annual Meeting  
• Successor Liability:  What You Need to Know, 2007 Primerus Client Convocation
• South Carolina Tort Reform, 2006 Federal Judicial CLE, District of South Carolina
• Electronic Discovery Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 2006 South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association Annual Meeting
• Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, 2006 FDCC Mid-Year and Annual Meeting
• Medical Malpractice Tort Reform, 2005 South Carolina Tort Law Update, South Carolina Bar
• South Carolina Tort Reform, 2005 South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association Annual Meeting
• The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005:  Jurisdictional and Removal Provisions, Vol. 57, No. 2, Federal of Defense and Corporate Counsel Quarterly, Page 135
• Admissibility of Evidence and Expert Evidence in South Carolina, 2003 National Business Institute
• Ethical Issues Surrounding Current Employees, 2001 Wofford College Continuing Legal Education Program
• Deposing the Juvenile Plaintiff, 1997 DRI Products Liability Seminar
• What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You, Product Liability Newsletter of the International Association of Defense Counsel

Speaking Engagements

• Gray Culbreath to Speak at 2010 IADC Regional Meeting, April 16, 2010, Charleston, SC
• Gray Culbreath to Speak at 2010 Association of Corporate Council Inaugural CLE Program, March 19, 2010, "South Carolina Civil Justice Reform and Tort Reform - Where we have been, Where we are, Where we are headed?"