NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Some familiar names in Nashville’s legal arena announce the establishment of a new law firm, Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, PLLC (SJ&G).
The formation of the new firm is part of a restructuring that consolidates the law practices of longtime Nashville partners James G. (Jim) Stranch III, J. Gerard Stranch IV, Jan Jennings, Marty Schubert and Mike Stewart with the practices of Hon. John (Jack) Garvey in St. Louis, Missouri, and Nathan (Nate) Ring in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Along with Jennings, the Stranches hail from a law legacy of more than seven decades that began when Jim Stranch’s father-in-law, Cecil Branstetter, founded Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, PLLC (BS&J) in Nashville. Across the years, BS&J advocated for society’s under-represented voices, consumer rights, labor unions and victims of discrimination, a tradition that will continue at SJ&G.
“We’re excited to announce the formation of Stranch, Jennings & Garvey as we restructure our previous firm,” says Gerard Stranch, managing partner. “Although our name has changed, the DNA of Cecil Branstetter will literally and figuratively continue to flourish in the work we do for our clients.”
A third-generation trial lawyer, Gerard Stranch leads SJ&G’s class action, complex litigation and mass tort practice groups. His experience includes serving as lead or co-lead counsel for the firm in numerous cases, including:
- lead trial attorney in the Sullivan Baby Doe case (originally filed as Staubus v. Purdue) against U.S. opioid producers Endo Health Solutions Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., resulting in a $35 million settlement agreement, the largest per capita settlement achieved by any prosecution with Endo to date;
- personally appointed to the steering committee of the In re: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, resulting in approximately $17 billion in settlements, the largest consumer auto settlement and one of the largest settlements in any matter ever;
- the executive committee In Dahl v. Bain Capital Partners (anti-trust), resulting in a $590.5 million settlement;
- personally appointed to the steering committee In re: New England Compounding Pharmacy, Inc., resulting in more than $230 million in settlements; and
- appointed as co-lead counsel In re: Alpha Corp. Securities litigation, resulting in a $161 million recovery for the class.
James G. (Jim) Stranch III started the firm’s class action practice and has served as lead counsel in groundbreaking cases, such as Sherwood v. Microsoft, which set the standard for indirect antitrust actions in Tennessee and ultimately resolved for a value of $64 million. In addition to having founded the firm’s class action practice, he also focuses on Labor and Employment Law, and brings more than four decades of experience in representing labor organizations and individual workers throughout Tennessee and the South.
Jim and his wife, Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, were early pioneers of 401(k) ERISA litigation. They jointly litigated numerous groundbreaking cases, such as Qwest Savings and Investment Plan ERISA litigation ($57.5 million total payout to class members) and In re: Nortel Networks Corp. ERISA litigation ($21.5 million settlement).
Jennings joined BS&J in 1977 and initially represented labor organizations devoted to protecting the rights of employees. Over the past two decades, he has concentrated on offering services to health and pension funds that provide benefits to construction workers. He has also provided personal representation to political and labor leaders throughout the South.
Garvey’s 35-year career has included the private practice of law, along with serving as prosecuting attorney for the city of St. Louis, member of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, and 18 years as a judge in the St. Louis Circuit Court. He leads SJ&G’s St. Louis location, where he primarily focuses on mass torts, personal injury and mediation.
Schubert focuses his practice on the firm’s class action litigation and represents consumers who were charged improper overdraft fees by their financial institutions. He has settled numerous overdraft fee disputes against banks and credit unions nationwide, and has obtained multi-million class action settlements against credit unions for improper assessment of overdraft fees.
Stewart specializes in class actions and complex litigation, representing citizens who have suffered injuries or lost money because of the actions of powerful interests. He has litigated cases that have recovered millions of dollars for defrauded investors, persons injured by defective products and consumers cheated by improper sales practices. In addition, he was a member of the Tennessee General Assembly from 2008 to 2022, where he served as a member and former chair of the Tennessee House Democratic Caucus.
Ring leads SJ&G’s Las Vegas office, where he focuses on the representation of labor unions and workers across Nevada, Oregon and Washington. He represents clients in federal and state trial and appellate courts, before administrative agencies, in arbitrations and mediations, and in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements.
SJ&G’s primary areas of practice include class action, mass tort, ERISA trust funds, labor unions, bank fees, data breaches, wage and hour disputes, worker adjustment and retraining notification, product liability, personal injury and trucking accidents.
“We have a long record of success in representing plaintiffs in a variety of class actions, mass tort proceedings and additional complex litigation across the nation,” Stranch says, “including some of the most complicated litigation the courts have seen against some of the largest multinational companies in the world.
“The law practice established by my grandfather more than 70 years ago still thrives within our firm,” Stranch adds. “We look forward to continuing to uphold that heritage by providing access to justice for each of our clients across the United States.”
For additional information about SJ&G, visit www.stranchlaw.com.