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Mr. Speights is
a partner in Speights & Runyan. He has represented
Plaintiffs in complex civil litigation for over thirty
years. Since 1982, he has represented public and private
building owners in asbestos property damage ("PD") cases
in more than thirty states and has tried and settled more
asbestos PD cases than any other lawyer in the country.
His accomplishments include service as lead trial counsel
in the first asbestos PD case in the nation, Lexington
County School District Five v. United States Gypsum Co.,
C/A No. 82_2072_0 (D.S.C., filed August 17, 1982) (tried
1984 and settled shortly before going to the jury for
almost twice the actual damage claim); the first asbestos
PD verdict in the nation, City of Greenville v. W. R.
Grace & Co., 640 F.Supp. 559 (D.S.C. 1986), aff’d 827 F.2d
975 (4th Cir. 1987) ($8.4 million verdict for actual and
punitive damages, reduced to $6.8 million); and the first
asbestos PD verdict on behalf of a commercial building
owner, New Hampshire_Vermont Health Service Corporation,
d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire v. U.S.
Mineral Products Company, 10 F.3d 805 (1st Cir.
1993)(judgment with interest of $4,883,752.21). Mr.
Speights also successfully argued the landmark federal
case establishing the most favorable statute of
limitations standard for building owners in asbestos PD
cases, Montana_Dakota Utilities Co. v. W.R. Grace & Co.,
14 F.3d 1274 (8th Cir. 1994), as well as the
inapplicability of statutes of repose, Hebron Public
School District of Morton County v. United States Gypsum
Co., 475 N.W.2d 120 (N.D. 1991) and the immateriality of
the architect’s knowledge, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
South Carolina v. W.R. Grace & Company, 781 F.Supp. 420 (D.S.C.
1991). He also has obtained substantial sanctions awards
against the asbestos defendants, including one in excess
of a million dollars. |
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For over twenty years, Mr. Speights also has represented
building owners in every major asbestos bankruptcy
involving significant PD claims. Mr. Speights served as
lead trial counsel on behalf of all of the asbestos PD
claimants in America in the Johns_Manville bankruptcy,
which resulted in a PD fund of almost $400 million. Mr.
Speights later served as Chair of the PD Committee in the
Celotex bankruptcy and as a member of the joint asbestos
committee in the National Gypsum bankruptcy; the United
States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
subsequently recognized that Mr. Speights "played a
significant role in the successful negotiation of a
consensual plan, and that a large portion of the credit
for achievement of the plan was attributable to Speights
because of his credibility and the experience in asbestos
related bankruptcy that he brought to the process," In Re:
Celotex Corp., 227 F.3d 1336 (11th Cir. 2000).
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Mr. Speights graduated from Clemson University in 1967,
where he served as Student Body President. From 1967 to
1970, he served as an officer in the United States Navy.
He graduated from the University of South Carolina Law
School in 1973, where he was a member of the Law Review.
Prior to commencing his private practice, he clerked for
the Honorable William L. Rhodes, Jr., South Carolina
Circuit Court Judge (later Supreme Court Justice).
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