Maggie Roney is a shareholder at Lewis Thomason’s Memphis office with a diverse and successful litigation practice spanning West Tennessee. With a focus on defending clients in healthcare liability, transportation, product liability, and personal injury litigation, Maggie has earned a reputation for securing favorable outcomes at every stage, from pre-suit through the appellate process.  She is an accomplished trial attorney with extensive trial experience in complex cases.  Her litigation experience spans both state and federal courts, and she is often engaged proactively to evaluate and manage her clients’ exposure to potential lawsuits.

Maggie’s career trajectory is deeply linked with Lewis Thomason, having started as a summer associate during law school and remaining with the firm ever since. She played a key role in shaping the trajectory of the Memphis office as she served on the firm’s recruitment committee from 2007 to 2022.  In 2021, she was elected to the firm’s Board of Directors and serves as secretary to the Board.  Additionally, Maggie is an essential member of InclusivLT, the firm’s inclusion, diversity, and equity committee, where she leads the diverse attorneys’ subcommittee, focusing on the retention and integration of the firm’s diverse legal talent.

Maggie is the proud mother of Molly and an avid sports fan.  She and Molly can often be found cheering on the Tennessee Vols, Memphis Grizzlies, and Memphis Tigers.

 AFFILIATIONS

• American Bar Association
• American Bar Foundation
• Memphis Bar Association
• Memphis Bar Foundation
• Tennessee Bar Association

 PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND ACTIVITIES

• Appointed to the Executive Committee of the Memphis Bar Association
• Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• Fellow, Memphis Bar Foundation
• Named to Mid-South Super Lawyers Top 50 in Memphis
• Named to The Best Lawyers in America®, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
• Ranked AV, Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell
• Board of Directors, Memphis Bar Association, 2018 – present
• Mid-South Super Lawyers
• Mid-South Super Lawyers Rising Star
• Graduate, American Bar Association TIPS Leadership Academy, 2015
• Graduate, Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law (“TBALL”), 2013
• Appointed to American Bar Association TIPS Section Task Force on Outreach to Corporate Counsel
• Appointed to American Bar Association TIPS Section Products Liability Committee
• Appointed to American Bar Association TIPS Section Self-Insurers and Risk Management Committee; Chair, 2020-2021
• Finalist, Memphis Business Journal “Best of the Bar”, 2016
• CLE Committee, Memphis Bar Association, 2016 – 2017
• Board of Directors, Memphis Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, 2011-2013
• Member of the Leo Bearman, Sr. American Inn of Court, 2010-2013
• Co-Chair, Medium-Sized Firms, Committee, Memphis Area Legal Services (‘MALS”) Campaign for Equal Justice, 2020

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an urgent care physician in a two-week wrongful death healthcare liability trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The plaintiff alleged the defendant physician misdiagnosed the decedent with gastroesophageal reflux disease four days prior to his death from cardiac tamponade as a result of a rare heart infection called purulent bacterial pericarditis. In closing arguments, plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for $4,372,736 in economic damages and $750,000 in non-economic damages. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant physician, finding that she did not deviate from the applicable standard of care.
• Obtained a defense verdict in a healthcare liability case that was tried in Shelby County Circuit Court.  The plaintiff alleged that the defendant surgeon improperly performed a hernia repair surgery on her in May of 2019.  Following a six day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant surgeon, finding that he did not deviate from the standard of care.
• Won a defense verdict in a healthcare liability after several years of litigation which involved the alleged failure to diagnose a college student with a rare neurological condition.   Following a twelve-day trial, the jury returned a defense verdict, finding that our clients fully complied with the standard of care in their care and treatment.
• Prevailed in the Tennessee Court of Appeals in healthcare liability matter in which Appellant initially filed suit against a doctor and the hospital where she had surgery alleging medical malpractice.  The trial court dismissed the matter without prejudice on first day of trial.  The Appellant refiled the lawsuit against the doctor and the doctor’s employer.  In the refiled lawsuit, the trial court dismissed the claims against the doctor on the basis that Appellant failed to substantially comply with TCA § 29-26-121 by failing to provide a medical authorization that would allow the doctor to obtain a complete set of medical records from all other providers receiving notice, and therefore found that she was not entitled to an extension of the saving statute.  In addition, the trial court granted the employer summary judgment on the basis that the first complaint naming it was not filed within the applicable statute of limitations.  After oral argument, the Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.
• Obtained a defense verdict in a healthcare liability matter in which they represented an OB/GYN in a case involving a fetal death at 37 weeks gestation.  Following a seven day trial, the jury returned a defense verdict, finding that our client complied with the standard of care in his treatment of the baby’s mother.

 COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

• Board of Directors, Memphis College Prep Elementary School (Vice-Chair, 2012-present; Governance Committee Chair, 2012-2014)
• Junior League of Memphis (Provisional Advisor, 2013-2014; 5K for Kids Secretary, Promotions Chair, 2014-2015; Committee, Memphis Women’s Summit, 2015)
• Member, Sponsorship Committee, Children’s Museum of Memphis, “Cirque du CMOM” 2016 -2017
• American Cancer Society Junior Executive Board (Social Fundraising Co-Chair, 2012-2013)

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