Hon. J. Clay Fuller (Ret.) comes to JAMS following his distinguished service as a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Before taking the bench in 2012, Judge Fuller successfully handled products liability, class actions, personal injury and commercial matters. As a neutral, he will seek to guide disputing parties toward consensus through effective alternatives to traditional courtroom proceedings. 

While on the bench, Judge Fuller presided over nearly 250 mediations for cases pending in the Northern District of Georgia, including matters involving employment, personal injury, products liability, class actions, premises liability, commercial, insurance, intellectual property, mortgage, ERISA and constitutional torts. While serving as a mediator in his judicial capacity, he developed a keen understanding of strategies to bring matters to resolution. During his years with the court, he also issued hundreds of reports and recommendations on dispositive motions. Overall, he presided over more than 500 employment matters and over 1,100 consumer financial services litigation matters.

Before becoming a lawyer, Judge Fuller was a songwriter and lead guitarist with a major-label band, Allgood, from Athens, Georgia, which performed about 200 shows per year around the country, sharing the stage with Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews Band, the Allman Brothers Band, Phish and Widespread Panic. His thorough understanding of the legal system, combined with his creativity, will allow him to help parties find harmony and resolve complex disputes.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

• Presided over nearly 250 mediations for cases pending in the Northern District of Georgia; roughly half of these mediations involved Atlanta Division cases

Representative Matters

• Business Commercial
• As a judge, mediated numerous business disputes involving a variety of claims
• As a lawyer, served as lead trial and appellate counsel in Advanced BodyCare Solutions. v. Thione Int’l, Inc., 615 F.3d 1352 (11th Cir. 2010) (commercial case tried in Southern District of Florida resulting in $2.5 million verdict upheld on appeal)
• Class Action & Mass Tort
• As a lawyer, served as class counsel in multiple statewide and national consumer class action settlements in insurance, financial services, and employment matters
• Sou. Pioneer Life Ins. Co. v. Thomas, 2011 Ark. 490 (Nov. 17, 2011) (unearned premium insurance class action)
• Anthony Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 287 Ga. 488 (2010) (class action claim allowed to proceed)
• Anthony v. Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 583 F.3d 1302 (11th Cir. 2009) (certifying question of class action)
• JMIC v. Toole, 280 Ga. App. 372 (2006) (worked on case through summary judgment and class certification using third-party data to determine date of loan payoff in unearned premium litigation)
• McBride v. Life Ins. Co. of Virginia, 190 Fed. Supp. 2d 1366 (M.D. Ga. 2002) (policyholder payment data defined class membership and type of relief in universal life settlement)
• Employment Law
As a judge, he presided over more than 500 employment cases and scores of employment mediations including Title VII, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, FLSA including collective actions, ADA, 42 U.S.C. §1981, ADEA, and §504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and ERISA; employment cases included:
• McLaurin v. Georgia Dep’t Natural Resources, 739 F.Supp. 3d 1254 (N.D. Ga. 2024) (R&R adopted in case of first impression regarding COVID era return to work mandate)
• Magwood v. RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc., 2024 WL 1254932 (11th Cir., March 25, 2024) (discrimination and retaliation case that involved alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA))
• Alsobrook v. Fanin Co., 698 Fed. Appx. 1010 (11th Cir. 2017) (affirming grant of summary judgment in ADEA case)
• Soulinthong v. TrustPoint Inter., LLC, 695 Fed Appx. 474 (11th Cir., 2017) (discrimination and retaliation based on race, national origin, and gender)
• Hill v. Clayton Co. School Dist., 619 Fed Appx 916 (11th Cir., 2015) (case involving disability and race discrimination claims, including failure to accommodate)
• Entertainment & Sports
• As a judge, presided over mediations involving royalties from songs in disputes between performers and management
• Federal Law
• As a judge, presided over more than 1,000 consumer financial services litigation matters involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
• As a judge, presided over cases and mediations involving constitutional torts and other civil rights matters
• Insurance
• As a judge, successfully mediated a contentious, complex, multimillion-dollar interpleader action involving counsel from around the country that settled after several in-person sessions
• As a lawyer, in addition to the class actions addressed above, worked on complicated insurance cases involving issues related to bad faith, including disputes over property claims involving a fire loss at a historic warehouse office complex
• Intellectual Property
• As a judge, presided over numerous intellectual property mediations, including copyright infringement and patent cases
• Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. Marriott Int’l, Inc., 2021 WL 12121916 (N.D.Ga. Jun. 25, 2021) (ruling on substantial motions to compel in a trademark action)
• Personal Injury
• As a lawyer, successfully handled cases involving a wide range of personal injury claims
• As a judge, presided over dozens of personal injury mediations, including wrongful death, auto and trucking accidents, products liability and premises liability matters

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Memberships and Affiliations

• Member, Federal Magistrate Judges Association, 2012–2024
• Member, American Bar Association, 2001–2012
• Member, American Trial Lawyers Association, 2001–2012
• Member, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, 2001–2012
  • Board Member, Civil Justice PAC, 2007–2012

Selected Publications

• Co-Author, Trial Practice & Procedure, Mercer Law Review, 2003–2005

Background and Education

• Magistrate Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, 2012–2024
• Partner, Daughtery Crawford Fuller & Brown, 2006–2012
• Associate; Butler, Wooten, Fryhofer, Daughtery & Crawford; 2001–2006
• Law Clerk, Hon. Richard W. Story, United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, 1999–2001
• J.D., magna cum laude, University of Georgia School of Law, 1999
  • Order of Coif
  • Articles Editor, Georgia Law Review (1998-1999)
• B.A., cum laude, University of Georgia, 1988
  • Junior Division Honors Certificate