R. Wayne Thorpe, Esq. has handled more than 500 cases as binding arbitrator, plus at least 30 cases as case evaluator or non-binding arbitrator, including banking, bankruptcy, civil rights, class and collective actions, consumer, corporate and LLC governance and dissolution, construction, employment (including contracts, discrimination, and FLSA), entertainment, environmental, franchise, health care, insurance, M&A, IP, international, real estate, securities, software and computer technology, tort, and professional and employment cases involving lawyers, accountants, physicians, and other professionals. Mr. Thorpe frequently serves as chair of a tri-partite panel and as a party-appointed arbitrator, and he actively manages arbitration cases to get them resolved in a cost effective manner. He has been a member of the faculty for the ABA National Arbitration Training Institute several times (and chaired it in 2010), and he has been recognized as a Fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators.
Mr. Thorpe has been a full-time ADR neutral since 1998. He has served as mediator, arbitrator, facilitator, special master, and case evaluator in roughly 2000 cases in at least 15 states, including many high stakes and complex cases, class actions, MDL’s, and other large scale multi-party cases, and more than 500 arbitrations as sole arbitrator, panel chair, or party-appointed arbitrator.
Mr. Thorpe was named by the Best Lawyers in America publication as the 2015 Atlanta Arbitration Lawyer of the Year and the 2012 Atlanta Mediation Lawyer of the Year, and he has been recognized by International Who’s Who of Commercial Mediation, Best Lawyers in America and Georgia Super Lawyers for a number of years.
He is Past Chair of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section, and he has been a leader in ADR ethics and other policy matters both nationally and in Georgia for many years. He has also served as an adjunct professor and guest presenter in ADR courses in several law schools. Before he became a full-time neutral, Mr. Thorpe was a litigation partner in a large Atlanta law firm.
Representative Arbitrations
Business and Commercial (including health care, financial, professional liability, technology, and general business)
- Dispute between two groups of physicians arising from sale of medical practice to hospital
- Claim for damages based on letter of intent for sale of urgent care business
- Several arbitrations of employment disputes between hospitals and physicians
- Claims against nursing homes for injuries and deaths of patients
- Arbitration of dispute among defendant physician groups after settlement of False Claims Act case with government
- Arbitration in Texas of claims by radiology clinic against HMO/PPO for alleged late payment including claims for penalties under Prompt Pay statute
- Disputes concerning general liability insurance coverage including dispute about coverage for murder of Florida hospital patient by nurse
- Arbitration of claim by discharged health sciences grad student against a private college
- Arbitration of malpractice case brought by bankruptcy trustee against Big Four accounting firm related to alleged misstatement of contingent liabilities
- Claim by withdrawing partner against AmLaw 100 firm alleging race and gender discrimination and improper accounting for partner income
- Disputes between community bank and 75 or more borrowers concerning alleged fraud, negligence and other claims arising from loans on mountain lots in North Carolina
- Borrower claim against bank for $5M+ alleging bank wrongfully sold stock held as collateral
- Numerous arbitrations of customer claims for investment losses, brought by individuals, retirement plans, fiduciaries, and non-profits against many different national brokerage firms, regional brokerage firms, banks, and investment advisers
- Putative consumer class actions and other multi-claimant cases against financial institutions
- Case between bank and customer over responsibility for forged checks
- Consumer cases including Truth in Lending; alleged fraud in home mortgage refinance; alleged fraud by HVAC company on elderly couple
- Dispute between software developer and transportation company/purchaser concerning mapping application
- Case evaluation for dispute in multi-year, multi-million dollar technology contract between agency of a southeastern state and international technology services provider
- Dispute between software vendor and telephone collections company concerning sale and installation of “dialer system"
- Non-compete and tortious interference claims among competitors in jet engine maintenance business
- Patent validity and infringement case
- Dispute concerning third party purchase of life insurance policy
- Several cases involving mergers and acquisitions and various contract, financial, and post-closing accounting issues
- Arbitrations concerning governance and dissolution issues in LLC’s
- Claims arising from contract between manufacturer and retailer concerning exclusivity of relationship
- Commercial disputes in multi-level distribution businesses, including one related to competition in India
- Dispute between general and sub-contractors on military aircraft weapons system built for a foreign government
- Commercial and residential construction cases including multi-party cases
- Multi-party dispute among owner, general, sub about roof installation on commercial building
- Class action claims for alleged racial discrimination in providing government loans and benefits: adjudicated 100+ individual claims after class certification and settlement
- Allocation of settlement proceeds after mediating resolution of environmental claims against a county arising from landfill runoff and contamination
- Contribution and indemnity dispute between joint tortfeasors after settlement with tort plaintiff
- Party-appointed arbitrator in a variety of commercial cases, including timber sale, sale of printing services, sale of corporate assets, insurance coverage, patent royalties
Employment
- Chair of tripartite panel in dispute between large law firm and former partner involving accounting and race/gender discrimination issues
- Arbitration of alleged $100M damage claim by terminated CEO against Brazilian public company and US and Canadian subs
- Arbitration of claims by private equity managers for wrongful termination with counterclaims for breach of confidentiality and restrictive covenants
- Disputes among physicians in practice break-ups
- Arbitrations between hospitals and physicians over terminations and issues related to loans, bonuses, relocation payments, etc.
- Age discrimination case against major airline
- Age/gender discrimination case against national mortgage brokerage firm
- Whistleblower claim against defense contractor and several additional whistleblower, discrimination and/or retaliation cases
- FLSA collective actions and individual cases
- Several employment disputes concerning stock options, bonus payments, etc. in connection with employer’s sale of business
- Arbitration of claims by salesmen against car dealer for underpayment on various commissions and incentives
- Claim by terminated oil industry executive for severance pay under contract
