Allan has championed the cases of hundreds of people, non-profit organizations, and businesses, small and large since he came to Asheville and started practice in 1980. He has obtained significant verdicts, judgments, and arbitration awards in trials, hearings, and appeals in personal injury, workers’ compensation, wrongful death, contract, and product liability cases; he has successfully prosecuted claims arising under the North Carolina and the United States Constitutions; and he has proven time and again to be an effective negotiator before trial and, in many cases, before suit is even filed.
Allan’s decades of experience analyzing insurance coverages, evidentiary issues, questions of procedure, statutes, regulations, and case law have often permitted his clients to realize favorable results in cases where there appeared to be no acceptable outcome. And his demonstrated competence as an effective and straightforward advocate has earned the respect of clients, juries, witnesses, adversaries, colleagues, and judges.
Before joining Van Winkle in 1982, Allan practiced law with legendary trial lawyer, politician, and raconteur Herbert Hyde. Allan was a staff writer and city editor for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Daily News in Washington, NC before earning his law degree.
Practice Highlights
• Negotiated $700,000+ recovery for workers’ compensation claimant against two insurance carriers, each of which had denied coverage for the claim.
• Negotiated significant settlement on behalf of low-income tenant injured when she stepped through the floor of her rented mobile home.
• Recovered largest verdict then in Swain County history on behalf of owners of a furnished cabin destroyed by fire. Later sustained on appeal.
• Obtained summary judgment in constitutional claim against Department of Transportation. Sustained on appeal.
• Obtained jury verdict totaling nearly 100 times the medical expenses in personal injury suit on behalf of a young motorist. Sustained on appeal.
• Obtained $5 million judgment in federal satellite TV piracy case.
Awards and Honors
• AV Peer-Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• Best Lawyers in America
• North Carolina Super Lawyers
• Certified Information Privacy Professional / United States (CIPP/US)
Community Involvement
• Asheville Buncombe Historic Resources Commission
• Biltmore Forest Country Club
• Carolina Day School, Former Trustee
• The Mediation Center, Former Board President
• Pen & Plate Club
• Pisgah Legal Services, Former Board President
• Rhododendron Royal Brigade of Guards
• United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County, Chair, Legal Division Campaign
• YMCA of Western North Carolina
• Western North Carolina Historical Association Board President
Professional Affiliations
• 28th Judicial District Bar
• Harry C. Martin American Inns of Court
• North Carolina Bar Association
• North Carolina State Bar
