Christopher Ray Fontan

Practice Details

• Firm Information
  Position

  Member

  Firm Name

  Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC
• Representative Cases & Transactions
  Cases

  Representative Matters: Represented Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. in a civil rights racial discrimination case involving a minority subcontractor. District Court granted Motion to Dismiss the individual plaintiffs, based on their lack of st
  ing in the litigation, as their claims against TEMA were purely derivative of the company's claims. The District Court also denied the motion for reconsideration. The Plaintiffs appealed both decisions. In its opinion, the Fifth Circuit held that the individual Plaintiffs' notice of appeal was untimely, based on the improper filing of the motion for reconsideration by their counsel. Additionally, the Fifth Circuit held that the Plaintiffs' waived their objections to this argument, as they failed to raise them in rebuttal to Toyota's response to their motion for reconsideration. Accordingly, the only issue over which the Fifth Circuit had jurisdiction to review was the denial of the motion for reconsideration, which the Fifth Circuit held was proper. Opinion
  In a convoluted discrimination complaint, obtained summary judgment on the non-confessed claims of gender
  age discrimination. United States District Court Judge Lee found, in part, that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence to support a finding that Tyson's legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for its challenged employment decision was a pretext for age or gender discrimination. Prideaux v. Tyson Foods, Inc.
  Obtained summary judgment along with Scott Singley from U.S. District Court for Southern District of Mississippi on behalf of Georgia Gulf Chemicals & Vinyls, LLC. Employee sued Georgia Gulf wrongful termination asserting he had been fired after he reported that another employee had assaulted him. The District Court held that since there was no evidence that the employer authorized or ratified the assault or that it occurred in the scope of employment then the termination was not wrongful as no exception to Mississippi's employment-at-will doctrine had been demonstrated. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the United States District Court of Southern Mississippi's dismissal. Hall v. Georgia Gulf Chemicals & Vinyls, LLC , 2010 WL 5333690 (S.D. Miss. Dec. 21, 2010), aff'd 2011 WL 2078597 (5th Cir. May 25, 2011)
  Obtained summary judgment along with Trey Jones on behalf of a major lending institution in a lawsuit in which two plaintiffs sought compensatory
  punitive damages based on the bank's alleged breach of a loan agreement
  other wrongful acts in connection with a residential construction project. Following discovery, Jones
  Fontan were successful in obtaining dismissal of all claims in favor of the bank. Rushing v. Trustmark National Bank, 2011 WL 287447 (Miss. Ct. App. 2011)
  Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. in employment retaliation case. In the case, the plaintiff alleged that the company had terminated his employment in retaliation for reporting alleged violations of the Family
  Medical Leave Act. The two day jury trial was in United States District Court before Judge Tom Lee. Prideaux v. Tyson Foods, Inc. , 387 Fed. Appx. 474 (5th Cir. 2010)
  Omnova Solutions, Inc. v. Lipa, 44 So.3d 935 (Miss. 2010)
  Price v. Omnova Solutions, Inc., 17 So.2d 104 (Miss.Ct.App. 2009)
  Rentrop v. Trustmark National Bank , 2008 WL 3992649 (S.D. Miss. Aug. 22, 2008)
  Daniels v. Peco Foods of Mississippi, Inc., 980 So.2d 360 (Miss.Ct.App. 2008)
  DeJean v. DeJean , 982 So.2d 443 (Miss. Ct. App. 2007)