OUR HISTORY

Receives Juris Doctorate from LSU Law School

Lewis Unglesby admitted to the Louisiana State Bar.  During his career, he has successfully argued before the Louisiana Supreme Court over 20 times.

Unglesby Law Firm founded in 1977.

Sets precedent advocating for abused women by becoming the first lawyer in Louisiana state history to successfully use the “battered wife syndrome” defense for a woman who shot her violent husband while protecting herself.

Wisner v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad resulted in the first multimillion-dollar toxic tort award.  Terry Wisner was a state trooper who was exposed while evacuating individuals from a train derailment that contained multiple toxic chemicals.  He later developed various undefined illnesses that impacted his health.  The jury awarded Mr. Wisner almost $3,000,000.

Michael Carter was charged with first degree murder of a police officer.  After multiple hearings, it was established that Carter’s confession was the product of police coercion.  Testimony proved Carter was innocent, and ultimately another person was convicted.  Carter, after being indicted was released and received compensation for the false charge.

Unglesby Law Firm successfully secured the release of Robert Blanton from federal prison on habeas corpus.  Blanton had been convicted of a contract killing of a well-known businessman.  Numerous co-defendants testified against him.  Ultimately the evidence produced by Unglesby Law Firm reflected that every co-defendant denied to the jury any guarantees of leniency from the prosecutor.  However, all received leniency from the prosecutor, and all of them and their lawyers testified in federal court that those agreements were reached before they ever testified.  Blanton was granted a new trial based on Brady violations and never re-tried.  He went on to become a country western singer in Atlanta.

Accidents on three wheelers were causing riders severe injuries and deaths.  As a result of Unglesby Law Firm’s successful verdict against Honda, federal regulations were changed to protect citizens, and three-wheelers were no longer allowed to be sold in the United States.

Testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1994 found substantial amounts of contamination in a neighborhood in proximity to an industrial site owned by a company whose parent company was Philips North American.  Those included DDT and some components of Agent Orange.  Unglesby Law firm secures settlement against the company and Philips North America.

In another precedent-setting case, the firm proved that seatbelts are necessary on both stand-up and sit-down forklifts.  Through its victory over Crown Equipment Corporation, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of forklifts, Unglesby Law Firm has helped to protect countless American workers.

Unglesby Law Firm was among a group of firms who won more than $130 million for people affected by a hazardous waste disposal site (an EPA Superfund site) in Livingston Parish. A portion of these funds were used to create the Southeastern Louisiana University Literacy & Technology Center.

During the 2000s, Unglesby Law Firm established itself as a leader in successfully representing victims of asbestos exposure.

James Terrance worked as a contractor with Exxon between 1965 and 1970.  In 2002 he died from mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos.  While Exxon denied causing the exposure, the Unglesby Law team successfully countered that Exxon was a sophisticated user of asbestos products and knew about the dangers caused by these products.  The Unglesby Law team proved Exxon specified the materials and had them installed on Exxon property. The asbestos dust that ultimately killed Terrance was created by Exxon’s decision for him to tear off asbestos from pipes on the property.  The jury awarded $5,000,000.00.

Unglesby Law Firm secures a $29.5 million settlement for landowners affected by a toxic waste disposal facility operated by CECOS International, Inc.

Tommy Lloyd White spent twenty years as an operating at an Entergy power generation facility where he was exposed to asbestos.  He ultimately succumbed to mesothelioma.  Unglesby Law Firm secured a $3.8 million award for Mr. White’s family.  While Entergy appealed the ruling, the Unglesby Law Firm ultimately prevailed and the White family received the justice they deserved.

Asbestos dangers follow workers home.  Jimmy Williams, a compressor operator, unknowingly exposed his wife, Myra to asbestos dust he was exposed to at work.  This exposure led to her fatal case of mesothelioma. Ingersoll-Rand, which manufactured the compressors Mr. Williams operated, knew as far back as the 1950s that asbestos was dangerous but failed to put warnings on its asbestos-insulated compressors. Due to the lack of warnings, workers such as Jimmy Williams didn’t know that they were in danger from the asbestos insulation. Nor did they know that the asbestos collected on their clothing was putting their families in danger.  Unglesby Law Firm won a $7 million verdict for the Williams family.

Elray Lege was exposed to asbestos insulation over the course of several months in 1979 while working as an insulator at the Columbian Chemicals Company facility in Centerville, Louisiana.  Unglesby Law Firm represented the Lege family in their fight for justice against Birla, a successor entity of Columbian Chemicals. After a six-day trial, the jury awarded $8 million in general damages—with $4 million for Mr. Lege’s pain and suffering, $2 million to his widow, and $500,000.00 to each of his four adult children. The jury also awarded special damages that totaled $215,000 for medical and funeral bills.

Like many pipefitters who worked on industrial sites in the 1960s and 1970s, David Stauder was exposed to asbestos. In 2015, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma and died shortly thereafter.  Stauder’s daughters sought justice for their father.  Shell Oil and Union Carbide were among a group of defendants who knowingly allowed Stauder and countless other workers to be exposed to asbestos, which was known to potentially be hazardous.  Unglesby Law firm secured a jury verdict of $10.3 million for the Stauder family, as well as a separate settlement from Shell Oil.

The section of Interstate 10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the nation. It was on this part of I-10 that Frank Cushenberry, a truck driver, was severely injured in an accident caused by a road worker on a job site who backed into Mr. Cushenberry’s lane. The road worker was employed by Barber Brothers Contracting Company, a major provider of infrastructure services. While the company tried to blame Mr. Cushenberry for the accident, Unglesby Law Firm succeeded in securing justice — and an $18.96 million verdict — for Mr. Cushenberry and his family.