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Education
Work History
Downloadable Article
Publications and Lectures
Representative Cases
Professional and Community Involvement
Contact Information
Mary Donne Peters has served as lead counsel in high stakes cases on behalf of governments, corporations and individuals around the country for
over 20 years. She has tried many civil and criminal cases. Ms. Peters is a principal in the firm of Gorby, Peters & Associates, P.C.
Following her graduation with Honors from the University of South Carolina School of Law, Ms. Peters was selected to serve a prestigious clerkship for the Honorable Emory M. Sneeden, Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Sneeden, now deceased, was then the immediate past Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and had previously served as the Chief Justice of U.S. Military Court of Appeals.
Following her clerkship with Judge Sneeden, Ms. Peters was selected to serve in the Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where she analyzed proposed billion-dollar mergers for the Antitrust Division and served on the trial team for a large price-fixing trial in Florida. She later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, focusing her work on prosecuting larger drug cases, bank fraud and public corruption.
Today, Ms. Peters handles complex commercial litigation focusing on the technology
and health care sector and catastrophic injury and death cases in the areas of Premises Liability, medical malpractice, and other professional malpractice cases. Drawing on her background as an assistant U.S. Attorney in South Carolina, she also defends people accused of white collar crime and conducts corporate internal investigations. Ms. Peters has published two legal treatises and numerous articles. She has been a guest lecturer before national legal organizations and to the judiciary. Ms. Peters is licensed to practice in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
Education
Mary Donne Peters earned her B.A. in English/Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1985, she received her law degree, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
In law school, Ms. Peters was selected for both the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Wig and Robe, which are honor societies. She also was an Articles Editor for the South Carolina Law Review, and a finalist in the school’s moot court competition.
Work History
After graduating from Chapel Hill, Ms. Peters served as a journalist for newspaper, television and radio news organizations. She served on the board of the Radio and Television News Directors’ Association of the Carolinas.
Ms. Peters entered law school in 1983. After law school, Ms. Peters received a prestigious clerkship with the Honorable Emory M. Sneeden, Circuit Judge, Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She then was selected and trained by the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, as an Honors Program Trial Attorney for the Antitrust Division. She left Washington, D.C., to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina.
Ms. Peters then joined a large Atlanta law firm, handling complex commercial cases for clients around the country and in Canada.
In 1994, Ms. Peters joined the firm of Gorby, Peters & Associates, P.C. She now handles cases involving complex commercial disputes; Premises Liability;
health care litigation; nursing home negligence;
franchise litigation; hospital negligence;
employment litigation; intellectual property litigation; catastrophic personal injury; wrongful death claims; and toxic substance liability.
Ms. Peters has
published extensively.
She co-authored the
Georgia Evidence
Handbook, published by
Professional Education
Systems, Inc., in April
1998. Ms. Peters’ second
book, "The
Admissibility of Expert
Testimony in Georgia"
is published by
Thompson/West Publishing
Co.
In addition, Ms. Peters has lectured extensively. Receiving rare respect from both the plaintiffs’ and defense bars, Ms. Peters has lectured at national seminars for both the American Trial Lawyers Association and the Defense Research Institute. She also has been asked to speak to judges, and
has presented programs to the judges and staff of the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals,
and the State
Court Judges in Georgia on emerging evidentiary issues.
Ms. Peters is admitted to practice in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
Downloadable Article by
Mary Donne Peters
Publications and Lectures
Now Available!
Thomson/West Publishing Company
Expert Testimony in Georgia (co-authored with partner James Standard)
Mary Donne Peters (right) with Atlanta Bar Association Litigation Section Chair Lynn Roberson (left) at a
Seminar in Atlanta. Mary Donne presented a paper and speech on “The New Rules Regarding Admissibility of Expert Testimony in Georgia” to a record-breaking crowd -- over 140 lawyers and judges.
October 2007
Program
Chair:
Admissibility of
Expert Testimony
-
Institute of
Continuing
Education, Atlanta,
GA
October 2007
Speaker:
Admissibility of
Expert Testimony
In
Premises Liability
Cases - ICLE,
Atlanta, Ga.
June 2007
Invited
Speaker:
Admissibility of
Expert Testimony -
GA State Court
Judges Association
September 2005
Atlanta Bar Association, Featured Speaker: “Expert Testimony in Georgia”
July 2005
Featured speaker for the Forsyth County Bar Association regarding changes in Georgia’s evidence rules
May 2005
Institute of
Continuing Legal
Education in Georgia
Program Chair, The New Rules Regarding Admissibility of Expert Testimony in Georgia
March 2005
American Bar Association Jury Summit, Atlanta, GA
Panelist for The American Bar Association Summit regarding proposed improvements to the American Jury System
March 2004
Special presentation (by invitation) to the Justices and their staff of the Georgia Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals on New Developments in Georgia Evidentiary Rules.
April 1998
Professional Education Systems, Inc.
Co-author, The Georgia Evidence Handbook
July 2001
American Trial Lawyers Association National Convention, Montreal, Canada
Psychiatric/Psychological Malpractice
June 2001
Defense Research Institute National Seminar on Premises Liability,
Defense of the Violent Crime Premises Liability Case In the Hotel/Motel or Apartment/Condominium Case
July 1998
American Trial Lawyers Association National Convention, Washington, D.C.
Cross Examination of Experts
February 1997
American Trial Lawyers Association, Las Vegas, Nevada
Recent Developments in Premises Liability Cases Involving Criminal Acts by Third Parties
1996
Seminar for Georgia Superior Court Judges (by invitation)
Environmental and Toxic Tort Premises Liability
1994 to 2005
Georgia Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Premises Liability Seminar
New Frontiers in Premises Liability
Representative Cases Handled by Mary Donne Peters
Commercial Litigation
1) Mary Donne Peters recently served as lead counsel representing communications companies in a series of franchisor-franchisee disputes that included four lawsuits in federal and state courts in two states, and one three-week arbitration. Ms. Peters successfully defended claims by a franchisee who demanded over $50 million in alleged damages by obtaining judgments or dismissals of the vast-majority of the franchisees’ claims. The parties were then able to terminate the franchises and settle this seven-year business dispute in a confidential settlement.
2) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel in a lawsuit in Georgia representing a communications company that sought to declare null and void certain contractual provisions which allegedly prevented the sale of communications services to distributors for a multi-level marketing company. The size of the dispute was significant. Millions of dollars in sales to independent agents in fifty (50) states were at stake. The parties reached a confidential settlement agreement before discovery commenced.
3) Mary Donne Peters has represented a number of technology companies in various commercial matters around the country, including the validity of “take or pay” provisions in contracts, unauthorized use of trade names or trademarks, objections to overbroad subpoenas, employment disputes, and corporate theft.
4) Mary Donne Peters has been selected by international corporations to conduct internal investigations to advise management regarding litigation risks. These companies were part of industries that had been targeted in class action and mass action cases around the country. Through Mary Donne’s efforts, management was able to be proactive in managing inevitable litigation.
5) Mary Donne Peters has served on the trial teams for cases seeking insurance coverage for commercial clients in a $100 million environmental claim case and a $15 million loss in a financial collapse of a mortgage company. In each of these cases, the clients were able to obtain confidential settlements.
Administrative Litigation
1) Mary Donne Peters served as co-lead counsel for a national drugstore chain whose operations in Georgia were threatened by an administrative agency’s determination that a multi-million dollar renovation of pharmacies around the state did not meet then-existing state codes. Under old regulations, drug stores in Georgia were required to restrict the public’s access to pharmacists by separating the pharmacist from the consumer with a very high wall. The object of the wall was to ensure that controlled substances remained secure. The drugstore chain sought to secure controlled substances and improve pharmacists’ services by reducing wall height and installing electronic sensors. When administrative investigators threatened to close pharmacies around the state, Ms. Peters organized and led a three-pronged approach to the problem by a) obtaining an injunction against pharmacy closings; b) organizing a legislative initiative to update Georgia’s laws to reflect improvements in security technology; and c) educating administrative officials about the benefits of electronic security. As a result of her efforts, the pharmacy security laws and regulations were changed and the walls literally came down in pharmacies around the state.
Personal Injury and Death Cases
1) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel in a series of cases brought on behalf of a group of women in Missouri and Kansas who alleged that they had been serially sexually assaulted by a doctor. The cases named as defendants a healthcare company and the doctor who worked for the healthcare company. Ms. Peters framed the cases as Premises Liability actions, and retained as experts nationally recognized security consultants, including an author of the portion of the FBI’s criminal profiling manual for subordinate sexual assault. A confidential settlement was obtained for the clients.
2) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel on behalf of an injured teen in West Virginia whose mentally ill father mortally wounded the boy’s mother and his sister in his presence, and later committed suicide. The boy survived multiple stab wounds. Ms. Peters represented the teen in a suit against a state mental hospital and certain healthcare providers. The suit claimed that the father should not have been released from the hospital following an involuntary commitment. A confidential settlement was obtained for the client.
3) Mary Donne Peters represented several individuals in cases in New Hampshire against healthcare providers and the State Hospital of New Hampshire in connection with claims alleging boundary violations by a psychiatrist who was accused of convincing his patients that they were religious leaders. Confidential settlements were obtained on behalf of the clients.
4) Ms. Peters served as lead counsel in the electrocution death of a young man in Nashville, Tennessee, who was killed when his leg came into contact with an exposed wire on a water heater. She was able to obtain a confidential settlement for the family of the young man.
5) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel for a mentally ill woman in Georgia who was serially sexually assaulted in a nursing home. Ms. Peters obtained a confidential settlement for the young woman and her family and, as a result of the case, the nursing home implemented additional security features that improved conditions for all patients at the facility.
6) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel for two men who were seriously injured by exposure to a rare, deadly chemical in South Carolina. The injured men had been working at a “Superfund” site and were wearing protective clothing and respirators at the time of the injuries. The chemical, pentaborane, was used in rocket fuel in the 1950’s. It is so hazardous that the government subsequently banned its use because it is deadly if it comes in contact with skin or is inhaled in very small amounts (parts per million). Ms. Peters obtained confidential settlements for her clients.
7) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel on behalf of a teenaged girl who was gang raped in Connecticut. The suit alleged that her mental health providers failed to hospitalize a drug-seeking child at risk for harm. Ms. Peters obtained a confidential settlement on behalf of her client.
8) Mary Donne Peters has served as lead counsel representing a number of families in Georgia wherein doctors failed to diagnose the signs and symptoms of heart attacks in women. Heart attacks are often missed when the patient is a woman, even though it is a leading cause of death of women in this country. In each of these cases, Ms. Peters was able to obtain a confidential settlement.
9) Mary Donne Peters served as lead counsel for an Alabama woman who accused her healthcare provider of failing to supervise a doctor who caused her to become addicted to prescription medication to engage her in a sexual relationship. The doctor was terminated and the case settled for a confidential amount pre-suit.
10) Along with her partner Mike Gorby, Mary Donne Peters obtained a $3.4 million jury verdict in Atlanta for a young woman who was seriously injured in a dog attack. The verdict is one of the largest of its kind in the country.
11) Mary Donne Peters and her partner Michael Gorby obtained one of the largest jury awards in a Premises Liability case in Columbus, Ohio, recently. The jury returned a $1.2 million verdict for a truck driver who was injured in a fall at a steel company.
Professional and Community Involvement
Ms. Peters is a member of the Women President’s Organization, Atlanta Chapter. Membership in the group, is limited to women with demonstrated ability to lead and grow companies. It is by invitation only.
Ms. Peters is a member of the Atlanta and American Bar Associations, the South Carolina Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, and the Lawyers Club of Atlanta.
For 18 years, Ms. Peters and has served as a Lector and Eucharist Minister at Christ the King Cathedral in Atlanta. She also sits on the Membership and Social Committees for the Ravinia Club. Ms. Peters volunteers as a special counsel for Catholic Social Services in Atlanta, Georgia.
Contact Information
404-239-1150 ext. 104
mpeters@gorbypeters.com
Two Ravinia Drive
Suite 1500
Atlanta, GA 30346-2104
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