A man whose wife and children died in the 2016 deadly wildfires in Gatlinburg is suing the lawyers he says cost him and more than 500 other victims a chance at restitution from the federal government.
Michael Reed, whose wife and two children burned to death after being trapped by a wall of fire in the blaze, has filed a legal malpractice lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court against two of Tennessee’s top tort attorneys — Sid Gilreath and Gordon Ball — and renowned Florida tort law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
The lawsuit accuses the lawyers of bungling litigation they filed on behalf of Reed and 524 other wildfire victims against the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Park Service.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer earlier this year tossed out that litigation on a legal technicality. Greer ruled that although the victims had presented ample evidence the Park Service failed to warn Gatlinburg residents, emergency personnel and city leaders of the deadly fire’s approach, their attorneys failed in preliminary administrative claim forms to notify the government agency of the failure-to-warn claim.