Jon Stephen Kennedy

Steve Kennedy is a shareholder and trial attorney in the Jackson, Mississippi, office of Baker Donelson. Steve has significant experience in defending catastrophic damages suits against motor carriers and product liability suits against major automobile manufacturers.

Steve serves as national and regional counsel for several large trucking companies, and also serves as national counsel for a major tire distributor in negligence, breach of warranty and employment matters.

Steve serves as the Firm’s primary representative to the Mississippi Trucking Association, and is the Mississippi contact for the Firm’s 24 Hour Motor Carrier Emergency Response Team. In this role, Steve is available to trucking company and transportation-related clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to assist with accident investigation, accident reconstruction needs and driver management.

Steve’s current trial practice also includes representation of a major insurance client in coverage and bad faith litigation, as well as representing architects and design professionals against claims of construction negligence.

He is also involved in the defense of various other product liability and personal injury cases involving claims over smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, defective ATVs, kitchen equipment and elevators.

EDUCATION:

• Mississippi College, B.A., 1997, summa cum laude
• Mississippi College School of Law, J.D., 2000, magna cum laude

ADMISSIONS : Mississippi, 2000

Representative Matters:

• Served as national and regional counsel for several large trucking companies.
• Served as national counsel for a major tire distributor.
• Twenty-three trials to verdict.
• Obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of a trucking company in a wrongful death trial in Greene County, Mississippi.
• Represented a major tire distribution company and one of its employees in an auto accident personal injury trial. The case was settled in the client’s favor prior to trial completion.
• Represented a trucking company in a trial involving an alleged wrongful death, obtaining a unanimous defense verdict.
• Represented a mechanical auto parts company in a personal injury trucking accident trial. The case was tried solely on damages, and the jury returned with a verdict that was significantly lower than the amount sought by the plaintiff.

Pro Bono : Pro bono representation of indigent clients in divorce, child custody and personal injury matters.

Professional Honors & Activities:

• Member – Transportation Lawyers Association
• Member – Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association
• Member – Trucking Industry Defense Association
• Board of Directors – Make-A-Wish Mississippi
• American Jurisprudence Awards: Constitutional Law, Trial Practice and Commercial Paper
• Articles Editor – Mississippi College Law Review