Steve Coles Appointed Co-Chair of N.C. Bar Tort Issues Task Force

Steve Coles, a Member (partner) in Nexsen Pruet’s Greensboro office, has been named co-chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Tort Issues Task Force.

Coles, who works with the firm’s Business Litigation group, concentrates his practice in the areas of litigation, products liability, health care, insurance litigation, antitrust and unfair competition, and insurance bad faith defense.

The primary goal of the task force is to review and respond to any proposed tort reform legislation offered in the North Carolina legislature, and to make appropriate recommendations to the Bar’s Board of Governors regarding the legislation.

State legislators are looking at changing North Carolina from a contributory negligence jurisdiction to a comparative negligence state.  Generally, contributory negligence means an injured person can only recover damages if they were not at fault.  In a comparative negligence system, an injured person may recover some damages even if they were partially to blame for their injuries.

Coles has more than 25 years of experience in business and commercial litigation; is listed in Best Lawyers in America for civil litigation; and is rated a North Carolina “Super Lawyer” in commercial litigation.  He is also listed in North Carolina's "Legal Elite" by Business North Carolina.

His background includes serving as lead counsel in more than 200 medical-related lawsuits and representing medical providers in cases involving transplants, blood transfusions, bone marrow harvestings, and medical devices. He has also defended physicians practicing in all the major specialties, and tried over 100 cases before juries, primarily in the areas of medical injury, product defects, insurance coverage, and contracts.

In addition to co-chairing on the task force, Coles is a past member of the board of directors of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, and served as president of the Wake Forest Alumni Association and director of the Wake Forest University Athletic Board.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University and his law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law.

Nexsen Pruet, LLC is one of the largest law firms in the Carolinas, with more than 170 attorneys and offices in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Hilton Head, and Myrtle Beach, S.C. as well as Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh, N.C.  Founded in 1945, Nexsen Pruet provides a broad range of legal services to the business community and represents companies and other entities in local, state, national, and international venues.