O. Wade Nelson

Direct Dial: 615-742-8557
Fax: 615-742-8556
Email: wnelson@smithcashion.com 
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Education:

- B.A., Indiana University, 1967
- J.D., Vanderbilt University, 1972

Bar Admissions:

- United States Supreme Court
- Tennessee Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court for the Middle
  District of Tennessee
- U.S. District Court for the Western
  District of Tennessee
- United States Court of Appeals for the
  Sixth Circuit

O. Wade Nelson is a partner in the firm of Smith Cashion & Orr, PLC with a practice emphasis in Tort, Commercial, and Construction Litigation. Mr. Nelson also has extensive experience and practice in mediation and arbitration with certifications by the Tennessee Supreme Court as a Rule 31 Mediator and by the American Arbitration Association as a member of Panel Arbitrators and the Tennessee Advisory Panel on Commercial Arbitration.

Mr. Nelson received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana in 1967 and his Juris Doctorate Degree from Vanderbilt University in 1972. Mr. Nelson served two years at the Sixth Naval District legal office in Charleston, South Carolina.

Upon graduation from law school in 1972, Mr. Nelson served as Law Clerk to Tennessee Supreme Court Justice George F. McCanless. Following the clerkship, he began his practice of law as a partner with Goodpasture, Carpenter, Woods & Sasser and then with Watkins, McGugin, McNeilly & Rowan; both general insurance defense and civil litigation firms with primary emphasis in tort and commercial litigation.

Mr. Nelson has over 35 years of trial practice experience in all levels of Tennessee courts including Circuit Court, Tennessee Courts of Appeals and Tennessee Supreme Court as well as practice in the United States District Court and Federal Court of Appeals.

Mr. Nelson’s area of practice includes general civil litigation in all state and federal courts with primary emphasis in civil litigation including tort, commercial and construction law. Tort practice includes: products liability, premises liability, legal malpractice, negligence, wrongful death, libel, slander, and legal malpractice and professional liability coverage for engineers and architects. His commercial practice includes construction disputes involving breach of contract, delay damages and Miller Act cases; contract disputes involving breach of contract, non-compete clauses, and insurance coverage questions.

Mr. Nelson has Thirteen years experience serving as a mediator on a wide range of cases including tort claims, commercial disputes, and construction claims. Tort mediations include personal injury, wrongful death, professional malpractice (legal and medical), products liability and design defects. Commercial mediations include warranty claims, product defects, employment contract disputes, wrongful termination, and insurance contract coverage questions. Construction cases include contract disputes, scope of employment issues, delay and disruption claims and damages, issues of indemnification and interpretation of construction contracts and warranty disputes.

Mr. Nelson also serves as an arbitrator, individually and on panels appointed by the American Arbitration Association and/or chosen by individual counsel for the parties. His arbitrations involve a wide range of subjects from automobile accidents, warranty disputes, design defects, commercial disputes, interpretation of construction contracts in both commercial and residential cases and delay and disruption claims.

He has conducted seminars on worker’s compensation, tort and insurance law for the Tennessee Bar Association. He has served as a guest lecturer on business law and litigation at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee from 1992 to date.

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