Thomas H. Wyatt

Tom’s practice provides comprehensive and cost-effective service to a diverse client portfolio—from individuals to Fortune 500 companies—in litigation matters involving commercial and residential property development, land-use disputes, municipal interface and interference, complex commercial litigation, and products-liability defense, with a focus on drug and medical device cases.  Tom has successfully tried cases to the bench and the jury, achieving judgments for his clients that have been affirmed on appeal.  Tom has appeared before every circuit court in Arkansas, the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas and the Eastern District of Michigan, the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the Arkansas Court of Appeals.  Tom currently serves as the Second Vice Chair for DRI Young Lawyers, a national organization of civil defense counsel within ten years of bar admission, and as President-Elect for the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel, Arkansas’s premier association of civil defense attorneys.  Tom was recognized in the 2024 Edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America in the area of Commercial Litigation for the fourth year in a row.

Tom’s recent work includes:

• Protection of a 150-unit LIHTC development from municipal interference and community opposition, resulting in federal injunctive relief against the municipality that allowed the development to proceed according to its phasing schedule and eventual occupancy.
• Summary judgment for a product manufacturer against a $9 million personal-injury claim, exceeding policy limits, that was affirmed on appeal.
• Dismissal of a product manufacturer against $4.7 million aggregated property-damage claims, exceeding policy limits.
• Representation of a local financial institution in the successful enforcement of a purchase contract that was affirmed on appeal.
• Dismissal of a refrigerator manufacturer against a claim of fire loss to a residence.
• Securing approval for multiple contested building permits on behalf of a telecommunications company to construct telecommunications towers.
• Judgment in favor of a property developer that forced the sale of a parcel of timberland.
• Judgment in favor of an outdoor advertiser for an unlawful ejectment.
• Judgment in favor of property owners that achieved title to a disputed boundary line.
• Assisting bellwether trial counsel in the defense of a multi-billion-dollar, products-liability, class-action lawsuit against a medical-device manufacturer.
• Seven-figure settlement for a former business owner against a controlling shareholder during trial.
• Made-whole settlement for a dealer of manufactured homes after damage was sustained to its show home in an automobile accident.

Active in the local community, Tom was a member of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce Leadership Greater Little Rock Class XXXV.  He volunteers as a mentor to first-year law students at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, where he graduated with Honors, served as the Executive Editor of the UALR Law Review, and was the recipient of the Judge Pat Mehaffy Scholarship and a tuition scholarship for non-resident students.  He attends New Life Church, Downtown Little Rock, with his family.

Tom and his wife, Katie, live in Little Rock with their daughter, Marley, and their dog, Dakota.

Education

J.D., with honors, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, 2013

B.A., University of California at Riverside, 2006

Professional Affiliations

Second Vice Chair, DRI Young Lawyers Committee

President-Elect and Young Lawyer Section Liaison, Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel

Fellow, Arkansas Bar Foundation

Member, Arkansas Bar Association

Member, Pulaski County Bar Association

Publications

Compelling and Staying Arbitration in Arkansas, Practical Law Arbitration, Westlaw (2019).

Unnecessarily Duplicative:  Has the Sixth Circuit Gone Too Far in Upholding an Employer’s Ability to Require Incumbent Employees to Provide Doctor’s Notes After Taking Sick Leave?, Lee v. City of Columbus, 636 F.3d 245 (6th Cir. 2011), 35 U. Ark. Little Rock. L. Rev. 713 (2013).

Community Involvement

Little Rock Chamber of Commerce Leadership Greater Little Rock, Class XXXV