Amy Geddes

Amy Harmon Geddes is a Member in the Columbia, SC office practicing in the areas of insurance, products liability including asbestos litigation, subrogation claims, and commercial and business litigation.  Amy has experience in all levels of the South Carolina State Courts, from the Administrative Law Court and Circuit Courts to the Appellate Courts, as well as in the Federal Courts in the District of South Carolina. 

Amy received a B.A. degree in English from the University of South Carolina, graduating Magna Cum Laude, with Honors from the South Carolina Honors College, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.  Amy received her J.D. degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she was a member of the Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity and Student Bar Association.  She formerly served as law clerk to the Honorable Alexander S. Macaulay of the Tenth Judicial Circuit.

Community & Professional

• South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association Board of Directors; Chair of Women in Law Committee; Co-Chair Summer Meeting Committee
• DRI - Women in the Law Committee, South Carolina Liaison and Seminar Sponsorship Chair; Partnering with Industry Task Force; Insurance Law Committee
• Council for the South Carolina Bar Association’s Torts and Insurance Practice Section
• South Carolina Bar Association
• Richland County Bar Association
• South Carolina Women Lawyers’ Association
• Women in Philanthropy - Grants Committee and Community Engagement Committee
• Graduate of the International Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy

Outside Maynard Nexsen

The story of the red stapler

Amy explains, "The stapler is like the one in the movie Office Space.  It’s just funny.  It's a red Swingline, and the company actually started making them in response to the demand from the movie. It is such a talking piece for me - anyone who comes into my office notices, and, if they know the movie, they think it’s hilarious.  It’s just funny, and I’m funny."

Yes, she is. Amy doesn't take herself too seriously. Her clients? Very seriously. Her colleagues? Seriously too. Life in general? Not so much.

Amy is happily married and a mother to two daughters. She loves a challenge, and enjoys boating, Gamecock football, and long walks in the rain. (Just kidding.)

Amy's experience includes:

• Defending bad faith, fraud, misrepresentation and breach of contract claims involving life, automobile and homeowner policies;
• Asbestos litigation involving various types of equipment and products;
• Defending third-party suits involving claims for negligence, defamation, wrongful death and premises liability, to include slip-and-fall cases and insufficient security claims;
• Product liability claims and/or UCC warranty claims involving a variety of products and goods, to include automobile tires, flooring product, commercial trucks, agricultural product, vertical lifts, and human tissue transplants;
• Insurance coverage disputes involving rights to benefits, a defense, and/or to indemnity;
• Defending medical malpractice and prisoner civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983;
• Issuing coverage opinions and administering examinations under oath;
  Tobacco Escrow and MSA litigation and disputes;
• Lawsuits involving business disputes and claims such as breach of contract, unfair trade practices, trademark infringement, unfair competition, and civil RICO;
• Proceedings relating to Medicaid and/or Medicare benefits, to include termination and reimbursement decisions.

• Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel Member, 2022
• Listed in Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law, Since 2015
• Listed in South Carolina Super Lawyers "Rising Stars" for Insurance Coverage, 2014
• Columbia Business Magazine's "Legal Elite of the Midlands" – 2016, 2019, 2024
• AV rated by Martindale Hubbell

Writing 

• The Art of Networking, DRI Women in the Law Community Page
• Co-author, Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds - Carolinas Insurance Litigation - Legal Review
• Co-author, South Carolina Chapter – Insurance Bad Faith 2010 Compendium, published by DRI’s Insurance Law Committee
• Quitable Considerations in Removal  - SC Lawyer Magazine

Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, Maynard Nexsen's Litigation CLE Series: Expert Witnesses: Daubert Challenges, February 5, 2019
• Speaker, South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Association Summer Meeting: Negotiation: Why Men and Women Aren’t Always at the Same Table
• Speaker,  South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Association Annual Meeting: Promoter and Pre-incorporation Liability: Hansen v. Fields Company, LLC, 2014
• Speaker, PLRB/LIRB Eastern and Central Regional Adjusters Conferences: Certificates of Insurance: Avoiding Bad Faith, 2011 - Baltimore, MD and Indianapolis, IN
• Speaker, Hospitality Leadership Conference: Potential Liability in the Hospitality Industry - Hilton Head, SC;
• Speaker, South Carolina Bar: Speakers in Schools
• Judge, USC and South Carolina High School Mock Trial Competitions