Certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy
- 865-292-0000
- info@vowell-law.com
- 6718 Albunda Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919
Board Certified Trial Specialist Since 1997
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
University of Tennessee, Martin
Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College (1996)
Mr. Vowell’s first major success on appeal came in 1986 when he won reversal of a $1,250,000 punitive damages award against a trucking company in the 6th Circuit. Then, in a trilogy of decisions by the Tennessee Supreme Court, he established the landowners’ right to receive just compensation when Sprint unlawfully took their land for its fiber-optics cable and then established their right to proceed in a class action.
In 2004, in the 7th Circuit (Chicago), he won reversal of a decision by the United States District Court that had approved a nation-wide settlement that would have destroyed the Tennessee fiber-optics class action litigation, with the Tennessee landowners receiving essentially nothing.
In 2001 he argued before the 6th Circuit en banc and won reversal of the district court’s dismissal of a police brutality case. The decision was noteworthy due to a 29-page dissent which included a 12-page catalog of the 161 cases that were overruled by the decision.
In 2014 and 2016, in the 6th Circuit (Cincinnati), he won reversal of district court decisions which resulted in forcing TVA to suspend its new policy of cutting down all of the millions of trees in its right-of-way, many of them 50-100 years old.
In 2018, he won reversal of both the trial court and the Court of Appeals, in a decision by the Tennessee Supreme Court which re-stated the standard for the enforceability of exculpatory clauses.
Donald Vowell grew up on a lumber yard in Martin, Tennessee. He worked as a deckhand on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, being promoted to mate on his last run after the real mate, the cook and the engineer got drunk in Cincinnati and refused to return to the boat. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1975 and the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1978. He is a 1996 graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer’s College near Dubois, Wyoming. He lives in Knoxville with his wife, Mary Alice, their dog Snoopy, and, believe it or not, four cats, whose names will not be listed for lack of space. They have two children, José and Tono. Mr. Vowell enjoys playing fetch with Snoopy and spending time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He maintains six birdhouses and has converted the family’s swimming pool into a very successful frog pond.
Note to Volunteer football fans: Mr. Vowell’s grandfather, Morris Vowell, played tackle on the U.T. football team and was named All Southern in 1916. He holds the Tennessee record for the second longest intercepted pass return (99 yards against Sewanee in 1916). He played side-by-side with his brother, Graham Vowell, who played end, was also named All Southern, and was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.