Attorneys

At age 16, Rocky knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He had no interest in being a corporate lawyer or real estate lawyer. Rocky’s goal was to be a trial lawyer, to help people. Rocky’s dad, Larry McElhaney, was seriously injured in a work accident. He was a millwright at BASF Fibers, a large corporation in Lowland, Tennessee (just outside Morristown). He was working on a tank when noxious gases escaped from a valve, causing Mr. McElhaney to pass out. He fell several feet to the concrete floor below. His back for severely injured. Surgery was required. The injury was so severe that Mr. McElhaney was disabled permanently from work. The insurance company for the employer first denied surgical care, paid disability benefits late and finally refused to offer a fair settlement. Mr. McElhaney had to get a lawyer to help him get the benefits and compensation he deserved under the laws of Tennessee. Before the trial, Rocky’s family struggled and they lost their house. He saw first hand the devastation that such a tragedy can bring to a family. This experience left an indelible impression on Rocky and set his career path.

Although just 33 years old, Rocky has been representing clients in serious injury and accident cases for 10 years. While still in law school, he took a law clerk position with a successful Nashville general law practitioner in 1996. He quickly focused on the cases in the office involving injuries. He began to write briefs, draft lawsuits and prepare cases for settlement and trial. While a third year law student at NSL, special permission was obtained from United Stated Federal District Judge Thomas A. Higgins for Rocky to sit at counsel table and assist in a two-week trial involving constitutional free speech violations and retaliation by Williamson County, Tennessee against a small business man and his company. The case was won by the plaintiff but appealed to the Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. Rocky wrote an exhaustive appellate brief and prepared the lead attorney for oral argument in Cincinnati. The verdict was affirmed. To read the appellate court’s ruling, click here.

Rocky continued to handle civil litigation cases and participate in trials as a law clerk throughout 1997, 1998 and 1999. It was during these years that he forged his early relationships with UAW auto workers at Saturn Corporation in Spring Hill, Maury County, Tennessee. He assisted Saturn workers with their workers compensation claims. He passed the bar in his first attempt in October 1999 and set out on a legal journey that ultimately led to the founding of RML.

In October 1999, Rocky accepted an associate attorney position with the Law Office of Larry R. Williams in Nashville, where he clerked while in law school. In January 2001, he was named partner in Williams & McElhaney, P.C. He continued to represent injured Saturn workers and has successfully represented hundreds of auto industry workers. To read more about Rocky’s representation of auto workers, click the “Auto Workers” button above.

In July 2001, Rocky settled his first multi-million dollar case involving a young lady who was almost killed when a vehicle she in which she was riding was rear-ended by a tractor trailer going too fast on a Nashville interstate. Several other large settlements have followed for some extraordinary people. The parties’ identities and settlement amounts are confidential.

Rocky left his law partnership with Larry Williams in September 2002 and formed Arena & McElhaney, PLLC, a firm dedicated to representing injured auto workers and significantly injured persons. The firm attempted to limit its representation to cases involving serious, complex work accidents and other injuries. To view a listing of Rocky’s case results, click here.

In November 2005, Rocky’s client was awarded $1.25 million by a Davidson County jury in a wrongful death case. The trial lasted one week and involved a pedestrian who was struck by a car in a crosswalk in the Hillsboro Village area of Nashville. This was Rocky’s first million dollar jury verdict, an accomplishment some lawyers never achieve. He was 32 years old. To see the verdict form, click here.

To better serve his clients and reach his personal goals, Rocky founded Rocky McElhaney Law Firm in 2006. The goal of the firm is to represent real and extraordinary people who have been seriously injured in work accidents or seriously hurt by someone else’s fault. To read more about RML, click the “Firm Overview” button above.

Growing up in East Tennessee, Rocky played baseball and football and was signed to play both in college. Read the 1991 story here. He eventually landed at Walters State where he played college baseball. In 1985, he was a member of the Morristown American baseball all-star team and played in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. His team finished first in the United States and third in the world.

Remember: It’s your life. I’m your lawyer.