Ann B. Oldfather
Attorney, Oldfather Law Firm, 2007 - present
Prior employment: Partner and associate, Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, 1976-1984; sole practitioner, 1984-1986; partner, Oldfather & Morris 1986 to 2006
Concentrating in plaintiffs' personal injury, product liability, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, appellate matters, commercial litigation and complex family law.
Admitted to the Bar: 1976, Kentucky.
Education: Mount Holyoke College, A.B. (1971) and University of Louisville, J.D., magna cum laude (1975).
Memberships: Kentucky Bar Association; Louisville Bar Association; Kentucky Association for Justice (former member Board of Governors); Inner Circle of Advocates; American Association for Justice; American Board of Trial Advocates (President Kentucky Chapter, 1998 and 1999); Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers (2004 to present); Board Certified Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy; founding member and former Master, Louis D. Brandeis American Inn of Court; Louisville Bar Association Committees on Professional Responsibilities and Family Law; University of Louisville Law Alumni Council; Hospice of Louisville, Inc. (Board Member, 1983 to 1987); Women Lawyers Association of Jefferson County; Citizens for Better Judges; E. P. Tom Sawyer Foundation (Board Member, 1986 to 1992).
Awards: Kentucky Association for Justice "Peter Perlman Trial Lawyer of the Year," 2001; listed in seven categories, BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA, 1994 to date; TOP POINT GETTER (2010) and Top Ten Kentucky attorneys in Kentucky Superlawyers for all years of publication; University of Louisville Distinguished Law Alumni, 1988; University of Louisville Outstanding Law Alumni Service, 1990; Brandeis School of Law of the University of Louisville, Alumni Fellow, 1997.
In 2017, Ann became a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, a trial lawyer organization by invitation-only, limited to only 100 lawyers in the United States, and described by the Washington Post as "a select group of 100 of the nations most celebrated trial lawyers." The Inner Circle of Advocates are considered to be among the best plaintiff attorneys in the United States and also to be "lawyers of excellent character and integrity."
Sole trial counsel in a number of hotly disputed and significant cases, including the sexual abuse strip-search litigation against McDonald's Corporation, resulting in a record verdict for Bullitt County of $6.1 Million, commercial litigation between Carrier Vibrating Equipment Company and Rexnord International dealing with loss of corporate goodwill and resulting in a plaintiff's verdict of $12.5 million, and medical malpractice litigation for a young man from Somerset, KY, with a missed diagnosis of a metabolic disorder, where a rural Kentucky jury returned a verdict of $5.5 million. Lead counsel in medical malpractice litigation representing a woman who suffered from a severe abdominal infection following bariatric surgery resulting in a jury returning a verdict of $10.6 million. Represented a paraplegic in a products liability case involving a hunting treestand resulting in a jury verdict of $18.5 million.
One of the lead plaintiffs' counsel in the Carrollton, Kentucky bus crash disaster in which 27 children and adults burned to death in a school bus designed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company.
One of the Class Counsel for the settlement class of 243 victims of sexual abuse in their recovery against the Archdiocese of Louisville in excess of $25 million.
Ann has tried many complex, multi-party cases as lead or sole trial counsel. She was appointed as the head of one of only six trial counsel committees approved by the Federal District Court in the Ford/Firestone multi district litigation.
Ann has been listed in the BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA since 1994 under both "Personal Injury Litigation" and "Family Law." When combined with her current listings in "Legal Malpractice", "Medical Malpractice," "Product Liability Litigation," Professional Malpractice" and "Mass Torts", Ann currently has a total of seven listings in BEST LAWYERS. She has received the prestigious "A-V" listing from Martindale Hubbell continuously since the mid 1980s, and is featured in their BAR REGISTER OF PREEMINENT ATTORNEYS. She is a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Ann has served as a Special Justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court, authoring both majority and dissenting opinions. Ann has lectured as a speaker at numerous programs, including presentations at the annual convention of the American Association for Justice and at Kentucky's Annual Judicial College. Ann has served as an advocacy instructor at the University of Louisville, and she is the author of the "Juries" chapter of the KENTUCKY CIVIL PRACTICE HANDBOOK.
Ann is married and she has two children, Michael Oldfather and Eleanor Hasken, and four step-children.
