Jonathan Goins Secures Appellate Victory on Behalf of Website Developer in Complex Technology Matter

Atlanta, Ga. (February 6, 2024) – Atlanta Partner Jonathan D. Goins recently secured a significant victory on behalf of Lewis Brisbois’ website developer client when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed summary judgment in its favor in a complex software dispute.

In the underlying matter, one of the largest distributors in the education industry sued Lewis Brisbois’ client – a Georgia-based website developer – in September 2019 for allegedly breaching the parties’ website services contract. The plaintiff commenced a diversity action in Wisconsin federal court, which Lewis Brisbois successfully transferred to Georgia federal court. Over the next three years, Mr. Goins managed a team of a dozen attorneys who exchanged thousands of pages of documents and deposed numerous fact and expert witnesses. The district court ultimately granted summary judgment in favor of the website developer after determining that the plaintiff failed to present evidence of any breach related to the functionality of its website, especially given explicit disclaimers in the parties’ contract. The plaintiff subsequently appealed.

Mr. Goins handled oral argument before the 11th Circuit. Only two weeks later, the appellate court unanimously affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment. In doing so, it reasoned that the plaintiff did not show any genuine issue of material fact regarding whether the developer breached the parties’ service agreement.

Mr. Goins is a vice-chair of Lewis Brisbois' Intellectual Property & Technology and Entertainment, Media & Sports Practices. He serves as lead counsel in IP litigation across the country, including in “bet the company” cases with multimillion-dollar exposures. With two decades of experience, he is consistently ranked in leading publications for his deep and expansive knowledge of IP and entertainment law.