NATIONAL APPELLATE LITIGATORS
Kastorf Law handles complex and high value appeals in both state and federal court. The firm routinely serves as Georgia appellate counsel.
Kurt Kastorf is an experienced appellate attorney, who has worked for and with many of the country’s most prominent appellate advocates, including Seth Waxman, Ed Kneedler, Paul Clement, and Carter Phillips. Kurt spent nearly a decade in Washington, D.C. honing his appellate skills, assisting clients on more than a hundred appeals. His track record speaks for itself: during his tenure in the nation’s capital, Kurt won every appeal in which he served as lead counsel. At Kastorf Law, he continues to represent clients before the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Courts of Appeal.
APPELLATE COUNSEL IN GEORGIA
Kurt has now brought that experience to Georgia. The firm regularly serves as appellate counsel in Georgia, both representing individuals and assisting co-counsel in Georgia appellate courts. Kastorf Law defends trial victories against new trial motions, takes unfavorable rulings to the Court of Appeals of Georgia, and represents clients at both the certiorari and merits stage in front of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
POST-TRIAL MOTIONS
Kurt regularly handles motions for new trial and motions for judgment as a matter of law in both Federal and state court. Clients tend to see both better outcomes and better value if they retain Kurt prior to trial to handle pre-trial motions, assist with voir dire, and serve as embedded appellate counsel. But Kurt can also enter a matter as Georgia appellate counsel after the jury has returned a verdict to begin preparing for appeal.
Some of Kurt’s recent work includes:
- Successfully defending a $1.7 million jury verdict in a premises liability case in Fulton County State Court against a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and motion for new trial. Also successfully obtained an award of attorney fees under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-62.
- Successfully defending a $730,000 jury verdict in an automotive collision case in Gwinnett County State Court against a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and motion for new trial.
FEDERAL APPELLATE LITIGATION
Kurt has worked on well over one hundred Federal appeals, representing clients before the Supreme Court of the United States and before every circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. Prior to becoming an appellate attorney, he honed his knowledge of the Federal courts by working for both the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Some of Kurt’s recent work includes:
- Preparing attorneys to argue before the Supreme Court of the United States in two cases this term, including a challenge to partisan gerrymandering and a matter concerning attorneys’ fees in social security claims.
- Obtaining a favorable judgment before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in a case concerning the enforceability of forum selection clauses and class action waivers. A decision is pending. Listen to Kurt’s argument here.
- Successfully representing an injured individual before the Eleventh Circuit seeking reversal of a grant of summary judgment on assumption of risk grounds. Read The Fulton County Daily Report’s coverage of Kurt’s victory here.
- Successfully representing individuals injured in a trucking accident before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, seeking reversal of a declaratory judgment in a complex insurance dispute. The court has granted oral argument in the matter.
STATE APPELLATE LITIGATION
Kurt also regularly appears before the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Prior to graduating from law school, Kurt worked for the Supreme Court of Georgia as an extern for then-Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein.
Some of Kurt’s recent work includes:
- Representing the DeKalb Board of Ethics before the Supreme Court of Georgia in a case addressing the state constitution’s appointments clause. Read more here.
- Successfully defending on appeal multiple jury verdicts in the Court of Appeals of Georgia, including a $1.7 million verdict in a premises liability case and a $730,000 jury verdict in an automotive collision case.
- Successfully obtaining a reversal of a trial verdict in the Court of Appeals of Georgia in a premises liability case involving a wrongful death.
- Representing a business owner before the Court of Appeals of Georgia in a dispute with an investment group. The case remains pending.
- Defeating an application for discretionary appeal in a case involving sovereign immunity and in a consumer class action.
- Defeating numerous petitions for certiorari to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
You can contact Kurt here.
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