E. B. (Chip) Chiles IV

Chip Chiles is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a Member of the American Law Institute.  He litigates business-related disputes at trial and on appeal in Arkansas and in other states.

Chip has represented some of the world’s leading companies in the insurance, pharmaceutical, chemical, finance, communications, food and beverage, financial, and retail industries.  His business-litigation practice has included defending class actions on topics including consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and advertising, wage-and-hour violations, the unauthorized practice of law, insurance claim-handling practices, race discrimination, and breach of contract.  He also regularly represents manufacturers and distributors in product-liability cases; employers in employment-related cases; and insurers in ERISA, coverage, and bad-faith litigation.

As lead counsel, Chip recently represented investors accused of breaching a multimillion-dollar contract to invest in a nutritional-supplement business in California, with a federal jury in Los Angeles rejecting the claim for over $21 million against the investors and awarding millions of dollars to the investors on their counterclaims.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment in his clients’ favor two weeks after his oral argument.

Chip also recently represented a group of online travel companies appealing from a $34 million judgment for state and local gross receipts and tourism taxes.  Two weeks after his oral argument, the Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously held that the taxes did not apply to the online travel companies and their services and reversed the judgment completely.

In another recent victory as lead trial and appellate counsel, Chip successfully challenged waste-management regulations that subjected his clients to competing demands by two solid waste management districts.  The trial court agreed with him that these regulations exceeded the enacting district’s statutory authority, and the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed that decision three weeks after his oral argument.  A month before that decision, Chip presented oral argument in the Arkansas Court of Appeals on behalf of a bank for which he had secured dismissal of a complaint by former customers asserting numerous contract and tort claims.  Two weeks after his oral argument, the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal in his client’s favor.

In addition to these recent appeals, Chip’s appellate successes include reversal of a multimillion-dollar judgment against an international product manufacturer due to lack of personal jurisdiction, reversal in two different cases due to the failure of the trial judge to recuse because of the appearance of bias, and affirmance of summary judgments in precedent-setting decisions about the requirements for a serious health condition under the FMLA and the fair-report privilege in Arkansas defamation law.

Chip’s other recent trial successes include defending a convenience-store owner/operator against a former employee’s allegations of malicious prosecution and winning a trial for a family-owned business against former employees and their new employer on contract and tort claims.  He has served on successful trial teams in numerous multi-week jury trials, including defending herbicide formulators against farmers’ product-liability claims and defending a publicly traded computer company against its competitor’s defamation and conspiracy claims.

Upon graduation from law school, Chip served as a law clerk for the Honorable G. Thomas Eisele of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Recognition
Chambers USA (2005-Present)
The Best Lawyers in America® (2007-Present)
Super Lawyers (2006-Present)
Benchmark Litigation (2012-Present)
Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent®

Admissions
State of Arkansas (highest score)
State of Tennessee
United States Supreme Court
United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits
United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, Western and Middle Districts of Tennessee, Eastern District of Texas, and Eastern District of Missouri

Education
Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1996)

Hendrix College (B.A., summa cum laude and with distinction, 1993)