With over thirty years of experience in trial and appellate litigation, Donald has handled more than 400 appeals in state and federal courts, including 25 cases in the Tennessee Supreme Court. Now focusing his practice primarily on appellate work and trial consulting, Mr. Capparella uses experience gained from serving as trial counsel in over 150 trials, many of them before a jury, to advise lawyers on the challenges they face at trial and to achieve the best possible outcomes at the appellate level. 

Donald Capparella has established a reputation as one of Tennessee’s most respected litigators, with his experience handling a wide variety of matters, from seminal tort law cases to over 50 divorce appeals to his work on many of Tennessee’s landmark cases.

Notable Cases

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit (Representative):

Fox et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 930 F.3d 415 (6th Cir. 2019) - Lead Appellate Counsel - Tort Law

• Holding for the first time in history that Amazon could be held liable for a product sold on its website, an exploding hoverboard, when it knew of the danger the product posed

Monypeny v. Khiev, 2015 WL 1541333 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2015) - Lead Trial and Appellate Counsel - Tort Law

• Obtaining one of the largest jury verdicts in Tennessee that year, in a car accident case in Memphis. Upheld on appeal.

Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Fenelon, 76 F. Appx. 581 (6th Cir. 2003) - Trial and Appellate Counsel - Commercial Law

• Affirming and increasing the trial court’s multi-million dollar verdict on appeal against Exxon for a Nashville plastic company.

Tennessee Supreme Court (Representative):

Binns v. Trader Joe's East, Inc., 690 S.W. 3d 241 (Tenn. 2024) - Lead Counsel

• Landmark case rejecting the adoption of the Preemption Doctrine, which would have allowed employers to shield themselves from their own liability in negligence cases via vicarious liability.

Yebuah v. Center for Urological Treatment, PLC, 627 S.W. 3d 125 (Tenn. 2021) - Amicus Counsel - Tort Law

• Regarding the constitutionality of Tennessee’s damages cap for non-economic damages.

Coffman v. Armstrong International, Inc., 615 S.W. 3d 888 (Tenn. 2021)

McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC, 596 S.W. 3d 686 (Tenn. 2020) - Amicus Counsel - Tort Law

• Regarding the constitutionality of Tennessee’s damages cap for non-economic damages

StarLink Logistics Inc. v. ACC, LLC, 494 S.W. 3d 659 (Tenn. 2016)

In re Estate of Smallman, 398 S.W. 3d 134 (Tenn. 2013)

• Securing new trial regarding widow’s right to pursue benefits of husband’s estate

Mayfield v. Mayfield, 395 S.W.3d 108 (Tenn. 2012) - Divorce

• Reversing an award of alimony to an abusive, at-fault spouse

Morrison v. Allen, 338 S.W.3d 417 (Tenn. 2011). - Trial and Appellate Counsel - Life Insurance Action

• Landmark case securing a multi-million-dollar award for a widow and child who were wrongly denied insurance proceeds.

Martin v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., 271 S.W. 3d 76 (Tenn. 2008)

• Landmark case clarifying summary judgment jurisprudence

Downs ex rel. Downs v. Bush, 263 S.W. 3d 812 (Tenn. 2008)

Jordan v. Baptist Three River Hospital, 984 S.W.2d 593 (Tenn. 1999) - Amicus Counsel - Tort Law

• Landmark case allowing loss of consortium damages and dramatically increasing the damages available in wrongful death actions.

Coln v. City of Savannah, 966 S.W.2d 34 (Tenn. 1998) - Amicus Counsel - Tort Law

• Landmark case modernizing the law of premises liability in Tennessee by abolishing the Open and Obvious Rule

McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992) - Amicus Counsel - Tort Law

• Landmark case replacing contributory negligence with comparative fault in Tennessee

Tennessee Court of Appeals (Representative):

Gergel v. Gergel, 2022 WL 1222945, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2022) - Divorce

• Upholding the Trial Court’s rulings on alimony, division of marital assets, and other issues

Walker v. Walker, 2020 WL 507645 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2020) - Divorce

• Upholding the Trial Court’s setting aside of a prenuptial agreement on the basis of fraud

Butler v. KBK Outdoor Advertising et al., 2020 WL 8026513 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2020) - Commercial

• Reversing the Trial Court’s decision to award minimal value to a surviving spouse of a partner under the partnership agreement

Barnes v. Barnes, 614 S.W.3d 90 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2019) - Divorce

• Reversing the Trial Court’s reduction of alimony, and obtaining substantial attorney fees on appeal and at trial

Trezevant v. Trezevant, 568 S.W.3d 595, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2018) - Divorce

• Reversing an inequitable division of a more than $46 million marital estate

Westmoreland v. Bacon, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2013) - Medical Malpractice

• Successful Supreme Court Application for Permission to Appeal resulting in remand and preservation of medical malpractice claim

Jacobsen v. Jacobsen, 2013 WL 1400618 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2013) - Divorce

• Reversing the Trial Court’s award of custody and the marital home to an abusive spouse

Professional Memberships:

• Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (inducted 2016);

• Nashville Bar Association;

• Tennessee Bar Association;

• Tennessee Trial Lawyers’ Association;

• Appellate Practice Committee Chair of the Tennessee and Nashville Bar Associations;

• Barrister in the Nashville Chapter Harry Phillips American Inn of Court.

• Named a Mid-South Super Lawyer.

• AV® Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Awards and Honors:

• Appellate “Lawyer of the Year” - 2018, 2015, 2014 - Best Lawyers;

• “Best of the Bar” - Nashville Business Journal - 2024, 2023, 2018, 2016

• Top 100 Trial Lawyer - The National Trial Lawyers - 2012 and 2013

• "150 Best Lawyers” - Business TN Magazine

• Mid-South Super Lawyer

• Certificate of Appreciation - Legal Services Corporation - 2007

• Resolution recognizing Donald Capparella as Founder and Board Chairman of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival - Council of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee - 2006

• Certificate of Appreciation - Governor Phil Bredesen, State of Tennessee - 2006

• Certificate of Appreciation - Extraordinary Service, Leadership, and Dedication - Nashville Bar Association -1995

As a writer and teacher, Mr. Capparella accomplishments include:

•  Serving for over 25 years as the editor and contributing author for the Nashville Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Handbook, the only appellate treatise in Tennessee;

• Since 1995, co-authoring the Tennessee Law of Comparative Fault, published by Thomson Reuters;

• For 25 years serving as an editor for the Tennessee Tort Law Letter, a monthly report of leading tort cases published by M. Lee Smith Publishers.

• Teaching legal writing at Vanderbilt University School of Law and advanced legal writing and appellate practice at the Nashville School of Law.

Frequently in demand as a speaker, Mr. Capparella regularly leads continuing legal education seminars for organizations such as the Nashville and Tennessee Bar Associations. His popular “Much Ado About Ethics” seminar combines Shakespeare’s timeless works with modern legal dilemmas, with proceeds benefitting the Nashville Shakespeare Festival.  A passionate supporter of the arts, Mr. Capparella founded the Nashville Shakespeare Festival in 1988 and has remained actively involved as a director, actor, fundraiser and board chairman.  The Festival provides professional theatre to more than 10,000 Tennesseans annually through its critically-acclaimed Summer Shakespeare Festival at OneCity and other productions and tours during the year.