Jonathan Swann Taylor

Jonathan Swann Taylor is an accomplished trial attorney with extensive experience in general civil litigation. Known for his strategic thinking and client-centered approach, Jonathan provides effective, efficient legal representation to a diverse range of clients. His practice areas include Civil Rights Litigation, Constitutional Rights Litigation, Governmental Defense Litigation, Education Law, Defense of Election Contests, Employment Law, Insurance Defense Litigation, Personal Injury, Business Litigation, and Commercial Law.

Jonathan is a prolific litigator with a strong track record of success. While he may only be 44 years old, Jonathan has already tried more than 50 cases, many of which were jury trials, and he has a good sense of what works and what doesn’t work inside the courtroom. He has secured favorable verdicts for clients in both state and federal courts across Tennessee. He has also argued successfully before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Tennessee Supreme Court, and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Notably, Jonathan is believed to be the only private practice attorney in Tennessee to win civil appeals before the Tennessee Supreme Court in both 2013 and 2014.

While Jonathan has significant experience handling all types of litigation, he is frequently retained to defend governmental entities such as counties, municipalities, school districts, and utility districts, as well as their employees, managers, controlling boards, bodies and officials in all areas of governmental liability, in state and federal courts throughout Tennessee. Through focused and aggressive legal writing, he has secured the dismissal of many of these cases prior to trial, often in the early stages of litigation.

Prior to joining Kramer Rayson, Jonathan served as the managing partner for almost a decade at a boutique full-service litigation firm where he honed his skills as a successful trial lawyer across the State of Tennessee.

When he’s not practicing law, Jonathan enjoys spending time with his wife, Danielle, and their two young daughters, Madeline and Emily. His family loves to spend time at the lake, grilling out, and attending any University of Tennessee sporting events. Jonathan also enjoys traveling and exploring new destinations.

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• Civil Rights Litigation
• Constitutional Rights Litigation
• Governmental Defense Litigation
• Education Law
• Election Law
• Employment Law
• Insurance Defense Litigation
• Personal Injury
• Business Litigation
• Commercial Law

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• Tennessee
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
• U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Florida Coastal School of Law, Jacksonville, Florida

J.D. - 2005

• Honors: "Book" Award and "Best Written Brief" Award in Lawyering Process II
• Honors: Selected to participate in comprehensive bankruptcy externship

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University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

B.A. – 2001

• Major: Political Science
• Member of the Honor Court
• Elected as a Senator in the Student Government Association (SGA)

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A.T. by and through B.G. v. Cleveland City Schools Bd. of Education, No. 1:22-cv-110, 2024 WL 4333685 (E.D. Tenn. Sept. 27, 2024).
Attorneys Jonathan Swann Taylor and Hilary L. Magacs obtained the dismissal of a $15 million Title IX case on behalf of the Cleveland City Schools Board of Education and its employees.

Rager, Next Friend of GC v. McMinn County, No. 21-5987, 2023 WL 4927252 (6th Cir. Aug. 2, 2023).
Attorneys Jonathan Swann Taylor and Hilary L. Magacs convinced the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the trial court’s denial of qualified immunity to the Sheriff of McMinn County and an officer of the McMinn County Sheriff’s Office in a $10 million civil rights claim brought by the family of a deceased inmate.

Accord v. Anderson County, No. 22-5206, 2022 WL 16825411 (6th Cir. Nov. 8, 2022).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor helped secure the dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed against every county in the State of Tennessee.

George Nerren, Bill Burch, and Carrell Van Deacon v. The Bradley County Election Commission, Travis Henry, Art Rhodes, Cristy Schuch, Kezmond Pugh, and Dana Burgner, being the Election Commission Members in their Official Capacity, and Allan Jones, Bradley County Chancery Court No. 2022-CV-137.
Attorney Jonathan Taylor secured the dismissal of a Petition for Writ of Common Law Certiorari filed against his clients, the Bradley County Election Commission and its members, which challenged the outcome of the primary for the Cleveland City School Board election.

Kennedy v. Anderson County, No. 3:20-cv-295, 2021 WL 3173888 (E.D. Tenn. July 27, 2021).
Attorneys Jonathan Swann Taylor and Hilary L. Magacs obtained the dismissal of a civil rights claim for denial of healthcare filed by an inmate of the Anderson County Detention Facility.

Cotham v. Yeager, 607 S.W.3d 820 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2020).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor obtained an appellate victory, affirming the dismissal of a qui tam action filed against the Anderson County Law Director and Chief Jailer for Anderson County for the extension of a telephone services contract for the jail where the Plaintiff alleged violations of the Tennessee False Claims Act.

Weser v. Goodson, 965 F.3d 507 (6th Cir. 2020).
Attorneys Jonathan Swann Taylor and Hilary L. Magacs secured an appellate victory from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the dismissal of the Plaintiff’s federal civil rights claims against a Deputy for the Loudon County Sheriff’s Department who arrested the Plaintiff.

Crowley v. Anderson County, 783 Fed. Appx. 556 (6th Cir. 2019).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor convinced the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the district court’s decision to deny qualified immunity to the Law Director for Anderson County on the Plaintiff’s § 1983 civil conspiracy and malicious prosecution claims.

Doe v. Hamilton County Bd. of Education, 329 F. Supp. 3d 543 (E.D. Tenn. 2018).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor obtained summary judgment for his clients in a multi-million dollar, high-profile Title IX case brought by a minor plaintiff and his family, alleging that the minor plaintiff was a victim of hazing and sexual assault on a school-sponsored basketball trip in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Haire v. Anderson County, No. 3:17-cv-250, 2018 WL 1475606 (E.D. Tenn. March 26, 2018).
Attorneys Jonathan Swann Taylor and Nathaniel D. Moore obtained the dismissal of an Anderson County resident’s malicious prosecution, false light invasion of privacy, defamation, and punitive damages claims filed against Anderson County, the Law Director for Anderson County, and a member of the Anderson County Commission.

In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, Case No. 1:17-MD-2804 (N.D. Ohio).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor worked with a team of lawyers to help prosecute the case against prescription drug distributors of opioids on behalf of Morgan County, Tennessee, and Scott County, Tennessee, resulting in settlements of over $50 billion dedicated toward abating the harm caused by the opioid epidemic over the last several decades.

Harris v. Cleveland City Bd. of Education, No. 1:17-cv-121, 2018 WL 1124961 (E.D. Tenn. 2018).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor obtained the dismissal of the Plaintiff’s Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and McKinney-Vento Act claims filed against the Cleveland City Board of Education.

Tandy Ray King v. John A. Ring, et al., Maury County Circuit Court No. 16257.
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor helped secure a confidential settlement on behalf of his client, Tandy Ray King, for claims relating to Mr. King’s 2017 crop losses.

Nichols v. Knox County, 718 Fed. Appx. 338 (6th Cir. 2017).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor secured a substantial jury verdict and appellate victory on behalf of Plaintiff Donald Nichols, who was denied care for 70 days after falling off a bunk and breaking his neck in the Knox County Detention Facility.

Vick v. Jefferson County Bd. of Education, No. 3:13-cv-730, 2016 WL 5377836 (E.D. Tenn. Sept. 9, 2016).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor obtained a complete defense verdict for the Jefferson County Board of Education after a multiple-day bench trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Smith v. Jefferson County Bd. of School Com’rs, 788 F.3d 580 (6th Cir. 2015).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor convinced the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a monetary judgment and injunction entered in favor of former teachers of an alternative school who alleged that the School Board’s new contract with a self-proclaimed “religious institution” to provide alternative school services violated the Establishment Clause.

Harris v. Haynes, 445 S.W.3d 143 (Tenn. 2014).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor convinced the Tennessee Supreme Court to affirm the dismissal of an injured plaintiff’s claim for uninsured motorist (UM) coverage under the terms of a coverage document issued to Anderson County and other governmental entities in Tennessee, which specifically excluded UM coverage for county employees and persons who received workers’ compensation benefits.

Dyersburg-Dyer County Public Library Foundation v. Still Contractors, LLC, et al., Dyer County Circuit Court No. 2014-cv-19.
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor obtained a complete defense verdict for his client, a roofing contractor, after a week-long jury trial in Dyersburg, Tennessee.

King v. Anderson County, 419 S.W.3d 232 (Tenn. 2013).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor successfully convinced the Tennessee Supreme Court to overturn a judgment entered on behalf of an injured inmate in the Anderson County Detention Facility who was violently assaulted by a cellmate. In reversing the trial court and Court of Appeals, the Tennessee Supreme Court found that the evidence at trial did not show that jail officials knew or should have known that the Plaintiff would become the victim of such an attack. Significantly, the Court recognized for the first time that jails in Tennessee are not insurers of an inmate’s safety.

Lynch ex rel. Hayes v. Loudon County, No. E2013-454-COA-R3-CV, 2013 WL 6667706 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 17, 2013).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor successfully obtained a complete defense verdict in a wrongful death case tried against Loudon County. The deceased was involved in a single-car accident, and the investigating officer from the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office allowed the deceased to continue driving, resulting in another wreck shortly thereafter that led to her death.

Wood v. Cocke County, No. 2:11-cv-213, 2013 WL 124123 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 9, 2013).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor successfully obtained a complete defense verdict on an equal protection claim tried before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee after Cocke County refused to accept private roadways from the Plaintiffs’ subdivision into its public road system.

Miller v. Monroe County, No. 3:09-cv-85, 2012 WL 368740 (E.D. Tenn. 2012).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor successfully obtained the dismissal of all of the Plaintiff’s civil rights claims on summary judgment.

Smith v. Jefferson County Bd. Of School Com’rs, 641 F.3d 197 (6th Cir. 2011).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor successfully convinced the en banc Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Jefferson County Board of School Commissioners did not violate former teachers’ procedural and substantive due process rights when it contracted out its alternative school services to a religious school, and that the individual members of the School Board were entitled to legislative immunity for their actions in entering into the contract.

Defoe ex rel. Defoe v. Spiva, 625 F.3d 324 (6th Cir. 2010).
Attorney Jonathan Swann Taylor successfully convinced the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm in all respects the dismissal of the Plaintiff’s constitutional challenge to the Anderson County School System’s ban on displaying the Confederate flag when it would result in substantial disruption or material interference with schoolwork and discipline.

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In 2017, Jonathan was honored to be appointed by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee to serve as a member of the Magistrate Merit Selection Panel. This panel included five lawyers and two non-lawyer community members who were tasked with reviewing and evaluating more than three dozen applications to fill the vacancy that was created by the retirement of United States Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley, Jr. This work ultimately resulted in the selection and appointment of Debra C. Poplin to the position of United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee on September 13, 2017.

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• Tennessee Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Knoxville Bar Association
• Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association

• University of Tennessee Alumni Association
• Active participant in various local charitable initiatives