Lawyers
Spivey Gault • Edward Box
E. Spivey Gault
Mr.Gault was born and raised in Leland, Mississippi, a small town in the Mississippi Delta. He graduated from McCallie Preparatory School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1964 and from Vanderbilt University in 1969. In 1972, he received his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi, where he served as Articles Editor of the Mississippi Law Journal and was a member and President of Phi Delta Phi International Legal Fraternity.
From December of 1972 until January of 1990, Mr.Gault practiced law with the firm of Lake, Tindall, Hunger, and Thackston in Greenville, Mississippi. After initially handling general insurance defense litigation, Mr. Gault began working primarily in the area of admiralty and maritime law. In January of 1990, Mr. Gault moved to Paducah and opened the Paducah office of the Greenville firm. Finally, in 1999, the Paducah partners withdrew and formed the firm that is now Gault & Box, PLLC.
Mr. Gault has, for over thirty-seven years, been actively involved in handling litigation and transactions involving almost every aspect of maritime law. He has a Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating of AV for Legal Ability and Ethical Standards, the highest rating given. Mr. Gault has been a Proctor in Admiralty in the Maritime Law Association of the United States since 1978 and is a life fellow in the Kentucky Bar Association. In 2004, Mr. Gault was recognized by the Port of Paducah Propeller Club as Port of Paducah Maritime Person of the Year for his contributions to the inland maritime industry. In 2007 and 2010, Mr. Gault was selected for inclusion as a Kentucky Super Lawyer, a recognition awarded only 5% of Kentucky lawyers, in the area of Maritime/Transportation Law.
In his practice, Mr. Gault defends companies and their insurers in personal injury and wrongful death cases involving traditional Jones Act Seamen, employees claiming seaman status, recreational vessel owners and operators and passengers, commercial and recreational vessel collisions and allisions, fires, breakaways and sinkings, marine insurance litigation, ship owners limitation of liability litigation, maritime contract and charter party disputes, and complex commercial and general defense litigation. Many of the personal injury cases have involved catastrophic injuries or multi-fatality incidents. Most recently, Mr. Gault served as lead counsel in a limitation of liability litigation in West Virginia arising from a tow breakup on a tow exiting a lock on the Ohio River which caused the dam gate to be blocked and resulted in the loss of the navigation pool causing damage to over 170 different claimants and claims in excess of $90,000,000.00. Mr. Gaults experience also includes representation of companies and maritime insurers with respect to issues involving insurance coverage under protection and indemnity policies, marine hull policies, wharfingers policies, comprehensive general liability policies and excess liability insurance policies as well as providing opinions to companies and insurers concerning case evaluations for personal injury and property damage claims.
Mr. Gault has actively handled litigation in State and Federal Courts in Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas.
Mr. Gault also has an active maritime transactional practice involving vessel purchases and sales, bareboat and fully found charter agreements, vessel documentation and financing, barge fleeting and shifting agreements, and vessel operating agreements.
He is admitted to the Bar in Kentucky and Mississippi and has been admitted to practice in the United District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, the Southern and Central Districts of Illinois, the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi, the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, and the Eastern District of Oklahoma; the United States Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr.Gault is a member of the American, Kentucky, Mississippi, McCracken County, and Federal Bar Associations, Kentucky Defense Counsel, Defense Research Institute, Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute and the Maritime Law Association of the United States. He is also a member of the Port of Paducah Propeller Club.
Mr. Gault is married to the former Carol Clark of Mayfield, Kentucky, who is a member of the Paducah City Commission. He has two grown sons who live in Mississippi.
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Edward K. Box
Mr. Box was born February 8, 1960, in Paducah, Kentucky. He received a B.S.B. in Business Administration from Murray State University in 1996. He received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Memphis in 1999.
Prior to returning to college first in 1984 at Paducah Community College and again in 1994 at Murray State University to obtain his undergraduate degree, Mr. Boxs work experiences included being a member of the IBEW working as a groundman constructing electrical distribution lines; construction of poured concrete basements and general carpentry work; marketing life and health insurance lines as a licensed insurance agent; selling retail furniture; managing the sales force for a radio station; and obtaining a Commercial Drivers License and driving a semi-trailer truck delivering pharmaceuticals over the road on a nightly basis. Also, during the years of 1982 through 1984, Mr. Box was a member and officer of the McCracken County Disaster and Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue Division.
After law school, Mr. Box returned to Paducah, Kentucky to practice law. In 2004, he became a partner with the law firm of Bradley, Freed & Box. In November 2005, Mr. Box left his former law firm to become a partner with Mr. Gault. His practice includes the defense of claims brought by seaman under the Jones Act and general maritime law, criminal defense in both state and federal courts, toxic tort defense, and prosecution of violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Federal Credit Union Act, and discrimination cases under both federal and state law.
Mr. Box is admitted to practice before the courts of Kentucky, the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has been admitted on a pro hac vice basis in the Eastern District of Arkansas and the Southern District of Indiana. He is a member of the McCracken County, Kentucky and Federal Bar Association; Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, and the Defense Research Institute. He currently practices in the areas of Admiralty and Maritime Law, Criminal Defense, Employment law, Consumer Protection Law, Product Liability, Toxic Torts, and General Civil Litigation.
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