John Overton Belcher is a founding member of Belcher Sykes Harrington, PLLC. John focuses his practice on civil litigation and dispute resolution, and has been representing clients in Tennessee courtrooms since 1997. John graduated from Vanderbilt University with honors and from Vanderbilt Law School, and is admitted to practice in the State and Federal Courts in Tennessee as well as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. John handles a wide variety of civil cases, especially in Chancery Court, Circuit Court, and the Court of Appeals.

John represents clients throughout Tennessee, with an emphasis on cases in Davidson, Williamson, Sevier, Knox, Sumner, Cumberland and Dickson counties. His practice reflects the diverse make-up of the firm’s client base, as he represents individuals and businesses, plaintiffs and defendants. Although John handles a wide variety of types of cases, a common theme runs through all of his representations: his desire to reduce disputes to their simplest elements and to seek decisive and efficient resolutions.

In his approximately three decades of legal practice, John has handled many types of cases. Since Belcher Sykes Harrington does not advertise on tv, the radio, or billboards, John’s cases have primarily come from word of mouth recommendations by other lawyers, past clients, and members of the community. In particular, certain types of clients have sought out John’s help again and again, including:

• Victims of timeshare fraud. John has represented scores of individuals who have been defrauded in the sale of timeshares.
• People in real estate disputes. John has represented property owners, purchasers, and sellers in property disputes of all sizes and shapes.
• People injured by the negligence of others. John has represented those injured in car accidents, bicycle accidents, dog bites, and other acts of negligence. In particular, John often represents injured cyclists.
• Those pursuing wrongful death claims for the loss of their loved ones.
• Partners caught up in partnership and LLC disputes.
• Individuals and entities caught up in complex business disputes often involving trade secrets, breach of contract issues, business torts, or non-competition and non-solicitation agreements.

Several of John’s cases have helped to create important legal precedent via opinions from the Tennessee Court of Appeals, including:

• Representation of victims of timeshare fraud who recovered $500,000 in punitive damages against a timeshare developer.
• Successful challenge of arbitration provisions in timeshare and construction contracts.
• Representation of victims of timeshare fraud in cases involving the recovery of attorney’s fees from the timeshare developer.
• Representation of partners/members in complex LLC litigation involving the duties of LLC officers and members in the context of a multi-million dollar real estate dispute.
• Affirmation of summary judgment in a public figure defamation case.
• Clarification of application of fraudulent conveyance law.
• Cases involving business disputes and partnership law.
• Affirmation of dismissal due to the doctrine of Prior Suit Pending.

John is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, the Nashville Bar Association, and the Belmont University Law School American Inn of Court. He is a former member of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court. When he is not practicing law, John is typically spending time with his family and enjoying the great outdoors. He has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, hiked the Milford Track in New Zealand, bungy jumped off of two of New Zealand’s suspension bridges, and backpacked all over the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and the Smokies.