Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer LLP was honored with the Guardian of Justice Award at the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association 2013 Annual Convention last week. This prestigious award is GTLA's highest honor. It is bestowed to a member who has given extraordinary service and support to the association and to the civil justice system. » READ MORE
Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer is a proud sponsor of The Shepherd Center of Atlanta's Reasons Campaign to stop distracted driving fatalities and serious injuries. While many campaigns to stop dangerous, distracted driving have focused on statistics related to serious and fatal accidents caused by a texting driver, the Reasons campaign encourages everyone to think of why it is important to arrive safely at their own destination. » READ MORE
Attorney Leigh May of Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer successfully handled an airbag defect case similar to the current Takata recall affecting almost three million vehicles in the United States. If metal shards from an airbag that was meant to protect you resulted in serious injury, our firm can help. » READ MORE
Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer LLP is pleased to announce that partners Jim Butler and George Fryhofer were selected as the best lawyers in their specialties in the State of Georgia, and are listed in the 2013 edition of Georgia's Best Lawyers. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. » READ MORE
The Partners Of Georgia-Based Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer LLP Were Again Selected For Inclusion In The 2013 Georgia Super Lawyers And Rising Stars Lists
All five partners have been named to the 2013 Georgia Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists. Attorney Jeb Butler was also named to the Rising Stars list. » READ MORE
Court Allows Whistleblower Lawsuit Alleging Fraud in Veterans' Loans to Proceed
Six Banks Pay $161.7 Million to Settle Prior to Ruling. Case Against Wells Fargo and Mortgage Investors Moves to Trial. » READ MORE
Attorney Mary Weeks Elected To USA Shooting Board
Eight-time All-American Mary Weeks has been elected by athlete-members of USA Shooting to serve a four-year term as the Athlete Advisory Council Representative. Weeks succeeds two-time Olympian Connie Smotek as liaison for shooting athletes between the USOC and the USAS. » READ MORE
BWF selected as one of top ranked U.S. Law Firms
Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP is pleased to announce that it was selected as one of Martindale-Hubbell's 2013 U.S. Top Ranked Law Firms. This special section will be featured in Fortune's "2013 Investors Guide" as well as the January 2013 editions of the magazines The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel. » READ MORE
BWF Partner Wooten receives Scroll Award
Butler Wooten & Fryhofer partner Joel Wooten was presented with the University of Georgia Law School Association's highest honor-the Distinguished Service Scroll Award this year. » READ MORE
$1.75 million deal ends appeal over death, sovereign immunity
August 3, 2012
The Southwest Georgia Regional Commission has settled a wrongful death case for $1.75 million, ending an appeal that would have tested whether the state's 12 regional commissions are entitled to sovereign immunity from lawsuits. » READ MORE
BWF Partners again recognized as 'Super Lawyers'
February 24, 2012
Butler Wooten & Fryhofer partners Jim Butler, Joel Wooten, George Fryhofer, and Leigh May have all been named 2012 Georgia Super Lawyers. Partner Brandon Peak has been named a 2012 Georgia Rising Star lawyer. » READ MORE
Honda announces worldwide recall for vehicles with defective airbags
December 2, 2011
Honda Motor Co. is recalling 304,000 vehicles globally for unsafe air bags that may cause injuries or deaths. Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer is one of the few law firms in the country which has successfully sued Honda over this very defect in Honda's airbags - and won a quick settlement for the victim. » READ MORE
Defective Airbag Sparks Honda Recall
December 4, 2011
My Fox-Atlanta
Watch Butler, Wooten and Fryhofer attorney Leigh Martin May interviewed on Fox about the latest Honda airbag recall. You'll also meet our former client, Kristy Williams, who was severely injured by the same airbag defect. We successfully sued Honda on her behalf. » READ MORE
Butler and Bowen honored for excellence
Georgia Law alumni James E. Butler Jr. (J.D. '77) and Dudley H. Bowen Jr. (LL.B. '65) have been named the recipients of the law school Association's 2011 Distinguished Service Scroll Award. » READ MORE
Pro & Con: Are high schools doing enough to prevent heat-related deaths?
By: Ralph Swearngin and Buddy Morrison
Published in Atlanta Journal Constitution, August, 2011
The Georgia High School Association is deeply saddened to have had two students die after their involvement in football workouts this month, and we are concerned about the well-being of our athletes in the future. Buddy Morrison of Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP elaborates on the issue. » READ MORE
Jury Duty Love
By: Jay Watson
Published in 11 Live News, July, 2011
Plenty of us have expended lots of energy in order to get out jury duty.
We worry, it will take us away from our jobs. Maybe it's a case that seems to difficult, too long, too complicated. Well this is a story about the amazing things that can happened when you CAN'T get out of jury duty. » VIEW VIDEO
Jury duty nets $25 a day-and a wedding
By: Greg Land
Published in Daily Report, June, 2011
The plaintiff in a 2009 Clayton County auto design-defect case won a $17.7 million award, but two of the jurors may have come out even better: They got each other. According to a press release from Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, which represented Wheeler at trial, when Mullen and Hull dropped in on Clayton County State Court Judge Morris E. Braswell in April to share the news of their engagement, he interrupted his proceedings to announce to the court that "something good comes out of jury duty." » READ MORE
Court of Appeals Allows Class Action Against Insurer
By: Greg Land
Published in Daily Report, July, 2010
In a resoundIng defeat for the defendant insurance company, the georgia Court of appeals has upheld a lower courts decision allowing a class action to proceed on behalf of potentially hundreds of thousands of customers who bought credit insurance when financing their vehicles, but who in cases in which the loans were paid off early or the cars were wrecked and the loans canceled were not provided refunds of those premiums. » READ MORE
Ford settles as jury considers damages: Woman Paralyzed in '05 Wreck; Design Flaws Blamed
By: Greg Land
Published in Daily Report, December, 2009
Already on the hook for the lion's share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed. » READ MORE
Children win in airport death suit: Family of construction worker who was run over, killed by dump truck is awarded $5.47 million
By: Andy Peters
Published in Daily Report, November 2009
Following a fatal accident on the construction site of the Atlanta airport's new international terminal, lawyers from two firms filed a wrongful-death suit against a dump-truck company. last month they obtained a $5.47 million verdict on behalf of the victim's four young children. » READ MORE
$13M win against DaimlerChrysler to keep firm busy
By: Zach Lowe
Published in Daily Report July, 2008
Lawyers at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP find themselves in the middle of a nationally watched punitive damages case after a closely divided Tennessee Supreme Court reversed a lower court and upheld a $13.4 million award to a mother whose infant son died in a 2001 car crash. » READ MORE
The Squire of Muscogee County: James Butler is as prepared as Winston Churchill and as down-to-earth as Atticus Finch
By: Kenna Simmons
Published in Georgia Super Lawyers 2008 March 2008
The first time I ever stood in front of a jury," James Butler says, "I knew I had died and gone to heaven." In the 30 years since that celestial moment, Butler has won four verdicts worth over $100 million each, while his firm, Butler Wooten & Fryhofer, has notched more than $1 billion in its top 10 wins. » READ MORE
Loan insurance class action settles for $45 million
By: Alyson M. Palmer
Published in Daily Report, November 2007
A nationwide class action over insurance policies that consumers buy when they take out retail loans has settled for $45 million. » READ MORE
Ford takes $13 million verdict to Ga. high court
By: Alyson M. Palmer
Published in Daily Report, September 2007
Arguments over A death-row inmate's mental capacity and a $13 million judgment against Ford Motor Co. highlighted the opening of the September term of the Supreme Court of Georgia. » READ MORE
The Advocate: Attorney Jim Butler creates a scholarship that supports the future of public interest law
By: Allyson Mann (MA '92)
Printed in: The University of Georgia Magazine, June 2006
In the lobby of Columbus law firm Butler, Wooten and Fryhofer, there are two framed photographs from the 1962 movie "To Kill a Mockingbird." Chosen by Jim Butler (ABJ '72, JD '77), the images are of Atticus Finch as played by Gregory Peck. In one, Finch argues his case before the jury while his client-a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman in a small, Depression-era Southern town-sits in the background. In the other, Finch walks out of the courtroom while the audience stands, demonstrating that he's won their respect by proving his client's innocence despite losing the case. "That's the moment when I first started thinking about becoming a lawyer," says Butler... » READ MORE
Butler Wins $105M Verdict in Chrysler Seat Back Case
By: Robin McDonald
Published in Fulton County Daily Report, December 2004
A Tennessee jury has socked DaimlerChrysler Corp. for $105.5 million after finding that a baby's 2001 death was caused by a faulty minivan seat. » READ MORE
State's Biggest Jury Award
By: Ben Schmitt
Published in Daily Report, December 1998
A Gwinnett jury award this month left all others in Georgia in the dust. The $454 million in compensatory and punitive damages was a victory for investors who attacked Time Warner's management of Six Flags Over Georgia, saying it cost them money. » READ MORE
Six Flags Verdict: $454 Million: Gwinnet Jury Hits Time Warner with $257 Million Judgement in Punitive Damages
By: Ben Schmitt
Published in Fulton County Daily Report, December 1998
The jury in an investors' suit over the operation of Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday delivered the second of two body blows to the park's former manager Time Warner--a one-two punch that totaled $454 million. » READ MORE
Firm Whips GM, Wants More: Lawyer in Ga. Case With Similar Facts Predicts Repeat of Big Alabama Award
By: Emily Heller
Published in Fulton County Daily Report, June 1996
A Columbus plaintiffs firm renowned for winning huge jury verdicts says its latest one, a $150 million award from an Alabama jury against General Motors Corp., increases the likelihood of success in two similar suits in Georgia. » READ MORE
Putting GM Verdict in Historical Context: How Biggest Win in State Stacks Up
By: Paul Kvinta
Published in Fulton County Daily Report, February 1993
If there were a verdict Hall of Fame, what place of honor would last week's 105.24 million Fulton State Court award against General Motors Corp. command? » READ MORE
Punitive Damages Cap Under Attack: Plaintiffs Want Verdict To Stand
By: John L. Jackson
Published in Fulton County Daily Report, April 1990
The recent assault on the 1987 Tort Reform Act has not yet lifted the $250,000 cap on punitive damages. But personal injury lawyer James E. Butler Jr. attacked the cap on constitutional grounds Thursday, citing recent court decisions that whittle away at limits on punitive damages. » READ MORE
Sending Defense Lawyers a Message: Can Opponents Counter James Butler's Closing?
By: S. Richard Gard Jr.
Published in Fulton County Daily Report, Sept 1988
Plaintiff's attorney James E. Butler Jr.'s ability to put an entire industry on trial in an isolated torts case continues to confound the insurance defense bar. » READ MORE
Honda Motor Co. is recalling 304,000 vehicles globally for unsafe air bags that may cause injuries or deaths. Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer is one of the few law firms in the country which has successfully sued Honda over this very defect in Honda's airbags - and won a quick settlement for the victim. » Read More
Watch Butler, Wooten and Fryhofer attorney Leigh Martin May interviewed on Fox about the latest Honda airbag recall. You'll also meet our former client, Kristy Williams, who was severely injured by the same airbag defect. We successfully sued Honda on her behalf. » Read More
