James E. Butler Jr.

James E. Butler, Jr. is a nationally known civil trial practice attorney who has litigated cases in 30 states. Jim has been lead counsel in ten cases that exceeded $100 million, including a $1.7 BILLION verdict as of August 22, 2022, against Ford as reported here. James E. Butler, Jr. is a founding partner of Butler Prather LLP, a nationally known civil trial practice firm which has litigated cases in 33 states – from Massachusetts to California, Oregon to Florida. Jim has been lead counsel in ten cases where the verdict exceeded $100 million, including a $1.7 BILLION verdict against Ford in a Super Duty roof crush case on August 22, 2022 and a a $2.5 BILLION verdict against Ford in another Super Duty roof crush case on February 14, 2025. Those ten verdicts came in cases involving business torts, products liability, and nuisance/trespass. It is believed that no lawyer in American history has served as lead counsel in so many cases where the verdicts exceeded $100 million. Jim has won record-setting verdicts in several states, including Missouri, Tennessee, and Alabama. He has set the record for largest verdict in Georgia history on six separate occasions – in four completely different kinds of civil cases (medical malpractice, trucking, auto products liability, and business torts/breach of fiduciary duty). No other lawyer has done that more than once. The first record-setting verdict in Georgia was when Jim was 31 years old – and was followed three months later by what was then the second largest verdict in Georgia history. Jim was lead counsel in the Six Flags vs. Time Warner case, a business tort case, which is believed to be one of the largest collected judgments in American history ($454 million + interest).