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Jeb Butler
Butler Law FirmBadges
Claimed Lawyer ProfileQ&A
Summary
We handle serious personal injury and wrongful death cases. We take only a small number of cases so that we can provide exceptional services to the clients we take on. Our results include a jury verdict of $150 million.
We don't work like most personal injury firms. We believe in doing the hard work--calling and tracking down witnesses, digging through boxes of old files, and connecting with our clients to understand what happened and how it has affected them. We believe in attention to detail.
You'll never see our firm on a billboard or a daytime television ad. Those are volume lawyers--who take in a whole bunch of cases, settle them quick, and move on to the next batch. That's not who we are. It's not who we want to be. We want to know our clients, know each case, and provide real help to solve real problems.
We help people and families.
Practice Area
- Personal Injury
- Animal & Dog Bites, Brain Injury, Car Accidents, Construction Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Premises Liability, Truck Accidents, Wrongful Death
Fees
- Free Consultation
- Contingent Fees
Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice
- Georgia
- State Bar of Georgia
Languages
- English: Spoken, Written
Professional Experience
- partner
- Butler Law Firm
- - Current
- partner
- Butler Tobin LLC
- - Current
- associate
- Butler Wooten & Fryhofer
- -
- prosecutor
- Clayton County District Attorney's Office
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- Law Clerk to Hon. Lisa G. Wood
- Southern District of Georgia
- -
- trial intern
- Western Circuit Public Defender's Office
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- summer associate
- Troutman Sanders LLP
- -
- summer associate
- Bondurant Mixson & Elmore
- -
Education
- University System of Georgia - University of Georgia
- J.D. (2008) | Law
- -
- Honors: Magna Cum Laude Order of the Coif Order of the Barristers LSAC Scholarship
- Activities: Law Review (note published) National Moot Court Team England Mock Trial Competition
Awards
- Order of the Coif
- UGA School of Law
- Order of the Barristers
- UGA School of Law
- Young Litigator of the Year
- Georgia Bar Assocation YLD
- Rising Star
- Superlawyers
- 40 Under 40: On the Rise
- Daily Report
Professional Associations
- State Bar of Georgia # 116955
- Member
- Current
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- AIEG
- Former YLC Chair
- Current
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- GTLA
- Committee Member
- Current
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- Center for Auto Safety
- Board Member
- Current
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Publications
Articles & Publications
- The Fiery and Predicatble Consequences of Rear-Mounted Fuel Tanks
- Verdict
- Trial Practice and Procedure
- Mercer Law Review
- Death Cases: What Duties Are Owed and To Whom
- Verdict
- Tire Tips: 10 Ways to Avoid Blowing Your Tire Case
- Verdict
- Trial Practice and Procedure
- Mercer Law Review
Speaking Engagements
- What Juries Taught Me, Lumpkin Inn of Court
- Wrongful Death Cases, Atlanta Bar Association
- Spoliation & Surveillance Videos, Lumpkin Inn of Court
- Experience in Opening a New Firm, GTLA
- Lessons Learned from Walden v. Chrysler, GTLA
Legal Answers
3 Questions Answered
- Q. what is the statue/ time period you have to settle a personal injury claim for an auto accident in the state of GA
- A: Most of the time, the answer is two years. But it depends on several things. The general two-year rule comes from the Georgia law addressing "injuries to the person," which is O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 (you can Google it). In most cases, that means that after two years have passed since the collision, you can no longer file the case. Since you can't file it anymore, most insurance companies won't agree to settle the case after that date either, since there's nothing you can do about it if they refuse. Sometimes, there are shorter deadlines. For instance, if your case is against the State of Georgia, it must usually be filed under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, which means you must give the state notice of your claim (called an "ante litem" notice) in a very particular way within one year of the injury, or your case will be thrown out of court. O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26(a)(1). If your case is against a city, the ante litem deadline could be as short as six months. O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5(b). Other times, the statute of limitations is paused, or "tolled," such that the deadline to file the case is extended. One common reason for extension is O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99, which provides that if the person at fault was charged with a crime, or could have been charged with a crime, then the statute of limitations is "tolled" from the commission of the crime until the date that the prosecution for the crime is final, as long as that time period doesn't exceed six years. In other circumstances, if a minor was injured, the statute of limitations for the minor may be "tolled" until the minor reaches 18 years old, at which point it begins to run. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90(b). I hope this answer has been helpful, and I hope you've still got time!
- Q. What are my options when the insurance adjuster can't get in touch with their policy holder?
- A: Georgia has a law that might be helpful. It's O.C.G.A. § 33-7-15(c)—you can Google it. Insurance companies use a whole list of excuses to avoid paying claims, or to pay claims off for less than they should. This excuse is a common one. Of course it's not your fault that the at-fault driver won't call his insurance company, but the adjuster wants to pretend like it's your problem. It isn't. Our law firm ends up filing most of the cases that we handle because we usually find that the insurance won't pay the full value of the claim until then. When you file the case, the documents that begin the case—the Complaint and Summons—will need to be served on the at-fault driver by a sheriff's deputy or process server. If you are dealing with an at-fault driver who won't call his own insurance company, the chances are high that he won't forward those documents to the insurance company like he should. Under O.C.G.A. § 33-7-15(c), you can send a copy of those documents to the insurance company yourself, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, within 10 days of filing them with the Court. If you do that, then under the law, the insurance company can't deny coverage by claiming that the at-fault driver didn't forward the documents. Dealing with non-cooperative at-fault drivers is a pain—first they cause a wreck, then they refuse to admit it. I hope O.C.G.A. § 33-7-15(c) is helpful.
- Q. How do you get pictures from a camera at an intersection to prove your position in an accident?
- A: We've looked into this for a lot of clients, and unfortunately the answer isn't very good. You see those cameras above intersections and interstates and hope that they will have a record of exactly what happened so you can prove who is at fault, but most of the cameras are live-action only. Most of them provide live feeds, but don't actually record what happened, so they aren't much use as evidence. Wish I had better news for you!
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