Butler Snow LLP’s Products, Catastrophic and Industrial Litigation practice, co-led by Ridgeland-based Davis Frye and Atlanta-based E. Righton Johnson-Lewis, handles high-stakes product liability, mass tort, and complex commercial litigation on a regional and national scale. The team represents manufacturers, distributors, and service providers across industries, including aviation, automotive, firearms, healthcare, and industrial chemicals. Its work spans automotive, machinery, recreational products, toxic torts, and chemical exposure cases, as well as manufacturer product safety recalls and regulatory compliance matters. Frye brings nearly 30 years of experience trying jury and bench trials, arbitrations, and appellate matters, focusing on catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and professional liability across multiple sectors, while Johnson-Lewis has extensive experience in multidistrict litigation, defending automotive, highway product, and medical device manufacturers, handling discovery, expert coordination, dispositive motions, and national defense strategy. Together, they lead a practice recognized for strategic, technically rigorous, and nationally coordinated product liability defense.
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Key clients
- Federal Express Corporation
- Camping World RV Sales, LLC
- U-Haul International
- Trane Technologies
- Performance Food Group
- AECOM Technical Services, Inc.
- BASF Corporation
- Kia Corporation and Kia America
- Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
- International Paper Company
- Mazda Motor Corporation and Mazda North America, Inc.
- Trinity Industries, Inc.
Work highlights
Serving as lead counsel for Mazda in several product liability matters.
Continued working as counsel, coordinating factual investigations and portions of expert discovery for cases involving personal injury claims arising from impacts to guardrails throughout the country. Current pending cases are in Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee and Arizona.
Representing Federal Express Corporation in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas in matters involving motor vehicle accidents with its drivers.
Practice head
E. Righton Johnson-Lewis; Davis Frye