Practice Expertise

  • Insurance
  • Life Sciences
  • Food and Agriculture Litigation and ...
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Areas of Practice

  • Food and Agriculture Litigation and ...
  • Insurance
  • Life Sciences
  • Life Sciences Litigation
  • Life, Health and Disability Litigation
  • Litigation
  • View More

Profile

Phil Butler has practiced in the area of civil litigation since 1971. He has been lead chair in defending over 100 jury trials in the most difficult and challenging forums in the State of Alabama.

Phil's trial experience includes such areas as products liability, reinsurance disputes between insurance carriers, insurance fraud and bad faith, wrongful death actions, motor vehicle accidents, aviation crashes, pharmaceutical mass tort litigation, construction disputes and eminent domain.

In recent years, Phil has become heavily involved in the defense of pharmaceutical products liability actions, generally for medications which have been removed from the market. He serves as lead chair trial counsel for many of these cases and also serves on national expert witness committees for two major pharmaceutical companies.

For the past 20 years, much of Phil's practice has involved direct action, insurance fraud and bad faith actions. His work in these areas has been as lead counsel for both trials and appeals. Due to the popularity of interest-sensitive "vanishing premium" litigation and his experience in working with actuaries, Phil not only handles these cases as lead chair but often consults with other insurance defense counsel in the preparation of actuarial testimony and strategy for trials. Additionally, he has been involved in defense of pharmaceutical marketing and pricing litigation.

Bar Admissions

  • Alabama, 1971

Court Admissions
  • United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
  • United States District Court, Middle District of Alabama
  • United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama
  • United States District Court, Southern District of Alabama

Education

  • University of Alabama School of Law, J.D., 1971, Phi Delta Phi
  • University of Alabama, A.B., 1968

Areas of Practice

  • Food and Agriculture Litigation and Regulatory
  • Insurance
  • Life Sciences
  • Life Sciences Litigation
  • Life, Health and Disability Litigation
  • Litigation

Blogs

Declassified

The Declassified blog offers commentary and insights on the latest class action suits, significant class action opinions, relevant changes to laws and rules, and important class action trends. Declassified covers topics ranging from significant Supreme Court and appellate court decisions regarding class certification requirements to proposed or enacted legislation, rules and regulations that impact class action litigation to key industry developments that may indirectly impact class action...

Patent 213

Patent law, like most things in life, is subject to change. Changes to patent laws not only impact investment in your existing IP, but directly shape strategies to protect your freedom to operate. The Patent 213 blog provides up-to-date, insightful analysis of the evolution in the written description and enablement requirements of 35 USC 112 and the subject matter eligibility requirements of 35 USC 101. The Patent 213 blog analyzes key decisions from the district courts and the Federal Circuit,...

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