Randall J. Butterfield (Randy)

• A midstream energy company in connection with investigations by Federal and State environmental agencies as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) into an explosion and fire at a natural gas processing facility resulting in catastrophic loss. Oversaw root cause investigation, coordinated responses to agency inquiries, and provided advice and counsel in connection with successful insurance recovery.
• One of the world’s largest producers of methanol from natural gas as standby incident response counsel, including in connection with environmental investigations into spills and releases.
• An LNG facility in connection with government investigations by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) arising out of an explosion that resulted in operational shutdown and extensive damage to piping and other equipment and in connection with insurance coverage concerns.
• A Fortune 50 energy company in connection with the February 2023 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
• An international chemical manufacturer in response to an explosion at its largest U.S. manufacturing facility, including helping to lead the emergency incident response and internal investigation as well as responding to regulatory inquiries by, among others OSHA; State and Federal environmental agencies; the CSB; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
• The country’s largest specialty paper company following the catastrophic explosion of two continuous pulp digesters. Helped lead the team handling the emergency response, including handling the root cause investigation, successfully resolving investigations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, OSHA, CSB, and numerous state regulatory agencies, and securing a significant settlement of its insurance claim.
• A worldwide mining and petroleum company as standby incident response counsel.
• An engineering and construction company in connection with a trench collapse resulting in a fatality, including responding to OSHA’s resulting investigation and implementing a nationwide safety audit.
• A carbon capture company in connection with building collapse resulting in extensive damages to multiple rail cars. Led root cause investigation.
• A water and wastewater treatment provider in connection with a civil and criminal investigation into wastewater treatment plant compliance involving allegations of falsification of records.
• One of the largest specialty pulp and paper manufacturers in the United States in connection with investigations by EPA, OSHA, and various state and local agencies arising out of a catastrophic explosion.
• A chemical facility following release of trichlorosilane during line break that resulted in serious injuries to contractors.
• A chemical facility in connection with explosion caused by the failure of an expansion joint, resulting in numerous injuries and one fatality.
• A medical sterilization company in pending litigation involving air emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) from its facility in Colorado.
• A world-leading manufacturer to defend the claims of 3,000 plaintiffs stemming from air emissions of lead, arsenic, and other substances from a polymetallic smelter in Peru.
• Successfully resolved regulatory enforcement actions against a Fortune 100 company involving EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (“RRP”) Rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”).
• A large paper manufacturer following a catastrophic fire at its New Jersey production facility. Helped lead the core team that successfully resolved all State and Federal regulatory investigations and secured a significant settlement of its insurance claims.
• Rayonier Performance Fibers in securing renewal of the NPDES discharge permit for its Jesup pulp mill, the world's largest producer of cellulose specialty products. The permit had been reversed by the administrative law judge, who imposed a novel and unreasonable construction of the narrative water quality standard. That erroneous decision, which threatened the permitting program for all industrial and municipal dischargers in Georgia, was reversed on appeal, ultimately leading to affirmance of the renewed permit. Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Rayonier Performance Fibers, LLC, 816 S.E.2d 125 (Ga. Ct. App. 2018), cert. denied (Aug. 5, 2019).
• Rayonier Performance Fibers in a citizen suit alleging that the pulp mill was violating its NPDES discharge permit. District court granted summary judgment in favor of Rayonier on all counts. Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Rayonier, Inc., No. CV 214-44, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42849 (S.D. Ga. Mar. 31, 2015).
• Sea Island Company in securing, and successfully defending to an Administrative Law Judge and then to Superior Court, the state Shore Protection Act permit for a controversial beach nourishment, dune construction, and groin project along three miles of beachfront property. In subsequent related litigation brought in federal court, obtained summary judgment upholding the contested permits. Altamaha Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, No. CV 418-251, 2020 WL 5837650 (S.D. Ga. Sept. 30, 2020).
• A large electric utility company in toxic tort litigation involving approximately 150 residents living near Plant Scherer, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the country. Following oral argument on an early motion to dismiss, plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed all claims.
• A carbon black manufacturer in mass joinder actions filed in West Virginia by hundreds of current and former neighbors, asserting nuisance, trespass, negligence and medical monitoring claims.
• Defense contractors in a putative personal injury and property damage class action seeking some $200 million for alleged exposure to lead, PCBs, and other chemicals associated with historic forge and foundry operations in Anniston, Alabama. Cases ultimately resolved in nuisance value settlements.
• The City of Atlanta and other local governments in the tri-state “water wars” litigation involving Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, including the successful defense of Florida’s claims that the operation of Georgia reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River have harmed endangered species.
• A chemical manufacturer against claims related to the contamination of a former fertilizer manufacturing facility. Following extensive fact and expert discovery, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the company on all claims, a decision later affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
• A Fortune 50 energy company in the appeal of a $27 million jury verdict in a “dram shop” case asserting agency liability based upon the use of brand standards for independent service stations. The South Carolina Supreme Court reversed the jury verdict and rendered judgment in favor of the company.
• A chemical manufacturer in a mixture of class actions and individual lawsuits filed in state and federal courts concerning alleged mercury and PCB contamination from the company’s former chlor-alkali plant.
• More than a dozen manufacturers, distributors, or sellers of welding products in several Georgia cases brought on behalf of approximately 500 plaintiffs who alleged personal injury due to inhalation of manganese particles produced by the welding process.

Randy Butterfield helps lead the firm’s Atlanta Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group, where he concentrates his practice on environmental and toxic tort litigation as well as emergency incident response. Randy's practice focuses in particular on assisting clients in the wake of catastrophic emergency incidents, such as explosions, fires, industrial accidents, chemical releases, spills, and other environmental and industrial calamities. In that capacity, Randy is frequently called upon in the immediate aftermath of these emergencies to provide time-critical crisis management addressing a wide range of pressing concerns, including forensic investigation; workplace safety; site security and evidence preservation; regulatory disclosures, investigation, and potential enforcement; environmental remediation; internal investigations; and insurance coverage. Recent incidents on which Randy has helped lead the response have involved over $2 billion in property damages, business losses, and insurance claims; significant personal injury lawsuits; as well as enforcement actions from federal and state regulators.

In addition, Randy has handled numerous mass joinder and class action cases involving personal injury and property damage claims, both at the trial and appellate levels. Randy has played a particularly significant role in preparing and defending the defense experts—as well as deposing and critiquing plaintiffs’ experts—on a wide variety of technical topics, such as air and groundwater modeling, emission inventories, dose reconstruction, geostatistics, human health risk assessment, toxicology, epidemiology, fate and transport, remediation, property valuation, and damage assessments. Over his career, Randy’s litigation matters have involved nearly every major piece of environmental legislation as well as the entire spectrum of common law tort claims.

Randy has published several articles involving the potential application and use of federal and state regulatory standards in the toxic tort context. He has also co-authored a chapter on legal defenses in toxic tort cases in a treatise published by the American Bar Association as well as a chapter on administrative appeals published by LexisNexis. Randy served on the Environmental and Toxic Tort Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, including as Board Chair in 2018. Randy also served on Law360’s Environmental Editorial Advisory Board from 2021-2022.

Books, Articles & Presentations

• LexisNexis Practice Guide: Georgia Environmental Law, 2022 ed.

• Randy J. Butterfield, moderator, Roundtable with Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearing Judges & Litigants, Atlanta Bar Association, Toxic Tort and Environmental Law CLE, Feb. 1, 2018

• Randy J. Butterfield & Stephen A. McCullers, Raising the Class Action Certification Bar in Georgia: Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, LP v. Ratner, Perspectives on Georgia’s Environment (State Bar of Georgia), Spring 2015, at 6-9

• Randy J. Butterfield, Recent & Recurring Issues in Toxic Tort Cases, State Bar of Georgia, Toxic Tort Litigation CLE, Mar. 2014

• J Kevin Buster & Randy J. Butterfield, Common Defenses in Toxic Tort Litigation (book chapter) (ABA 2d ed. 2013)

• Randy J. Butterfield, Note, Recovering Environmental Cleanup Costs Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act: A Potential Solution to a Persistent Problem, 49 Vand. L. Rev. 689 (1997)