2024 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award Finalist: Adkisson v. Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.

Adkisson v. Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.:
Three days before Christmas in 2008, a coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA)Kingston Fossil Plant collapsed. When the pond ruptured, around 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash were spilled into an area covering 300 acres. The coal ash contained concentrated levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, nickel, vanadium, and radioactive materials. It was the largest industrial disaster in U.S. history.
TVA hired private corporation Jacobs Engineering Group to handle the cleanup. Jacobs did not inform its workers about the dangers they faced in the cleanup, and it even falsely told them that coal ash exposure was “safe.” It did not provide workers with adequate protective gear, and several workers were fired for requesting basic PPE like respiratory masks. Jacobs also did not provide areas for workers to “decontaminate” after their shifts, so they brought the coal ash home with them. By the time the job was done, hundreds of workers had developed serious medical conditions directly related to their exposure to the coal ash at the site.
The injured workers began to bring lawsuits against Jacobs. The plaintiffs’ cases were filed in four waves. This case, Adkisson v. Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., was the first to be filed, on August 22, 2013. Shortly thereafter, many other cases were filed and consolidated with Adkisson, forming the first wave of coal ash cases. In the ensuing years more complaints were filed, forming three additional waves of plaintiffs. In total, the plaintiffs’ team of attorneys-which included seven separate firms-filed 16 complaints on behalf of a total of 338 plaintiffs, including remediation workers, their next of kin (in cases of wrongful death), and their spouses.
The court bifurcated the Adkisson mass action into two phases-Phase I was to address causation, and Phase II was to address liability. After the Phase I trial, the jury concluded that Jacobs’ misconduct had caused 10 different medical conditions suffered by plaintiffs (including coronary artery disease, multiple forms of cancer, peripheral neuropathy, numerous respiratory conditions, and other conditions). Before the trial in Phase II, the parties reached a confidential settlement following months of negotiations. This settlement concluded the litigation for all waves in June 2023, and provided significant monetary relief to all the impacted workers, as well as lasting injunctive relief.
Over the course of nearly ten years of litigation, the plaintiffs’ legal team fought against a multi-billion-dollar global engineering firm and opposing counsel from some of the nation’s best law firms. The legal team engaged in countless briefing and discovery disputes; took and defended hundreds of depositions (including over 200 within a two-and-half-month period enforced by the court during the early stages of the COVID pandemic); won the four-week Phase I trial; worked with numerous experts; engaged in mediation sessions and settlement negotiations over months; and met with and obtained settlement approval from the hundreds of clients. The team also handled briefing and argument on multiple appeals, including two before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and one in the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Team Members for Adkisson v. Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.:
Gregory F. Coleman - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Adam A. Edwards - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Mark E. Silvey - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Louis W. Ringger, III - Davis, Johnston, & Ringger, P.C.
William A. Ladnier - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Virginia Whitener - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Kelsey Davies - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Gary A. Davis - Davis, Johnston, & Ringger, P.C.
James S. Whitlock - formerly of Davis, Johnston, & Ringger, P.C.
Jeff Friedman - Friedman, Dazzio & Zulanas, P.C.
Keith D. Stewart - formerly of Dunn, MacDonald & Reynolds
John B. Dupree - Bridgefront Law Group
John Tyler Roper - formerly of Market Street Law, PLLC
Jim Scott - formerly of Market Street Law, PLLC
Alex R. Straus - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Arthur M. Stock - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Jonathan B. Cohen - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Ryan P. McMillan - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Justin G. Day - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
Lisa A. White - Mason LLP Attorneys at Law
Alexandra M. Honeycutt - Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC