Rhon Eugene Jones

Rhon is arguably the top environmental attorney for plaintiffs in the entire country. Verdicts and settlements that he has participated in while at Beasley Allen Law Firm are estimated at $30 billion. He has handled environmental or toxic exposure cases in 14 different states to date. Since early 2010, Rhon has devoted his law practice to victims of the devastating BP Oil Spill.

Notable Cases

He currently serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) for the BP Deepwater Horizon MDL, as well as class counsel in the economic and property class settlement against BP. He has served several roles on the PSC, including the negotiation of the method by which all business claims have been paid in the class settlement. That settlement has paid out more than $6 billion in claims to date and has been estimated to eventually pay out approximately $12 billion.

Rhon was also heavily involved in the $18.5 billion agreement to settle federal, state and local government claims against BP, which will result in more than $2 billion for Alabama. He represented Gov. Robert Bentley in the economic losses suffered by the state of Alabama from the oil spill, and has worked cooperatively with Attorney General Luther Strange, who represented the state of Alabama. This work resulted in Rhon being appointed a deputy attorney general for the state of Alabama in that case.

His environmental experience is much more than BP litigation, as historic and groundbreaking as that has been. Representative work includes:

• Rhon represented plaintiffs damaged by a massive coal ash spill that decimated the area around the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tennessee, Fossil Plant, resulting in a 2014 settlement agreement to pay $27.8 million to victims.
• A $700 million settlement for thousands of Alabama victims of PCB contamination, the largest environmental settlement in the country at the time.
• Resolution of a class action involving groundwater contamination against a large industrial company in Alabama.
• A $20 million-plus verdict and other settlements over carbon black pollution in Alabama and Oklahoma.
• Successful resolution of class action regarding contaminated drinking water in New Jersey.
• Lead trial counsel in jury verdict of more than $11 million.
• Trial counsel in jury verdict of more than $2 million.
• Lead counsel in arbitration award of $1.9 million.
• Trial counsel in verdict of $1.7 million.

Awards

Holding an AV Rating from Martindale Hubbell, Rhon has been named to the 2013-2014 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers, and consistently selected to Alabama Super Lawyers since 2008. He has regularly been selected for inclusion on both the Best Lawyers in America lists and received Beasley Allen's 2016 Litigator of the Year Award. In a recent Alabama listing of “Super Lawyers” for environmental practice, he was the only lawyer listed that exclusively represents plaintiffs.

Professional Associations

Rhon currently serves as president of the Montgomery County Bar Association. In 2007, Rhon received a Certificate of Recognition from the Alabama State Bar in tribute to his nomination for the 2007 Alabama State Bar Pro Bono Award. He remains active in the American Association for Justice, where he has co-chaired two different litigation groups.

He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama School of Law and has taught Torts at Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. At UA, he will teach “Advanced Torts: Complex Environmental Litigation – A Case Study of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill” with Cooper Shattuck through April 2017 and taught the same course in Spring 2016.

Background

Obtaining his B.A. from Auburn University and his J.D. from the University of Alabama, Rhon served as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Robert Varner and later began trial practice in Birmingham, Alabama, with the law firm of Starnes & Atchison. Rhon joined Beasley Allen in 1994 and now manages the firm’s environmental cases.

Community Involvement

He is also an Advisory Board Member of the Family Sunshine Center, whose mission is to prevent domestic abuse. He is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Janice Capilouto Center for the Deaf, which fills needs for the hearing impaired. He continues to actively support both as well as multiple ministry organizations in Montgomery and beyond.

He is a deacon at First Baptist Church of Montgomery, where he teaches Sunday school and facilitates a men’s bible study.