Category: Firm News

In 2024, Davis, Johnston, & Ringger partners Gary Davis and Billy Ringger, along with colleague Jeff Friedman, were honored as national finalists for the “Trial Lawyer of the Year Award” presented by the organization Public Justice at its annual Gala and Awards Presentation in Nashville, Tennessee. Public Justice is a national nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time, including abusive corporate power, assault on civil rights and liberties, and destruction of earth’s sustainability. Each year, the organization presents its “Trial Lawyer of the Year Award” to the trial attorney or legal team who made the greatest contribution to the public interest within the past year by trying or settling a socially significant case.

Attorneys Davis, Ringger, and Friedman were honored as finalists for this award for their roles in representing the hundreds of workers sickened by unprotected exposure to coal ash during remediation of the Tennessee Valley Authority Kingston Coal Ash Spill – the largest industrial disaster in United States history.  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. In 2018, the legal team lead by Davis and Friedman won a landmark four-week Phase I trial to establish liability and general causation on behalf of the injured workers.

As a result of their dedication and expertise, the jury found the defendant’s misconduct responsible for 10 specific medical conditions present among the workers, including various cancers, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular illnesses. Thereafter, following a lengthy mediation, the legal team lead by Mr. Ringger and his former law firm continued the massive effort to establish specific causation for the individual workers. Mr. Ringger and his colleagues engaged in countless briefing and discovery disputes; took and defended hundreds of depositions (including over 200 within a two-and-half-month period during the peak of the COVID pandemic); worked closely with many of the nation’s top scientists, researchers, and physicians to further the science of coal ash exposure and its connection to the specific illnesses identified during the Phase I trial; engaged in mediation sessions and settlement negotiations over the course of many months; and met with and obtained settlement approval from hundreds of individual 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. These multi-year efforts were successful in achieving a remarkable victory for these impacted workers, and Mr. Davis and Mr. Ringger were proud to be named as finalists for this prestigious award.

Davis, Johnston, & Ringger partner Billy Ringger was recently honored by the SASS-ARENA Foundation for Medical Research at its annual Gala earlier this month in New York City.  Billy spoke before a large crowd and proudly accepted the foundation’s “Business Leadership Award” for his efforts in formulating the scientific team whose precedent-setting collaboration established the causal link between coal ash exposure and a myriad of medical conditions present among the Kingston coal ash remediation workers. Davis, Johnston, & Ringger partners Gary Davis and Keith Johnston were also in attendance, as well as several members of the coal ash expert team, including Elizabeth Ward, PhD, Epidemiologist and Chair of the World Trade Center Science Advisory Committee; Joseph Graziano, PhD, Professor Emeritus at Columbia University; Norman Kleiman, PhD, Professor of Environmental Health Science at Columbia University; Francis Arena, MD, Clinical Professor at the NYU School of Medicine and Medical Director at NYU Langone Arena Oncology; Angela Hind, MD, Toxin and Health Expert from Asheville, North Carolina; and Fred Grello, MD, Medicolegal Consultant from Knoxville, Tennessee.  Billy’s parents, Bill and Sue Ringger, also travelled to NYC to enjoy the evening with their son.

Davis, Johnston, & Ringger partner Billy Ringger recently spoke at the 42nd annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) in Eugene, Oregon. Billy led a panel presentation before a large group of attendees regarding the dangers of coal ash exposure and his successful efforts in litigating the worker injury cases arising from the TVA Kingston Coal Ash Spill –the largest industrial spill in United States history. Billy was joined by colleagues Norman Kleiman, PhD of Columbia University and Angela Hind, MD, Toxin and Health Expert from Asheville, North Carolina.

Renowned environmental lawyer Gary Davis – founder and long-time owner of Davis Environmental Attorneys in Asheville, North Carolina – has partnered with prominent environmental attorneys Keith Johnston and Billy Ringger to form the new law firm Davis, Johnston, & Ringger, PC.

Davis has over 44 years of experience in environmental and administrative law, litigation, and policy. Davis’ unparalleled reputation in the environmental law profession, coupled with his partnership with Johnston and Ringger, will further enhance the reach, depth, and abilities of the firm.

“This partnership will combine decades of environmental litigation experience and a promise of continued excellence in the legal profession for many years to come,” Davis said.

Johnston and Ringger each have substantial environmental experience as well. Johnston has practiced environmental and energy law for 20 years in both the public and private sectors, spanning all three branches of state and federal government. He spent the last year and a half with Davis Environmental Attorneys and previously led the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Birmingham, Alabama office for 12 years. Prior to this, he clerked for a judge in Alaska and practiced environmental law in Washington, D.C., where he worked on toxic torts and other matters.

Ringger, an expert in health-based litigation, has represented groups of individuals and municipalities in some of the largest environmental and toxic exposure cases in recent history.  Ringger was formerly a partner at a large international plaintiffs’ firm specializing in class action and mass tort litigation. For several years, he served as lead counsel representing the hundreds of workers sickened due to their exposures to coal ash during remediation of the Tennessee Valley Authority Kingston Coal Ash Spill – the largest industrial spill in United States history. Building on the initial trial success of the Davis firm, his multi-year efforts were pivotal in obtaining a successful resolution for these injured workers in 2023.  Earlier in his career, Ringger practiced with a prominent litigation firm in Knoxville, TN, and served as law clerk and Chief of Staff to the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Davis’ firm has for decades represented environmental damage victims, community groups, environmental organizations, state and local governments, and individual clients throughout the country with a focus on the Southeast. As like-minded environmental advocates, Davis, Johnston, & Ringger say they are excited to continue these public interest pursuits with their new partnership and the increased capabilities they will be able to devote to their clients.

The new firm will continue aggressively litigating on behalf of its clients, protecting the environment from the devastating effects of pollution, and making polluters pay for the damages they have caused.

Pursuing environmental cases throughout the country, the firm will continue to be based in Asheville, NC, with additional presence in Knoxville, TN.

Contact Davis, Johnston, & Ringger at (828)622-0044 or visit online at www.enviroattorney.com for more information.