Powers, Janet L. S.

George W. Fryhofer III is a highly accomplished attorney who for over 25 years has distinguished himself in epic courtroom battles against corporate giants such as Time Warner, Chrysler, General Motors, Suzuki, and Ford.

A named partner at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer for almost 20 years, George has won three verdicts over $100 million, three verdicts over $10 million and a host of verdicts over $1 million in cases in Georgia and around the country.

These victories include:

• $454 million verdict against Time Warner for Time Warner's mismanagement of Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park, which is the largest judgment affirmed and collected in full in U.S. history.
• $105.5 million verdict against DaimlerChrysler Corp. for the death of Joshua Flax after the 8-month-old baby was struck in the head by a defective, collapsing front passenger seat during a collision.
• $150 million verdict against General Motors for the injuries to Alex Hardee as a result of a defective type III door latch that caused his door to open in a vehicle crash and cause his ejection.
• $36 million verdict against Suzuki for injuries to Katie Rodriguez as a result of stability defects in the Suzuki samurai that caused it to roll over.
• $17.7 million verdict against Ford Motor Company after a failed seat latch and seat belt system resulted in the paralysis of Lynn Wheeler, a 58-year-old grandmother.
• $13 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. for the burns to and death of Ann Gibson, when the vulnerable, defective rear “pinto” type fuel in her Mercury Marquis exploded in a rear end collision.

These victories meant that corporate Goliaths with dozens of attorneys could not ignore, bully or overpower plaintiffs. That is what drives George.

The son of a teacher and a trial lawyer, George grew up in Burke County, Georgia. George learned early on from his father the importance of a lawyer’s standing up for citizens against corporations and fighting to obtain justice for individual clients.  After high school, George attended Emory University in Atlanta, where he graduated summa cum laude and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic society.  He also was awarded a prestigious Robert Tyre Jones scholarship to study overseas for a year at St. Andrews University in Scotland.

After graduating from Emory in 1980, George attended the University of Georgia School of Law, the alma mater for 11 Georgia governors and 35 U.S. and state senators and representatives.  

While at the University of Georgia, George was elected editor-in-chief of the Georgia Law Review, one of the highest honors and most demanding responsibilities in the law school. He was also inducted into the Order of the Coif, an honorary scholastic society which recognizes lawyers, judges and teachers who have achieved distinction.

Following law school, George served as law clerk for Chief Judge John C. Godbold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

George has served on the Council of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TTIPS) of the American Bar Association and was editor-in-chief of the Tort & Insurance Law Journal, published by the American Bar Association.

George believes the law is a force for good and that a courtroom is one of the few places where ordinary citizens can stand equal with the most powerful businesses in the world.

Put simply: George fights to win.