Jere Beasley
Jere Locke Beasley is an American trial attorney and politician; he served as acting governor of the US state of Alabama from June 5 to July 7, 1972. His law firm has been noted nationally for winning major awards for its clients; among them was an $11.8 billion punitive damage award against ExxonMobil in 2003.
Early life, education and marriage
Beasley was born in 1935 in Tyler, Texas, the son of Browder Locke and Florence Beasley. He was raised in Clayton, Alabama, where his father ran a small grocery store.Beasley received his B.S. degree from Auburn University and in 1958 married Sara Baker. He earned a J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1962. He worked for various law firms until he opened his own practice in 1965.
Political career
Beasley joined the Democratic Party, as Alabama was essentially a one-party state after 1901, when it adopted a new constitution.In 1970 Beasley won the first round of the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor but he failed to win a majority. He won the runoff.
He was serving as 22nd Lieutenant Governor when Governor George Corley Wallace was shot and severely injured in an assassination attempt in Laurel, Maryland, on May 15, 1972. Since Wallace was out-of-state for more than 20 days, recovering in a Maryland hospital, the Alabama Constitution required that the lieutenant governor take over temporarily as acting governor.
In 1974 Beasley faced a strong challenge from Charles Woods, who finished first in the primary. Beasley, like in 1970, won the runoff. He sought the nomination for governor in 1978, but finished a distant fifth.
In 2009, Beasley served as the campaign chairperson for Alabama gubernatorial candidate, Artur Davis, then a Democrat.
Electoral history
Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor, 1970- Jere Beasley – 256,081
- Hugh Morrow – 185,333
- Tom Radney – 163,462
- Joe Money – 100,131
- Jack Giles – 81,789
- Joe Goodwyn – 75,085
- James Gullate – 10,627
- Jay Thomas – 9,631
- Jere Beasley – 572,258
- Hugh Morrow – 418,228
- Jere Beasley – 589,618
- Robert French – 126,506
- Isaiah Hayes – 92,176
- John G. Crommelin – 7,678
- Charles Woods – 310,351
- Jere Beasley – 308,182
- Richard Dominick – 150,455
- Ron Creel – 25,392
- Coleman Brown – 7,943
- Jere Beasley – 393,077
- Charles Woods – 307,643
- Jere Beasley – 433,495
- Don Collins – 153,814
- Edna L. Bowling – 9,857
- John Watts – 4,387
- Fob James – 256,196
- Bill Baxley – 210,089
- Albert Brewer – 193,479
- Sid McDonald – 143,930
- Jere Beasley – 77,202
- K.C. Foster – 4,948
- Horace Howell – 4,730
- Jim Folsom – 4,632
- Bob Muncaster – 1,776
- Shorty Price – 1,396
- Charles Woods – 700
- Fred Sandefer – 622
- Cornelia Wallace – 217
Private Practice
Founded on the principle of “helping those who need it most,” the firm was established to provide legal service to both individuals and businesses who have been wronged by no act of their own. That principle still serves as the bedrock for the firm’s work. The firm, which is known today as , has grown to more than 85 attorneys in two locations – Montgomery and Atlanta – and more than 200 support staff including full-time nurses, investigators, computer specialists, technologists, a marketing department, and a comprehensive trial graphics team. On Jan. 7, 2019, Beasley Allen celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Beasley is noted as a trial lawyer, and his firm has a national reputation for winning major awards for its clients.
Notable Cases
Beasley’s law firm has handed the following major cases:- September 1993 – Tractor and heavy equipment manufacturer Kubota agreed to pay the family of 67-year-old retired farmer Durwood Spivey $10 million after the B-7100 Kubota tractor he was riding overturned, crushing him under the 2,500-pound weight of the machine. Kubota had not equipped the tractor with a rollover protection structure, despite such protection being available to the tractor industry since the 1950s.
- November 2003 – A Montgomery County jury ordered Exxon Mobil Corporation to pay the State of Alabama a record $11.8 billion in punitive damages as well as an additional $103 million in compensatory damages for intentionally and willfully underpaying royalties on natural gas from the Mobile Bay field. Exxon appealed and gained a reduction in the award to $3.6 billion.
- November 2007 – Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co announced it would pay $4.85 billion to resolve claims that its anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx caused heart attacks, strokes and sudden cardiac death. The remains the largest pharmaceutical settlement in history.
- October 2013 – An Oklahoma City jury ordered Toyota Motor Corp. to pay Jean Bookout and the family of deceased passenger Barbara Schwartz $3 million in compensatory damages and an additional $1.5 million in punitive damages over claims that an electronic defect in Bookout’s 2005 Camry caused it to accelerate unintentionally and crash, seriously injuring Bookout and killing Schwartz.
- July 2015 - Beasley Allen represented the State of Alabama in a landmark agreement in principle with BP for damages caused by the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement tagged the State of Alabama to receive more than $2 billion in total, including compensation for economic losses resulting from the spill, natural resource damages, and an apportionment of Clean Water Act civil fines and penalties. The agreement is part of a larger agreement that includes the Federal Government, four other Gulf States impacted by the oil spill –Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Florida – and local government entities. The deal is estimated to be worth approximately $18.7 billion, and should smash previous records as the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history.
Community Involvement
He currently serves as a member of the Staff Parish Relations for St. James United Methodist Church.
In 2006, Beasley was named “Citizen of the Year” by the March of Dimes.
In January 2010, Beasley was selected as the recipient of the Montgomery Sunrise Rotary Club’s Commitment to Service Award, recognizing his dedication to helping others and improving the community and the River Region.
In January 2020, Beasley was presented with the Montgomery County Bar Association Service & Achievement Award. The award was created to recognize Montgomery lawyers who have distinguished themselves through their exemplary service to the local community and bar. The honor is presented to a lawyer who demonstrates the highest standard of professionalism and is respected for outstanding legal ability.
In 2018, Beasley Allen Law Firm was awarded the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s Montgomery Impact Maker Award for its revitalization efforts in downtown Montgomery and its overall contribution to the local community. The firm was instrumental in securing the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball team and for providing the land for the Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium, which was respectfully constructed by preserving a large section of the original historic building and built on land owned by the firm. When the stadium opened in 2004, it served as a catalyst for the revitalization of downtown.
In 2018, the firm was also awarded the Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery’s James L. Loeb Preservation Award for its contribution to preserving Montgomery’s historic resources and heritage, specifically capitalizing on the distinctive architectural character of lower Commerce Street. The firm has purchased and renovated several buildings along Commerce Street, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 with boundary expansions in 1982 and 1987.