About Samuel Ledbetter
Sam Ledbetter has practiced environmental law and litigation since 1985 and has been a partner at McMath Woods since 1998. He represents individuals, communities, environmental organizations, and companies in cases involving air, surface water, and groundwater pollution, protection of Arkansas rivers and streams, downstream property damage from irresponsible development, and challenges to permits for facilities that pose environmental risks. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and on the Arkansas State Board of Education from 2008 to 2015. He chaired the Arkansas Bar Association Environmental Law Section in 1999 to 2000 and is a Fellow of the Arkansas Bar Foundation. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America annually since 1998 and in Mid-South Super Lawyers since 2008.
Notable case results
A federal jury held maintenance contractor Shaw Group liable under Arkansas law after U.S. Army Private Van Ryan Marcum was fatally electrocuted by an abandoned, improperly wired latrine at Fort Benning, returning a $6.5 million verdict affirmed by the Eighth Circuit.
Diesel fuel leaked from a Felton Oil underground storage tank in Hampton, Arkansas, migrated onto the adjacent Gee property, and a jury awarded $205,000 for restoration costs and disruption, affirmed in full by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
A six-week federal jury trial found Tyson Foods liable for 43 separate Clean Water Act violations tied to industrial wastewater from its Green Forest, Arkansas poultry plant, with compensatory damages awarded to 40 Carroll County families.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
