Jeremiah Buettner is an experienced trial lawyer whose practice includes a wide range of corporate, commercial and financial litigation matters. He has represented individuals and corporations in a variety of industries before numerous adjudicatory bodies. In addition to his admission to practice law in the State of Oklahoma, he is admitted to practice and has litigated cases in all federal district courts in Oklahoma, including the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, located in Oklahoma City; the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, located in Tulsa. He has also been admitted and represented his clients in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th, 5th, and D.C. Circuit.
Since joining McAfee & Taft in 2007, Jeremiah has developed specialties in numerous practice areas, including the following:
- Government/Administrative Law – Representing clients in adversarial proceedings before numerous state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB), and Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES).
- Financial Industry and Commercial Law – Representing financial firms, banks and corporate trust companies in disputes relating to commercial transactions, securities litigation, FINRA arbitrations, and regulatory compliance investigations and enforcement actions.
- Healthcare Litigation – Representing hospitals and long-term care facilities in various lawsuits and advocacy in administrative proceedings involving licensure, certificates of need, contracting and citations.
- Intellectual Property – Prosecuting and defending patent and copyright infringement actions, trade secret cases, Lanham Act claims.
- Construction and Public Contracting – Representing construction and technology companies in diverse controversies, including contracting with state and federal entities such as the U.S. Corps of Engineers, as well as transactions and disputes under the Oklahoma Central Purchasing Act and Oklahoma Competitive Bidding Act.
- Federal Agriculture Programs – Jeremiah is judicially recognized for his expertise with the Federal Crop Insurance Program and other federal agricultural programs, representing farmers and agricultural producers in arbitrations against private insurance providers, administrative proceedings against the USDA, and federal court lawsuits. This practice has taken Jeremiah across the country, representing cherry growers in Oregon, a large-scale orchid nursery in Florida, and numerous corn, soybean, cotton, wheat and other farmers in between.
Jeremiah is also an active member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, where he currently serves by appointment of the OBA president for a two-year term on three standing committees and is a member of the OBA’s Litigation Section, Government and Administrative Law Section, Business and Corporate Law Section, Financial Institutions Law Section, Intellectual Property Section, and Appellate Practice Section.
Jeremiah’s work on the OBA’s Legislative Monitoring Committee involves reviewing proposed legislative initiatives involving the practice of law, administration of justice, court organization, and rules/laws affecting practice and procedure in courts and administrative bodies exercising adjudicatory functions. As a member of the Law School Committee, he serves as a liaison with Oklahoma law schools, providing information and considering and evaluating ways to improve Oklahoma Colleges of Law, including improvements in curriculum, admission policies and national law school best practices. His work on the Civil Procedure and Evidence Code Committee includes studying the administration of justice under the Code of Civil Procedure and the Oklahoma Evidence Code, and the decisions interpreting same, and making recommendations concerning improvements thereof.
Jeremiah’s achievements have earned him repeated inclusion in Oklahoma Super Lawyers’ list of “Oklahoma Rising Stars,” which recognizes the state’s top up-and-coming attorneys.
He is also an adequate volunteer soccer coach for his son’s 8 and under team.
Download Bio (PDF)Representative Experience
Commercial Disputes
- Representing a surgical center and its members against claims brought by former partners for breach of the partnership agreement as well as various business torts.
- Represented a food broker and its majority owner against breach of contract and various tort claims brought by former competitors who sought to recover more than $1 million in actual damages in addition to attorneys’ fees and punitive damages. Following a five-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants on several of their counterclaims and found the defendants liable for only a fraction of the amount plaintiffs were seeking. Defendants’ abandoned their appeal following a favorable post-trial settlement.
- Represented a Canadian exploration company in a dispute regarding the purchase of oil rigs and related equipment.
- Represented an oil and gas company in a lawsuit for recoupment of payments under the Production Revenue Standards Act, obtaining favorable settlements.
Crop Insurance Litigation
- Represented a group of over 90 Texas corn farmers with respect to an adverse decision by USDA Risk Management Agency pertaining to their Group Risk Income Protection (“GRIP”) crop insurance policies. The issue involved RMA’s manipulation of the applicable “final county yield,” a key component in calculating the GRIP indemnity. Established that RMA’s adjustment of the yields published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (“NASS”) was arbitrary and capricious because it was based on “good farming practice” determinations which were later retracted. The NAD Director found RMA’s actions erroneous, and RMA later agreed to a settlement that included payment of more than $3 million in unpaid indemnity plus a large portion of attorney’s fees and costs to the group.
- Successfully represented a group of 24 Colorado corn farmers in connection with their GRIP policies by establishing that RMA arbitrarily and capriciously manipulated the final county yields in an effort to lower the indemnities due to every GRIP policyholder in the county. NAD rejected RMA’s determination and made it clear that indemnity payments should be calculated on the official, published NASS data instead. The decision lead to a group recovery of over $1 million in unpaid indemnity plus interest. Also obtained a ruling under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) that RMA’s actions were not substantially justified leading to an award of attorney’s fees under the Act.
- Successfully represented group of farmers in Pinal County, Arizona, in administrative proceeding before the NAD pertaining to the application of a retroactive bulletin lowering prevented planting indemnities.
- Represented numerous farmers in crop insurance arbitrations against insurance providers and NAD administrative proceedings against the USDA Risk Management Agency, including farmers and farming operations located in Arizona, Texas, North Dakota, Colorado and Illinois.For other crop insurance disputes, see our Federal Crop Insurance Disputes page.
Intellectual Property
- Successfully defended healthcare provider credentialing company in a business method patent infringement suit by obtaining early dismissal based on plaintiff’s invalid patent. Subsequently protected dismissal on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- Representing an aerial camera company in pursuit of claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright infringement, and other business torts against the client’s former chief engineer and the aerial camera company that he formed.
Long-Term Care Facilities
- Represented facilities before the Oklahoma State Department of Health in Oklahoma district court in connection with obtaining and defending certificates of need necessary for opening new facilities/projects.
- Defended numerous facilities in administrative proceedings before the Oklahoma State Department of Health with respect to citations, administrative penalties and discharge issues, often resulting in victory or favorable settlement.
Environmental
- Defended Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) citizen suit action alleging violations of municipal landfill closure standards and breach of contract action against Oklahoma municipality, leading to favorable settlement.
- Successfully represented Tulsa company in administrative proceeding before the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality in connection with issuance of a RCRA building permit.
- Successfully represented client before the Oklahoma Water Resources Board regarding permit issuance.
Honors and Awards
- Named to Oklahoma Super Lawyers’ list of “Oklahoma Rising Stars,” which recognizes the state’s up-and-coming attorneys
Professional Organizations and Memberships
- Oklahoma Bar Association (Appointed Member, Legislative Monitoring Committee; Appointed Member, Law School Committee; Appointed Member, Civil Procedures and Evidence Code Committee; Litigation Section, 2007 – Present; Government and Administrative Law Section, 2020; Appellate Practice Section, 2008 – Present; Intellectual Property Section (2009 – Present); Business and Corporate law Section, 2010 – Present; Financial Institutions Law Section, 2012 – Present)
At The Podium
Crop and Livestock Insurance Claims
Environmental Issues — Contaminated Property Transactions
Articles
Farmers question legality of Farm Service Agency calculation of ARC-CO yields
McAfee & Taft AgLINC Alert | January 14, 2016
McAfee & Taft continues the fight for American farmers’ right to the 2014 Farm Bill’s APH Adjustment Option
McAfee & Taft AgLINC | Spring 2015
