James Lowery is a Partner in the Dallas office of GRSM and a member of the Environmental/Toxic Tort, Commercial Litigation, Trucking & Transportation and Professional Liability Defense practice groups. Mr. Lowery has achieved favorable verdicts in several high-risk cases on behalf of numerous clients in asbestos litigation. He has first chaired more than 40 major asbestos trials in multiple jurisdictions, including Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, Delaware, Ohio, Maryland, Louisiana, Virginia, Illinois and California.  Mr. Lowery obtained defense verdicts in asbestos trials in some of the most notorious pro-plaintiff jurisdictions, such as Madison County, Illinois, Beaumont and Orange, Texas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Oakland, California.

Mr. Lowery has represented a wide variety of asbestos clients, including insulation manufacturers, “low-dose” product manufacturers, distributors, contractors, employers and premises owners.  He also has extensive experience in preparing, defending and cross-examining experts at trial in asbestos matters, including leading challenges to expert testimony under Daubert, Frye and Havner.  Mr. Lowery has taken a lead role in developing expert witnesses and defense strategies for several clients and has deposed hundreds of experts in the asbestos litigation. Mr. Lowery also serves as National Coordinating Counsel for defendants in toxic tort matters.

In addition to his extensive experience in toxic tort litigation, Mr. Lowery also defended numerous clients in commercial cases.  He has defended and tried multiple personal injury claims arising out of trucking accidents.  Mr. Lowery also has extensive experience in defending catastrophic injury claims from workplace injuries, including caustic burns and oil field accidents.

Mr. Lowery has tried nearly 50 cases during his career and has defended variety of entities and individuals in the professional liability context. He has also consulted with and advised companies, medical and legal professionals and architects and engineers on litigation strategy and regulatory compliance issues.  Mr. Lowery has frequently represented one of the country’s largest architect and engineering firms in a myriad of professional liability and property damage matters.

Mr. Lowery has also defended clients in numerous environmental claims, involving toxic spills, hazardous waste deposition and property damages issues. He has also defended transportation companies charged with criminal, civil and regulatory violations associated with hauling and disposing of hazardous materials.  Mr. Lowery has helped multiple clients develop comprehensive environmental handling, warning, labeling and transportation programs to help minimize long term environmental risks. 

Mr. Lowery previously served more than four years as lead in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 corporation, supervising its national toxic tort litigation, which included an asbestos docket of more than 45,000 cases.  He also had considerable experience defending PCB, beryllium, lead, silica, benzene and other toxic exposure claims.  He took a lead role in developing the corporation’s defense strategies, developing experts, controlling defense and indemnity costs and supervising outside counsel in more than 40 jurisdictions.  Mr. Lowery also co-partnered with several outside counsel in defending the corporation in numerous asbestos trials.

In addition to his trial experience, Mr. Lowery is also a frequent speaker at national toxic tort and litigation conferences.  He has also written several articles pertaining to asbestos and other toxic tort litigation, and is a frequent contributing author on the topic of challenging plaintiff’s experts in all jurisdictions.

Admissions

Texas
Florida
New York
Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court, Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Districts of Texas
U.S. District Court, Western, Northern, and Southern Districts of New York
U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida

Memberships

College of the State Bar of Texas
Defense Research Institute
Florida Bar Association
State Bar of Texas

Community Involvement

Coaching baseball in Frisco, Texas

Representative Experience

• Trial counsel for equipment manufacturer in seven week jury trial in Oakland, California resulting in defense verdict for major firm client. 
• Lead trial lawyer representing a diversified industrial product manufacturer in asbestos mesothelioma wrongful death claim in the Madison County, Illinois. After nearly four hours of deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of the client.
• Lead trial counsel representing a construction company in a wrongful death, gross negligence asbestos trial in Beaumont, Texas. Jury returned an 11-1 defense verdict in favor of the client.
• Lead trial counsel representing a concrete company in a three plaintiff, catastrophic injury truck crash case in Brownsville, Texas. The jury returned an 11-1 defense verdict in favor of our client. Verdict upheld on appeal to the Thirteenth District of Texas, Corpus Christi-Edinburg.
• Lead trial counsel for a diversified manufacturing client in asbestos mesothelioma matter. In May 2008, after a three month trial, the jury returned a plaintiff’s verdict, but only allocated 2% against the client. In August 2012, the California Court of Appeal reversed the judgment and remanded the matter to the trial court for entry of judgment notwithstanding the verdict in favor of the client.
• Lead trial attorney for a diversified manufacturing client in asbestos mesothelioma case. After a multi-week trial, and despite plaintiff’s asking for an eight figure verdict, the jury returned a damages phase verdict for only $123,000, assigning a 1/8 share to the client ($15,375). Plaintiff’s counsel dismissed their claim against the client prior the start of the liability phase of this trial.

Publications and Presentations

• Why Developing and Presenting Alternative Exposure Evidence is Vital to the Defense of Asbestos and Talc Cases, Mealey's Litigation Report (June 2021)
• How to Settle a Case When You Don't Have all the Answers, GRSM Legal Education Conference, New York and Hartford (May 2019)
• Defending Mass Torts and Products Liability Lawsuits, GRSM Legal Education Conference, New York and Hartford (May 2019)
• Featured presenter on utilizing bankruptcy trust evidence in asbestos trials, Defense Research Institute Asbestos Medicine Seminars, Austin, Texas, November 2018.
• "Commentary: The Scourge of Over-Naming in Asbestos Litigation: The Costs to Litigants and the Impact on Justice," Mealey's Asbestos Reporter, January 19, 2018
• Contributing author, “Expert Witness Answer Book,” Daubert and Frye Challenges to Expert Testimony, 2012-2015
• Author, “Spring Cleaning: Texas Legislature Passes Bill for Dismissal of Inactive Asbestos and Silica Claims,” Toxic Tort/Product Liability Alert, May 29, 2013
• Speaker, Perrin Conferences Cutting Edge Issues in Asbestos Litigation, Beverly Hills, CA, February 2010