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Jim is a member of the Insurance Recovery and Shipping groups in Reed Smith’s Houston office. He has 40 years of experience handling multimillion-dollar insurance coverage disputes through litigation or arbitration, many involving commercial property and business interruption losses, claims for D&O, professional liability, commercial general liability, builder’s risk, and pollution coverage, including in the energy, manufacturing, construction, and chemical sectors. Jim is frequently quoted on insurance matters in Law360.
Experience
Representative matters
Representative matters
Testified as an independent expert witness on Texas insurance and indemnity law issues before the Court of First Instance in Bilbao, Spain. The dispute involved an all-risks insurance policy and damages arising from the rupture of an underwater tether chain securing the piping system for oil production from the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. The alleged damages are in excess of $400 million.
Represented Lennar Corporation in an insurance coverage dispute arising from the repair and replacement of defective synthetic stucco on hundreds of Houston-area homes. The decision by the Texas Supreme Court in favor of Lennar was listed in a review of national cases as one of the 10 most significant insurance coverage decisions in the country for 2013. Lennar Corporation, et al. v. Markel American Insurance Company, 413 S.W.3d 750 (Tex. Aug. 23, 2013).
Represented DISH Network in a dispute concerning insurance coverage of a legal malpractice judgment. Texas jury awarded more than $34 million to the client. The Southern District of Texas’s Stowers opinion is routinely cited in insurance law seminars. OneBeacon Insurance Company v. T. Wade Welch & Associates, et al., No. H–11–3061 (S.D. Tex.) (2014), aff’d, 841 F.3d 669 (5th Cir. 2016).
Representative Experience
Testified as an independent expert witness on Texas insurance and indemnity law issues before the Court of First Instance in Bilbao, Spain. The dispute involved an all-risks insurance policy and damages arising from the rupture of an underwater tether chain securing the piping system for oil production from the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. The alleged damages are in excess of $400 million.
Represented Lennar Corporation in an insurance coverage dispute arising from the repair and replacement of defective synthetic stucco on hundreds of Houston-area homes. The decision by the Texas Supreme Court in favor of Lennar was listed in a review of national cases as one of the 10 most significant insurance coverage decisions in the country for 2013. Lennar Corporation, et al. v. Markel American Insurance Company, 413 S.W.3d 750 (Tex. Aug. 23, 2013).
Represented DISH Network in a dispute concerning insurance coverage of a legal malpractice judgment. Texas jury awarded more than $34 million to the client. The Southern District of Texas’s Stowers opinion is routinely cited in insurance law seminars. OneBeacon Insurance Company v. T. Wade Welch & Associates, et al., No. H–11–3061 (S.D. Tex.) (2014), aff’d, 841 F.3d 669 (5th Cir. 2016).
Assisted in negotiating and drafting one of the largest ever specific litigation risk insurance policy for a leading offshore drilling contractor, which provided limits of $640 million to insure our client’s arbitration award.
Secured more than $100 million in insurance coverage for North America's largest natural gas utility arising from property damage at a natural gas pipeline construction project.
Representing the owner and operator of the largest refinery in North America, and the fifth largest in the world, in connection with insurance coverage and indemnity disputes arising from a severe burn/death case.
Successfully represented numerous clients in duty-to-defend and duty-to-pay coverage disputes under professional liability, directors’ and officers’, and commercial general liability insurance policies.
Represented the owner of one of the largest utility scale solar fields in Texas in its $100+ million property damage claim against its builder’s risk insurers in Pecos County, Texas, and against its EPC contractor in federal court in Austin, Texas. The matter was successfully settled.
Served as insurance coverage counsel to a master limited partnership in the midstream energy sector following a $172 million excess of policy limits verdict.
Secured full recovery for one of the leading providers of plumbing and air-conditioning/heating services in the United States in a dispute with its insurer over contingent business interruption losses arising from Hurricane Harvey, the most significant rainfall event in United States history (Texas), and Hurricane Irma, the strongest storm on record to exist in the open Atlantic region (Florida).
Represented a leading real estate valuation provider in insurance coverage litigation under a professional liability insurance policy arising from a multi-million-dollar trade secret lawsuit. The matter was successfully settled.
Representing one of the leading owners and managers of hospitals in the U.S. in connection with business interruption losses arising from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Represented one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in an insurance coverage lawsuit concerning coverage for a multidistrict litigation established to handle claims from what could be as many as 40,000 plaintiffs in connection with alleged bodily injuries, deaths, and property damage arising from Winter Storm Uri.
Represented a leading semiconductor manufacturer in a nine-figure insurance dispute arising from Winter Storm Uri-related losses at one of the largest and most sophisticated semiconductor facilities in the United States.
Represented a major supplier of customized food products to the world’s leading restaurant companies in connection with claims against its general liability and product contamination insurers regarding allegations of tainted food products.
Recognitions
Recognized in the prestigious, client-selected Thomson Reuters Stand-Out Lawyers listing for 2026
- Fellow, Lex Mercatoria, Dallas Insurance Law American Inn of Court (2025)
Listed as a Leading Partner in The Legal 500 US for Insurance: Advice to Policyholders (2025 - 2026)
Credentials
Education
Education
- Tulane Law School, 1984, J.D., cum laude
- Wabash College, 1981, B.A.
Professional admissions & qualifications
Professional admissions & qualifications
- Texas
Court admissions
Court admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals - Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court - Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court - Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court - Western District of Texas
Professional affiliations
Professional affiliations
- Member, State Bar of Texas
- Chair, Insurance Law Section (2015-2016)
- Director, Advanced Insurance Law Course (2014)
- Member, College of the State Bar of Texas
- Member, American Bar Association
- Co-Chair, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee’s 26th Annual Conference (2014)
- Co-Chair, Emerging Insurance Coverage Issues Subcommittee (2009-2014)
- Co-Chair, Products Liability Insurance Coverage Subcommittee (1999-2009)
- Member, Houston Bar Association
- Former Co-Chair, Historical Committee
- Former Co-Chair, Professionalism Committee
- Counselor/Vice President, Garland Walker Chapter of the American Inns of Court (Board member since 2000)
- Nominating Committee, Texas Bar Foundation (2014)
- Member, Board of Contributing Editors, LexisNexis Texas Annotated Insurance Code (2006-2014)
- Founding Member, Houston Society of Policyholder Insurance Coverage Lawyers
- Associate Member, Risk & Insurance Management Society
- Former Faculty, Tulane Law School, Civil – Pre-Trial Litigation Intersession Boot Camp, 2016
- Former Faculty, University of Texas Insurance Law Institute
- Frequent Faculty & Former Course Director, State Bar of Texas Advanced Insurance Law Course
- Former Faculty, South Texas College of Law Insurance Law Symposium
- Proctor, Maritime Law Association of the United States (1986-present)
- Former Faculty, The University of Texas Admiralty and Maritime Conference
- Managing Editor, The Maritime Lawyer (1983-1984) (now known as Tulane Maritime Law Journal)
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Civic Involvement
- Deacon, West University Baptist Church (2013-present)
- Board Member, Casa El Buen Samaritano (2014-2015)