James L. Ware

James L. Ware

Shareholder

Mr. Ware began the practice of law in 1975 in Galveston, Texas in a general civil practice firm but quickly gravitated into complex trial work in State courts for the state of Texas as well as various federal trial and administrative courts. He joined Sheehy Ware Pappas & Grubbs in 1997 and has represented clients in a variety of complex personal injury, mass tort actions, environmental matters, product liability suits, FELA, maritime claims, and various commercial disputes. He has also published an article in the Texas Bar Journal entitled “It is Time for Texas to Tell the Jury” regarding jury instructions in personal injury and wrongful death actions. He regularly lectures at continuing legal education seminars, rehabilitation specialist seminars, and in-house courses for clients. Mr. Ware has been appointed to serve on the State Bar of Texas Administration of Rules of Evidence Committee for 2007-2010 and again for 2010-2013 and has been appointed to the Texas Bar Foundation Nominations Committee for 2011-2012, 2012-2013. Mr. Ware also served on the United States Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Vacancy in the position in Galveston, Texas in 2017.

Community Activities

Mr. Ware has long been active in various civic and nonprofit organizations in Galveston and Houston including serving as on the boards of the Bay Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Galveston Academic Booster Club, Galveston Railroad Museum, Galveston Arts Council, Lamar Tower Board of Directors, Galveston Citizen’s Committee for Sewer Bonds, Knights of Momus, Inc., Galveston Artillery Club, Galveston Island Redevelopment Authority, Galveston Zoning Board of Adjustments, Assistant Scout Master Troop 104 Bay Area Council Boy Scouts of America, School Board Trinity Episcopal Church and others. He served as President or Chairman of many of these organizations.

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Areas of Practice

Publications and Seminars

  • Texas Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy Faculty 2007
  • DRI Silica Medicine Seminar, 2006
  • Harris Martin Texas Asbestos and Silica Seminar, 2006
  • Harris Martin Silica Seminar, 2004
  • Harris Martin Silica Seminar, 2003
  • South Texas School of Law Seminar, 1995
  • Serves as Notice Counsel and on Steering Committee for Texas Silica MDL 2004.
  • Serves as National Coordinating Counsel for Louis M. Gerson Company, Inc. in various litigation matters.
  • Tried multiple personal injury cases in the product liability, negligence and conspiracy areas throughout the state of Texas for Lone Star Industries, Inc. in which Plaintiffs allege claims of silicosis. The trials occurred in various State courts in the State of Texas as well as U.S. District Courts in Texas and include Harold Horton v. Lone Star Industries, Donald Tompkins v. U.S. Silica, and Enrique Garcia v. Lone Star Industries, Inc., Benito Gandarilla, et al. v. Humble Sand and Gravel, et al., and Huey Beason v. Lone Star Industries, Inc..
  • Represented a variety of companies in asbestos litigation including Johns-Manville Sales Corporation, Todd Shipyards Corporation, Saint Gobain Abrasives, Inc., American Optical Corporation, The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, Flowserve Corporation, and others. These cases were tried in various State and federal courts in the state of Texas and the theories ranged from products liability and negligence theories to premises liability and unseaworthiness in a maritime context. The cases include Hansen v. Johns Manville Sales Corporation, Castorina v. Lykes Brothers Steamship Company, et al. and Cornelius Sellers, et al. v. North American Refractories, et al..
  • Functioned as trial counsel in breast implant litigation for Dow Corning Corporation. Trials were held in State courts in the state of Texas alleging product defect in breast implants and component parts such as gel and silicone oil manufactured by the leading breast implant manufacturer in the country. Trials included those of Janet Bean v. Bristol-Meyers, et al. and Andrea Turtur, et al. v. Dow-Corning Corporation.
  • Served as trial counsel and coordinating counsel for warnings defense in welding fume litigation in some of the earliest Texas cases which alleged a variety of complaints including neurological illnesses such as ALS, arc welder’s pneumoconiosis, and Parkinsonism. Represented Westinghouse Electric Corporation in State and Federal courts in Texas and trials included Lindberg Ducote v. Lincoln Electric Co., et al. and Goins, et al. v. Lincoln Electric Co..
  • Mr. Ware has also been involved in a variety of other litigation including Anti-trust, including the trial involving the demise of a proposed coal slurry pipeline planned to stretch from Wyoming to Houston, Texas resulting in the trial known as ETSI v. Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe Railway Company tried in Federal court in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. As part of the defense trial team for the railroad, Mr. Ware was responsible for the defense of claims made by one of the two co-plaintiffs, a utility then known as Houston Lighting and Power Company which resulted in a defense verdict as to that plaintiff.
  • Various commercial litigation includes those for Landry’s Restaurant’s, Inc., including landlord tenant disputes involving the Kemah Boardwalk properties in Kemah, Texas, and various hospitality sites throughout the state of Texas.
  • Served as lead counsel on behalf of firm clients in environmental clean-up matters including CERCLA and EPA actions involving ground and soil contamination for NL Industries, Inc. and Bayer Corporation in various sites in the state of Texas as well as personal injury and property damage actions in State court involving lead exposure, Benzene, Formaldehyde, PCB’s, and others.
  • In a recent trial of Hosford et al. v. Stroud Production et al., Mr. Ware successfully represented overriding royalty interest owners seeking payments for royalties and the value of their interests wrongfully taken by the intentional termination of an oil and gas lease for the purpose of washing out the overriding interests. The jury also found for the firm clients on grounds of “tortious interference, conspiracy, conversion, and alter ego leading to an award of substantial damages.”
  • Represents Defendants in a rapidly developing area of the law in which sexual trafficking and alleged assaults are alleged and in which hotel owners and operators are sued.  Some of these cases are now becoming a part of a newly created Multi District Litigation in Texas state court.
  • Energy continues to be a major economic driver in Texas and Mr. Ware works in various areas of the oil patch including representing Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., Nabors Drilling Technologies USA, ConocoPhillips Company, and services companies in defense of rig accidents well blowouts resulting in a paraplegic injuries to pollution claims attendant to acid releases in hydraulic fracking to commercial contract disputes.
  • Defends H-E-B, LP in Texas cases ranging from wrongful death in a tragic automobile crashing through front doors cases to falling accidents in grocery stores.  Common law issues presented include the potential liability of a premise owner for alleged defects whether those be whether to create bollards to prevent vehicles from entering stores to food and other items falling to store floors and the always present obligation of customers to keep a lookout for their own safety.

Education

  • University of Texas School of Law (J.D., 1975)
  • University of Texas at Austin (B.A. cum laude, 1972)

Legal Memberships

  • State Bar of Texas
  • Sustaining Life Fellow of Texas Bar Foundation
  • Harris County Bar Association
  • Galveston County Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Defense Research Institute
  • Texas Associated Defense Counsel
  • Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel
  • Litigation Counsel of America
  • The Trial Law Institute
  • Diversity Law Institute

Honors and Awards

  • Board Certified Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
  • AV Rated Martindale Hubbell
  • Texas Monthly Super Lawyer, 2004-2023
  • H Magazine, 2005 Super Lawyers
  • Phi Sigma Alpha Honors Fraternity
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (Advisory Board, 2009-2014)

Admissions

  • State Bar of Texas
  • United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of Texas
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States Supreme Court