Overview
Jim Mitchell has extensive experience in representing clients seeking to recover damages in significant personal injury and wrongful death cases. Before joining Andy Payne in 2007, Jim was a partner in other major personal injury firms in the Dallas area. He started his career at a large defense firm, but quickly found that his passion was in helping injured claimants rather than insurance companies, so he began representing victims in 1991. Jim’s practice areas include product liability, medical malpractice, general negligence, nursing home negligence and class actions. His years of experience have made him adept at helping clients deal with not only the legal issues but also the personal challenges that come with a life-changing event.
Over the course of his 30 years as a trial lawyer, he has handled all types of catastrophic injury and death cases and tried dozens to jury verdict. He has achieved several landmark verdicts including a 38 million dollar verdict against General Motors for a defective airbag case — the first of its kind in the country. And, another monumental case against Honda for a defective seatbelt that resulted in his client being a quadriplegia. Jim received a 36 million dollar verdict against Honda which was the first ever verdict with a roof mounted retractable double latch seatbelt system. Jim has proved that he is willing to take a case to court in order to bring justice to injured victims, and has helped hundreds of families in serious cases over his profession.
Jim is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, a designation only a small number of lawyers achieve by taking cases to court. He is also licensed in Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is a statewide leader of the Plaintiff’s trial bar, previously serving as the president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and as president of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association. TTLA exists to protect the 7th Amendment and the right to trial by jury with a vision that everyone deserves access to our courts. Jim is also a member of the prestigious national trial lawyer organization, American Board of Trial Advocates. His leadership in the trial bar is unmatched.
Jim is a member of the Dallas Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Board of Trial Advocates, and the American Association for Justice. He has been a Director of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association (1998-2014) and a Director and Fellow of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (1999-2014). Jim has been elected President of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association (2015), Treasurer of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (2014-2015), has been on the TTLA Executive Committee for the last several years, and has been Chair of Continuing Legal Education for TTLA since 2011. He is a highly regarded speaker and has made influential presentations at universities, foundations and other legal organizations, as well as publishing articles in a number of professional journals. He has served on the State Bar Grievance Committee and as Chair for numerous Bar Association committees. Jim has been selected as a Texas Monthly Texas Super Lawyer every year since its inception in 2003, an honor less than 5% of lawyers statewide receive. He has also been selected as one of the best lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine several years and for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America®. Over the last three years, Jim has served as the Chairman of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association Continuing Legal Education Committee. In that position, Jim is in charge of organizing all legal education for members of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association statewide and has chaired and moderated numerous legal seminars and conferences across the country.
Notable Results
- Jim Mitchell obtained a jury verdict of 36 million in Sarah Milburn v. American Honda Motor Company Inc. for a defective roof mounted retractable double latch seatbelt system that resulted in his client being a quadriplegia.
- Jim Mitchell obtained a jury verdict against General Motors in the amount of 38 million dollars for the failure of the side airbags in a suburban to deploy in a side impact collision. The accident left Jim’s client brain damaged.
- Jim settled a case against a local neurosurgeon who operated on the wrong level of his patient’s spine. This costly mistake required the need for corrective surgery and resulted in permanent disability for our client. The case settled for a confidential amount.
- Jim settled his fifth case involving a brain injury suffered in a defective helmet case during a sporting event. The Plaintiff was rendered quadriplegic as a result of a brain injury suffered in a sporting event as a result of a defective helmet. The case resulted in a large confidential settlement on behalf of the Plaintiff.
- Jim successfully settled a product liability lawsuit against General Motors on behalf of a family involved in a roll over accident in which their seat belt buckles unlatched in a rollover collision ejecting three of the four family members in the vehicle. The lawsuit resulted in confidential settlement.
- Jim Mitchell and Todd Ramsey represented a young mother and her family in wrongful death and personal injury case from a defective minivan. They discovered that an important safety feature, called a brake transmission shift interlock (“BTSI”) had been disabled when a GPS device had been installed by a used car dealership. This safety feature prevents children, and others, from putting a vehicle into gear without depressing the brake pedal. Unfortunately, with the safety feature disabled, the vehicle was able to be placed into gear without depressing the brake and it ran over the young mother and her infant son. The mother was seriously injured and the infant son was killed. Jim and Todd recovered a significant settlement for the family members impacted by this tragedy.
Awards + Honors
- Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2003–present
- Best Lawyers, D Magazine, 2010–present
- The Best Lawyers in America®, 2016–present
Professional Involvement + Leadership
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association; President, Treasurer, Director, Fellow
- Dallas Trial Lawyers Association; President and Treasurer
- Dallas Trial Lawyers Association; Director
- Continuing Legal Education for TTLA; Chair
- American Board of Trial Advocates; Member
- Dallas Bar Association; Member
- American Bar Association; Member
- American Board of Trial Advocates; Member
- American Association for Justice; Member
- Texas Trial Laywers Association; Executive Committee
Publications + Speeches
- "Motion and Hearing Advocacy"
- "Shadow Juries, Focus Groups, and Other Methods for Evaluting Your Appraoch", University of Houston Law Foundation
- "Capturing, Creating & Presenting Persuasive Demonstrative Evidence"
- "Screening Automotive Products Liability Cases"
- "Paralegals' Role in Products Liability Cases"
- "What is a Focus Group?"
- Privileges: How to Get Information; How to Protect It", Texas Trial Lawyers Association Evidence Seminar
- "Testimony From Your Own Witnesses: Direct Examination Strategies", Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway, and Premises Liability Section, AAJ Annual Convention
- "Cross-Examination", Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Voir Dire: The Art and Science of Jury Selection", University of Houston Law Center "Litigation and Trial Tactics"
- "Taking and Defending Depositions", University of Houston Law Center
- "Dealing with Obstreperous Witness or Counsel", University of Houston Law Center
- "How to Organize and Manage Your Personal Injury Practice", State Bar of Texas
- "How to Avoid the Grievance Committee", Advanced Personal Injury and Inurance Law, University of Houston Law Foundation
- "Privileges: How to get Information; How to Protect It", How to Offer and Exclude Evidence, University of Houston Law Foundation
- "Injury Causation in Products Cases", Products Liability Seminar, Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- "Truck/Car Accidents", Personal Injury Law and Automobile Injury Conference, South Texas College of Law
- "Auto Defect Cases", Personal Injury Law and Automobile Injury Conference, South Texas College of Law
- "Proving Difficult Damages: Soft Tissue Injuries", Handling Insurance and Tort Claims, University of Law Foundation
- "Taking Depositions Under the New Rules of Discovery", University of Houston Law Foundation
Education
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
Board Certifications
- Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law
Admissions
- Licensed in Oklahoma
- Licensed in Arkansas