James W. Avery - Denver, CO

Overview

Awards and Honors

Super Lawyers® Selectees

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James W. Avery included in a Super Lawyers® list

Education

• Legal Education

  • University of Denver College of Law, Denver, Colorado, 1982
    J.D.
    Honors: Barrister’s Cup Fellow (1982)
    Honors: Top 1/3 of his Class

• Non Legal Education

  • Austin College, Sherman, Texas, 1979
    B.A.
    Honors: National Honor Society in Psychology (Psi Chi)
    Honors: Top 10% of his Class

Current Employment Position(s)

• Founder and Principal Trial Lawyer

Past Positions

• Hansen & Breit, P.C., Associate, 1982 - 1985
• Madden & Strate, P.C., Associate, 1985 - 1987

Pro Bono Activities

• Assisted with formation of Brain Injury associations in Colorado and New York.
• Humanitarian aid trips to South Sudan to assist victims of war.
• Supporter of Cherry Hills Community Church Missions Department
• Supporter of GOAL and WARCHILD non-governmental aid agencies and charities.

Representative Cases

• Lead trial lawyer in Marshall Fire Mass Tort Case (Boulder, CO)
• Lead trial lawyer in Rocky Allen HIV Hepatitis Mass Tort Cases (CO, AZ, WA, CA).
• Clark v. Estate of Brookoff, 14CA1131 (2016)-Established new law in Colorado re inapplicability of Dead Man’s Statute when insurance coverage available.
• Zeiger v. Floyd-2012-Largest post-concussion verdict in Colorado-$1.2 million.
• Paraplegia caused by Cardio-thoracic surgeon-2011-Anonymous settlement-$1 million policy limits.
• Death by Rural Hospital ED-2010-Anonymous $875,000 settlement for failure to diagnose aortic dissection leading to death.
• Fairbrother v. Gold Crown Foundation, Inc.-2009-First case to apply Premises Liability Act to hold non-profit sports organization liable for brain injury to participant for failure to use air conditioning-$1.6 million verdict.
• C. v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., Bad faith settlement for $1.5 million.
• Hance v. Williams, et al.-2005-Aviation case related legal malpractice verdict in Harris County, Texas
• Gensler v. Wilkes-2002-First “Road Rage” verdict in Colorado-$1.1 million verdict
• Ross E. Apgar, et al. v. William R. Kennedy, Jr. – 1998- US Bankruptcy Court-First case to successfully apply civil RICO in Colorado & California-$13+ million awarded
• Kerin et al. v. Children’s Hospital & Edward McCleary MD-1995-Colorado Craniosynostosis Epidemic involved over 600 cases of pediatric neurosurgery-resulted in dismissal of Chief of Neurosurgery and restructuring of Children’s Hospital
• Anonymous Denver Children’s Hospital Settlement- 1995-Largest malpractice settlement to date under Colorado Health Care Availability Act according to Richard Dana, JAG
• Multiple other confidential million dollar settlements in a variety of cases.

Published Works

Articles

• Joint Liability of Surgeons, Surgical Malpractice, and Physician Malpractice
  

Bar Admissions

• New York, 1982
• Colorado, 1983
• Indiana, 2003
• U.S. Supreme Court, 2019
• U.S. District Court District of Colorado, 1983
• U.S. District Court Western District of New York, 1983
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana, 2003
• U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit, 1983
• U.S. District Court Southern District of California, 1991
• U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 1989
• Texas, 2004

Other Affiliations

• Association for Public Justice (Member)
• Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (Member)
• Indiana Trial Lawyers Association (Member)
• Colorado Bar Association (Member)
• Indiana Bar Association (Member)