About J.B. Harris
“Over the course of his career as a trial lawyer, J.B. Harris has developed the reputation as a ’bare knuckles’ litigator, who is not afraid to use litigation to effect social change.”
J.B. is a trial attorney with an expertise in serious personal injury law.
J.B. Harris has dedicated his career to trying complex personal injury, wrongful death, and mass tort cases arising from faulty products and product recalls. Today, from his law offices in the heart of downtown Miami, J.B. Harris maintains a staff of associates and paralegals to assist in the preparation of major personal injury cases for settlement or trial.
For over 20 years, J.B. Harris has successfully represented injured plaintiffs who have been seriously injured or killed in automobile accidents, pool drownings, electrocutions, severed limbs from faulty machines, decapitations, body crushes, boiler explosions, train wrecks, trucking accidents, airplane crashes, and by other faulty products including cigarettes; automobile defects; environmental hazards, and corporate negligence.
JB Harris is an expert in airplane defects and plane crashes, with a particular knowledge of the defective MD-80, Canadair Regional Jet, Embraer EMB-120, Beechcraft 1900d, Beechcraft King Air and Grumman Mallard aircraft and their component parts.
He has also studied not only the impact of tobacco inhalation and tobacco on the human body, but also the impact of secondary smoke upon non-smokers. J.B. Harris has been particularly zealous in the use of media law in exposing the subtle manipulations of cigarette manufacturers in their targeted advertising of tobacco products to the young and to minorities (particularly African-Americans).
A graduate of Emory University School of Law and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, J.B. Harris also has been involved in victorious litigation involving defective drugs and medical devices, medical malpractice, auto defects, consumer protection, media law, business to business torts, and assorted defective products.
He has dedicated nearly his entire career to fighting for justice on behalf of injured victims and their families.
EDUCATION:
- The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies,
Washington, D.C., M.A., International Relations, May 1994. - The Emory University School of Law,
Atlanta, Georgia, J.D., May 1984. - Drew University,
Madison, New Jersey, B.A., Political Science, Cum Laude, May 1981.
LICENSURE:
- District of Columbia
- State of Florida
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS:
- American Association for justice
- Florida Justice Association
- Miami Dade Justice Association
- Dade County Bar Association
REPORTED CASES:
- First Merchants Collection Corp. v. Republic of Argentina, 190 F.Supp.2d 1336 (S.D.Fla. 2002).
- Fusaro v. Hialeah Housing Authority, 33 F. Supp.2d 1354 (S.D. Fla. 1999).
- Nation Watch Security and Investigations, Inc. v. Frontier Insurance Company, 732 So.2d 368 (3rd DCA 1999).
- Chase Manhattan Investment Services, Inc. v. Miranda, 658 So.2d 181 (3rd DCA 1995).
AVIATION CASES:
- Cancielliere v. Kraut, Case No.: 06-CP-26-2308, 15th Judicial Circuit, Horry County, SC, involving crash of Beechcraft King Air 200 killing father (pilot), mother, three daughters and a babysitter.
- De Souza v. Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, Case No.: 04-017986-25, 17th Judicial Circuit Broward County, FL, arising from crash of Embraer EMB-120 turbo-prop commuter flight in Brazil killing all 33 aboard. (Settled).
- Dean v. Raytheon Aircraft Company, Case No.: 05-10155 PBS, (D. Mass.), arising from crash of Raytheon Beech 1900D commuter plane killing both pilots. (Settled)
- McCormick v. Flying Boat, Inc. (Chalk's), Case No.: 06-00801 CA-09, 11th Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County, FL, involving crash of Grumman G73T Mallard commuter seaplane killing all 20 aboard. (Settled).
- Perez v. West Caribbean Airways, Case No. 06-CIV-20454-COOKE (S.D.Fla.), involving crash of MD-82 equipped with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217A engines killing all 160 aboard in Venezuela.
- Rhodes v. Bombardier, Case No.: 06-CIV-60185-HUCK, arising from repositioning flight and crash of a CRJ-200 equipped with GE CF-343B1 engines resulting in the death of two pilots. (Settled).
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
- Riding the Red Rocket: Amendment 7 and the End to Discovery Immunity of Adverse medical Incidents in the State of Florida, 3 Fla. Bar. J. (2009)
- The Limits of Ex Parte Communications With a Plaintiff’s Treating Physicians, 10 Fla. Bar J. (1996).
- The Impact of the Government Securities Act on Hold-in-Custody Repurchase Agreements, 1 Fla. Bar J. 39 (1988).
- After all this time, why does cure for breast cancer elude us? A mother's and a sister's diagnoses spur a call for Congress to do what it must, Philadelphia Inquirer, Op.Ed. Oct. 13, 2004.
- Bring Fairness to the Bench – Reform Judicial Elections, Miami Herald, Op.Ed., Nov. 17, 2002.
- Mean Business: Increase Cigarette Tax By $1.00, Miami Herald, Op.Ed., March 20, 1997.
- Law Office Raids Imperil Attorney Client Privilege, Daily Business Review, Op.Ed., June 7, 1995.
- Leasing Trouble, Washington Post, Op.Ed., August 14, 1994.
