Jeffrey Harris
About Jeffrey Harris
Jeffrey R. Harris is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and one of the firm's founding partners. Over the course of his career he has secured hundreds of millions in verdicts and settlements, handling high-profile cases in product liability, wrongful death, catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, and business torts. His notable automotive defect victories include a $40 million verdict against Ford for a false-park transmission defect, a $47.7 million verdict for a 6-year-old paralyzed by a Lincoln LS design defect, and $16.52 million against Michelin for tread-separation causing a client's death. He secured a $9.85 million verdict for the drowning death of a two-year-old at an unlicensed daycare, and an $18 million verdict in Chatham County for a client paralyzed by negligent medical care. Harris served as lead counsel in Jones v. CSX ($11.2 million verdict for the family of camera operator Sarah Jones killed on the set of the Midnight Rider film) and in Bernecker v. AMC ($8.6 million for stunt performer John Bernecker killed on the set of The Walking Dead). He is a magna cum laude graduate of Mercer Law School, where he graduated first in his class and served as Editor in Chief of the Mercer Law Review.
Notable case results
A Fulton County jury awarded $47.7 million after a defective rear seat latch in a 2000 Lincoln LS collapsed during a crash, severing a six-year-old girl's thoracic spinal cord and leaving her paralyzed.
A DeKalb County jury awarded $40 million to Jessica Mundy and her husband after her 2004 Ford Explorer spontaneously shifted from park into reverse, striking and running over her, after the trial team showed Ford had known about the 'false park' transmission defect for decades.
A Fulton County jury awarded $35 million to the family of Joshua Chang, a 21-year-old Yale student killed when his car struck a concrete planter on the shoulder of Batesville Road, finding the City of Milton 93% responsible for leaving a dangerous obstacle in the right-of-way.
A Chatham County jury awarded $18 million -- the largest personal injury verdict in county history -- after an infectious disease specialist failed to diagnose and treat a spinal epidural abscess, leaving Joan Simmons permanently paraplegic.
A Gwinnett County jury awarded $8.6 million to the mother of stuntman John Bernecker, who died in July 2017 after falling 22 feet from a balcony on a 'Walking Dead' set when he missed his landing pad by inches; the Georgia Court of Appeals later reversed the verdict on the ground that the Workers' Compensation Act barred the family's civil claims.
For defective auto product (Lincoln LS) leading to permanent paralysis of a 6-year-old (Sasser v. Ford Motor Company)
Against Ford for false-park transmission defect causing paralysis
In Chatham County for client paralyzed by negligent medical care
Against Michelin for tread-separation wrongful death
For family of camera operator Sarah Jones killed on Midnight Rider film set (Jones v. CSX)
For two-year-old who drowned at unlicensed daycare
For stunt performer John Bernecker killed on set of The Walking Dead (Bernecker v. AMC)
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
