About Thomas Harkness

Thomas R. Harkness has over 50 years of legal experience in personal injury trial law, with a focus on product liability, catastrophic injury, and medical malpractice. He is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and currently serves as President of the Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has been listed as one of The Best Lawyers in America by Woodward White, Inc. since 1995 and as a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters every year since 2003.

Since 1975, Mr. Harkness has handled product liability, natural gas explosions, aviation litigation, and complex general negligence cases. He is an instrument-rated pilot with a strong engineering background from the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he graduated with honors in 1968. He then attended The University of Texas Law School, graduating with honors, and served as an Air Force JAG in Japan. In January 1976, he began private practice at the Bronson firm in San Francisco, and two years later returned to Austin, where he has practiced ever since.

Proven verdicts and settlements at National Trial Law

These results are credited to National Trial Law. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.

In February 2022, a federal judge ordered the United States to pay $230 million to survivors and families of the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting after finding the Air Force 60 percent liable for failing to report the gunman's criminal history to the federal background check system.

U.S. District Court, W.D. Texas (San Antonio), No. 5:18-cv-00555 · 2022Wrongful DeathRead the full story →
$21.5 millionVerdict

Michael Farley, a Navy veteran, was left permanently conscious but nearly paralyzed after the Manchester VA failed to properly evaluate and treat his first stroke, allowing a second, massive stroke to occur six weeks later.

U.S. District Court, D. New Hampshire, No. 13-cv-261-LM · 2015Medical MalpracticeRead the full story →
$20 millionVerdictTop 10 of 2002 · #6

William Whitehurst won a $44.7 million judgment against the United States after doctors at Sheppard Air Force Base Hospital made delivery decisions that destroyed 65 to 70 percent of an infant boy's brain tissue; because FTCA claims are tried to the court, a judge entered the award, and the Fifth Circuit later capped recovery at $20 million under the FTCA administrative-claim limit.

U.S. District Court, W.D. Texas / 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 00-50505 · 2002Medical MalpracticeRead the full story →

After a bench trial in November 2007, a federal court found that a Navy clinic physician in Millington, Tennessee, breached the standard of care by not recommending prenatal vitamins to a patient planning a pregnancy, and held that the lapse caused her daughter's spina bifida. The court entered a $13,690,648.17 judgment on March 31, 2008. The government appealed, and the judgment was set aside on October 9, 2008, when the parties' compromise settlement and a trust for the child were approved.

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Memphis · 2008Medical MalpracticeRead the full story →
$10.5 millionSettlement

A combat veteran developed end-stage renal disease after VA physicians at Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital prescribed Naproxen for three consecutive years, ignoring repeated warnings in his own medical records that NSAIDs would damage his kidneys; the case settled for $10.5 million, the largest FTCA settlement in Missouri history.

U.S. District Court, W.D. Missouri, No. 2:21-CV-04235 · 2023Medical MalpracticeRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

University of Texas Law School
J.D. (honors)
U.S. Air Force Academy
Undergraduate, 1968

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of Texas
State Bar of California

Other attorneys at National Trial Law

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Austin firms

Slack Davis Sanger
Slack Davis Sanger
$52 Million Class Settlement for Texas Policyholders Charged More by Farmers for Being Loyal Customers
Byrd Davis Alden & Henrichson, LLP
Byrd Davis Alden & Henrichson, LLP
$112.9 million · Austin Jury Awards $112.9 Million in Dram Shop Case Over Crash That Left a Six-Year-Old With a Brain Injury
DJC Law
DJC Law
$4.51 million · Travis County Jury Awards $4.5 Million After Construction Worker Is Struck by Falling Logs at Highway Project
Shaw Cowart
Shaw Cowart
$2 Million Verdict for Injured Motorists on Underinsured Motorist Claim Against State Farm
Zinda Law Group
Zinda Law Group
$591,560 · Parking-Lot Crash Yields $591,560 Jury Award for Austin Plaintiff

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.