Position: Member

TEL: 404-961-7650

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Admitted: Georgia, 1999

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Practice Areas: Plaintiff Personal Injury, Products Liability

Additional Information: Jeff Harris was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He began his legal career with a defense firm specializing in product liability cases, personal injury claims, and complex business disputes. After working as a defense attorney, Jeff realized that his heart was on the side of representing people, and not large corporations or insurance companies, so he resigned to join the nationally recognized plaintiff's trial firm of Butler, Wooten, Scherffius, Fryhofer, Daughtery & Sullivan LLP located in Columbus and Atlanta, Georgia . While at the Butler Wooten firm, Jeff focused his practice on handling automotive products liability cases, business torts, and representing individuals killed or injured in aviation accidents. Jeff was involved in handling numerous cases arising from defectively designed vehicles. In particular, Jeff focused on cases involving fuel fed fires, collapsing seatbacks and poorly designed seatbelts in Ford, Chrysler and General Motors vehicles. His product liability expertise continued to evolve in the area of aviation accidents as well, as he handled cases arising from malfunctioning fuel lines, engines, and instrument failures. Not long after Andy Scherffius left the Butler Wooten firm to form Scherffius, Ballard, Still & Ayres, Jeff joined the new firm to open and manage the Savannah, Georgia office. Jeff spearheaded the firm's product liability section and continued to handle cases arising from defectively designed vehicles. He continued to focus on product liability cases arising from defective airbags, poorly designed roofs, vehicle rollovers, malfunctioning seatbelts, collapsing seats. In addition, a large portion of Jeff's practice continued to involve product defect claims arising out of aviation accidents. In 2004 the firm's efforts in the product liability arena resulted in a 48 million dollar verdict against the Ford Motor Company in the case of Sasser v. Ford - a case in which Jeff served as co-trial counsel. The case was recently affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court and is believed to be the largest product liability verdict in Georgia history upheld on appeal. The Sasser verdict was also recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the top verdicts in the United States in 2004. In addition to the Sasser case, Jeff has served as lead or co-trial counsel in a number of significant cases. In 2005 he served as co-lead counsel in a medical malpractice case resulting in a 3.5 million dollar verdict in Dekalb County, Georgia. This case was tried during a difficult period for handling medical negligence claims and the verdict was one of the top medical malpractice verdicts in Georgia during 2005. Jeff also recently served as a co-lead counsel in a case tried in Federal Court in Atlanta and secured a 4.5 million dollar verdict against the DaimlerChrysler Corporation. In 2006, Jeff, Darren Penn and Steve Lowry formed the firm of Harris Penn & Lowry, LLP. The firm focuses on handling product liability claims, aviation accidents, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death claims, trucking and automobile accidents, premises liability claims, medical malpractice and business tort disputes. The firm is committed to excellence in its representation of those injured or killed by the negligence of others and prepares every case with a focus on presenting the case to a Jury. The firm maintains offices in both Atlanta and Savannah and Jeff splits his time between those two cities. Jeff is a magna cum laude graduate of Mercer Law School where he graduated first in his law school class. In law school Jeff served as Editor in Chief of the Mercer Law Review and was a member of the Moot Court Board. He received a number of scholastic awards in law school including the Woodruff Medal and the Order of the Barristers. Prior to attending law school he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA in finance from the Mercer Business School. Jeff was recently recognized by Atlanta Magazine as a Rising Star Super Lawyer, an honor bestowed on less than 2.5% of the lawyers in Georgia. He is active in the State Bar of Georgia and is a regional Vice President and Champion Member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association where he also co-chairs the Membership Committee and serves on the Legislative Committee. He is a member of the Atlanta and Savannah Bar Associations, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, and the Attorneys Information Exchange Group. Jeff is a frequent speaker at legal education seminars on topics related to products liability, evidence and trial tactics.