Injury lawyer Kevin Liles has more than a decade of experience representing injured individuals in a variety of safety-related lawsuits across the United States. He has obtained verdicts and settlements for his clients in cases including 18 wheeler and tractor trailer collisions, product liability cases, commercial business litigation, and workplace negligence suits. He is a frequently asked to lecture and present to others on how to represent victims of heavy truck wrecks in New Mexico and Texas.
Liles’ clients benefit from him being an aggressive litigator, getting quicker results, and maximizing case values.
Raised in the west Texas town of Abilene, Mr. Liles earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1993 from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, majoring in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, business, and marketing. In 1997, Mr. Liles received a Juris Doctorate from Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas, after serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Baylor Law Review, and receiving numerous advocacy and scholarly honors.
Following law school, injury lawyer Kevin Liles independently handled several litigation dockets for over four years with a large international law firm – Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P. – in Houston, Texas, representing both plaintiff and defense clients.
In 2001, Mr. Liles partnered with Bryan Harris and Mikal Watts (Harris & Watts, PC), and turned his aggressive advocacy skills toward automotive product liability litigation and oilfield negligence, exclusively representing plaintiffs. The firm of Harris & Watts experienced growth and expansion, and with the help of Mr. Liles, became a nationally recognized plaintiffs’ litigation firm.
In 2010, injury lawyers Kevin Liles and Bryan Harris formed Liles Harris PLLC to continue representing plaintiffs’ interests in trucking negligence, workplace-related accidents, and auto product liability and personal injury cases involving defective tires, airbags, vehicle rollovers, occupant restraints, fuel system integrity leading to post collision fuel-fed fires, seat designs, and seatbelt buckles. Stuart White joined the firm soon after, and in 2016 partnered with Mr. Liles to form Liles White PLLC.
As an injury lawyer, Kevin Liles has served as lead trial counsel in complex commercial cases and in multiple auto product liability and personal injury cases involving 18-wheeler collisions, work truck crashes, oilfield workplace injuries, and various defective products, resulting in significant verdicts and settlement for his clients across the United States.
Certified Legal Specialties
Board Certified, Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 2005
Highlighted Representative Experience
Obtained the largest trucking verdict in the country in 2016 in a wrongful death trucking case. The Dallas County jury returned a $37,945,000.00 verdict against O’Reilly Auto Enterprises. The verdict appears to be the largest wrongful death trucking verdict in Dallas County history.
Obtained a $7,000,000 trucking verdict in 2017 in New Mexico on a $0 offer case. Had resolved the case against a previous defendant for a confidential settlement that was in excess of the later verdict.
Trial counsel in four fatality commercial motor vehicle and road construction case that resolved favorably with one defendant during the first week of trial and then with the second defendant in the second week of trial. Defendants refused to accept responsibility and offered $zero until a week before trial. Case settled confidentially well into 7 figures.
Obtained an $18,750,000 verdict in 2013 in Nueces County, Texas for parents against a topless bar who overserved a customer before ejecting him from the bar and putting him on the road where he drove the wrong way on a highway striking and killing an 18 year old boy. The verdict appears to be the largest wrongful death dram shop case in Nueces County history.
In the past and currently represent victims of 18 wheeler crashes involving large national interstate motor carriers such as Stevens Transport, Saia Motor Freight Lines, Knight Transportation, TN Transport, Cardinal Logistics, CRST, Con-way Truckload, Transwood, Quality Carriers, Fed Ex, Atlas Van Lines, and other large interstate motor carriers. In addition, prosecuted cases against large freight brokers and shippers such as C.H. Robinson.
In the past and currently represent victims of oilfield related deaths, including crashes involving oil field trucks such as water trucks, sand trucks, low boys, belly dumps, frac trucks, drilling rigs, as well as injuries and deaths arising from unsafe workplace conditions in oilfield and gas pipeline facilities and locations.
Mr. Liles has represented numerous clients who have suffered spinal cord injuries (SCI), including quadriplegia and paraplegia, against international automobile and tire manufacturers for unsafe and defective products causing injuries with successful settlements in the 7 figures and 8 figures, with experience in unique issues facing clients with such disabilities.
In the past and currently represents catastrophic burn injury victims, as well as victims of brain injuries, to assist with particular issues and treatment that such injuries and disabilities bring to victims and their families alike.
Handled numerous tractor trailer, company vehicle, and product liability cases that settled favorably with the year of the crash for amounts in excess of $5,000,000.
Settlement of numerous cases involving automotive and tire defects, trucking and commercial vehicle litigation, dram shop liability, contamination cases, among other types of cases.
Honors and Awards
- ‘AV’ Peer Review rated by Martindale Hubbell (highest level for ethical standards and legal ability)
- Corpus Christi Under 40 Award, 2007, for professional excellence and community contributions
- Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year, 2005-2006, Corpus Christi Bar Association
- Texas Super Lawyer and Rising Star, 2005, 2007-2017
- Life Fellow, The Texas Bar Foundation, 2015, elected by a nomination offered to the top 1/3 of 1% of Texas attorneys based on outstanding record in the legal profession as well as proven commitment to support community at large
- Litigator Award winner, 2014-2015, Trial Lawyers Board of Regents, recognizing Liles Harris White PLLC as ranking among the top 1% of all lawyers for extraordinary achievement in fields of Truck Accident, Wrongful Death, Products Liability, Liquor Liability, Personal Injury, and Automobile Defect Litigation
- Member, Pro Bono College, State Bar of Texas, 2004-06,2010, 2014-15, recognizes attorneys who have far exceeded the State Bar’s aspirational pro bono goal in their efforts to address the needs of the community poor
- 10 Best Attorneys, Exceptional and Outstanding Client Service, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys
- Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, 2017
Publications and Presentations
How to Turn the Trucking Case Into a Case About Corporate Responsibility, the $37M Verdict, New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association’s Verdict Just In!
How to Turn the Trucking Case Into a Case About Corporate Responsibility, the $37M Verdict, Houston Trial Lawyers Association.
Turning the Work Truck Wreck Into a Case About Corporate Responsibility, Corpus Christi Bar Association – Advanced Civil Litigation CLE
Hours of Service Oilfield Exceptions — Increasing Fatigue, AAJ TLG Journal of Trucking Litigation, Fall 2014 (co-writer with Stuart R. White)
Winning at Trial and Mediation: Telling the Visual Story, Using the Urge to Punish, Neutralizing Bad Facts, University of Houston Law Center
Fire Protection in Frontal Impacts: Using Ford’s Defense Against Them, Attorneys Information Exchange Group
Professional Associations and Memberships
- American Association for Justice
- Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America
- Attorneys Information Exchange Group
- Bar Association of Arizona
- Corpus Christi Bar Association
- Corpus Christi Young Lawyers Association (President, 2003-04, Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year, 2005-06)
- Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Life Member
- Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Life Member
- New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association (NMTLA)
- State Bar of Texas
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Member
