James M. Love's Profile Image

James M. Love is a shareholder at Titus Hillis with over thirty-seven years of civil litigation experience. Early in his career, Jim practiced in San Francisco, California, with a large international law firm defending insurance bad faith and toxic tort claims. After returning to Tulsa in 1992, his practice focused on products liability, toxic torts, and professional malpractice claims. He also handles insurance bad faith cases, employment issues, and business litigation matters.

Further, Jim frequently represents dentists, physicians, and nurses against state disciplinary boards. He has even sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking judicial review of the FDA’s improper classification of dental mercury fillings. Jim is an honorary member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology (“IAOMT”), whose twice-yearly meetings he consistently attends for the latest in medical and dental innovation. He frequently speaks on legal issues of interest to these professions.

Jim’s involvement in products liability cases includes injuries caused by products as diverse as hydraulic tire changers, battery chargers, clothes dryers, automobiles, trucks, commercial sprinkler systems, saunas, propane tanks, and lighting ballasts. His toxic tort cases address injurious exposures to mercury, particulates, toluene diisocyanate, mold, silicones, asbestos, and other carcinogens.

Jim handled four high profile cases involving harmful patient and occupational exposure to mercury vapor and particulate generated during the placement and removal of dental mercury fillings. These four cases spawned four published appellate opinions. He also sued the North Carolina Dental Board in federal court when it threatened North Carolina dentists with professional discipline for communicating to their patients and the public the truth about the health risks associated with these fillings. Based on these and other experiences, Jim appeared as himself in the movie, Evidence of Harm, a documentary examining the adverse health effects and environmental hazards posed by the use of these fillings.

Jim is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma and California.

Representative Experience

  • After a three-day hearing, won all four counts in a dental board case brought by the Pennsylvania State Board of Dentistry against a dental practitioner.
  • Won a bench trial against the Maryland Board of Physicians, its board members, one of its administrative prosecutors, and several staff members arising out of the publication of a family's medical information on the Board's website. The nearly $5,000,000 judgment included an award of $1,250,000 in punitive damages. On appeal, the case was reversed by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals on the ground that the defendants were absolutely immune from suit, in contravention of a state statute that says otherwise.
  • Won a jury verdict on claims arising out of the complete destruction of a home caused by a home builder’s failure to conform the home’s construction to applicable building codes.
  • Represented NGOs in Geneva, Switzerland, and Bangkok, Thailand, with the negotiation of the UNEP Minamata Convention on Mercury.
  • Successfully defended claims alleging injuries caused by exposure to mold in a residential setting.
  • Testified before the Maine State Legislature in support of a bill that would ban mercury fillings.
  • Jim authored three citizens’ petitions that were presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration precipitating new scientific advisory committee hearings concerning the use of dental mercury fillings. These petitions received national press coverage. Jim appeared before the FDA’s scientific advisory committee to present information supporting the petitions. FDA’s failure to timely respond to the petitions led to a lawsuit filed in federal district court in the District of Columbia to compel the FDA’s response. FDA agreed to respond, and years later, the FDA granted Jim’s clients’ request to preclude the placement of amalgam fillings in sub-populations comprising 60% of the country.
  • Defended and counseled dozens of dentists and physicians against state disciplinary board charges around the country.
  • Successfully prosecuted a securities fraud case against a petroleum producer and its lenders, resulting in an award of compensatory and punitive damages.
  • Was awarded a California jury verdict in favor of a national distributor following the termination of a distributorship agreement by an international manufacturer.
  • Favorably settled a case against a national consortium of law firms which failed to pay its expert witnesses for years of services.
  • Representing a plaintiff, litigated to a favorable settlement an insurance bad faith case following the destruction of a home by a lightning strike.
  • Litigated to a favorable settlement a gender and age discrimination case brought by a manager against her former employer, a national radio broadcast company.
  • Successfully defended a federal lawsuit brought against a Swedish manufacturer and its wholly-owned subsidiary corporation against claims brought by its president under a written employment agreement.
  • Successfully defended a federal lawsuit brought against a minority-owned railroad construction company in which the plaintiff alleged reverse discrimination and breach of a written employment agreement.
  • Defended a distributor of a hydraulic tire changer in a case involving a garage mechanic who suffered a severe brain injury when a tire exploded, causing it to launch off of the tire changer. The case settled favorably and, after seeking and receiving court approval of the settlement, a downstream distributor was left with disproportionate liability for the plaintiff’s damages.
  • Prosecuted several products liability cases to verdict in state and federal courts against a variety of national product manufacturers.
  • Defended and favorably settled a products liability case arising from a catastrophic boating accident brought against an international engine manufacturer.
  • Successfully defended a national lumber company against a series of cases filed in California alleging injuries due to asbestos exposure.

Publications

“Systematic Assessment of Research on Autism Spectrum Disorder and Mercury Reveals Conflicts of Interest and the Need for Transparency in Autism Research,” Science and Engineering Ethics 10/2015; DOI:10.1007/s11948-015-9713-6 (co-author)

“Thimerosal as discrimination: vaccine disparity in the U.N. Minamata Convention on Mercury,” Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 04/2014; 11(4) (co-author)

“The Unconstitutionality of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act,” 17 Tulsa L.J. 782 (1982)

Seminars

Jim is occasionally invited as a speaker to meetings of the IAOMT and other dental organizations.