James E. Brown focuses his practice on complex business litigation and has handled matters in state and federal courts, and in arbitration forums, across the country. His experience includes matters involving breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, intellectual property, unfair competition, Lanham Act, antitrust, misrepresentation, reinsurance and bad faith, and employment disputes, as well as matters related to benzene, industrial solvents and gasoline, terminals and pipelines.

Mr. Brown is co-author of Chapter 13 in Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (2d ed. 2005), which deals with issue and claim preclusion under the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel in federal court litigation. He also authored an article entitled "Standing and Direct Review in Appellate Court," which was published in Volume 60 of the Temple Law Quarterly.

Reported decisions representative of Mr. Brown's work include Hyde Athletic Industries, Inc. v. Continental Casualty Co., 969 F. Supp. 289 (E.D. Pa. 1997) and CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co., 680 A.2d 1082 (Md. 1996).

Mr. Brown received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Franklin & Marshall College in 1985. He earned his law degree at Temple University School of Law in 1988, where he was an Editor of the Temple Law Review and the recipient of the J. Howard Reber Memorial Award for Writing.

Areas Of Practice

Commercial Litigation
Insurance Litigation
Insurance Coverage Litigation
Mass Tort Litigation
Class Action Litigation
Business Tort Litigation

Representative Matters

Counsel to Kuwait Oil Tanker Company S.A.K. and SITKA Shipping, Inc. in litigation arising from claims of corporate fraud and embezzlement in Kuwait Oil Tanker Company S.A.K. and SITKA Shipping Incorporated v. Abdul Fattah Sulaiman Khaled Al Bader, Hassan Ali Hassan Qabazard and Timothy St. John Stafford, Court of Common Pleas of York County, Pennsylvania.
Represented software manufacturer in patent infringement and business tort litigation in Serviceware Technologies, Inc. v. Primus Knowledge Solutions, No. 03-1467, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Defended a number of actions involving alleged design and construction defects in pipeline operations, including property damage and bodily injury claims allegedly related to the release of petroleum products from terminal and pipeline operations.
Represented manufacturer of non-metal golf cleats in matter involving patent infringement and alleged antitrust violations in connection with the manufacture, marketing and sale of non-metal cleats for golf shoes. Green Keepers, Inc. v. Softspikes, Inc., No. Civ.A. 98-2255, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Defended employers in litigation and administrative agency proceedings involving claims of gender, age, and race discrimination, and matters arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Defended manufacturer of automotive degreasers in litigation involving claims of lymphoma and leukemia alleged to have resulted from exposure to benzene.
Defended manufacturers in class action arising out of firefighter noise induced hearing loss claims allegedly caused by exposure to noise from fire sirens.
Defended matter involving application of excess of loss contracts to railroad employee claims arising from various occupational diseases, including, asbestos-related disease, noise-induced hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome and other orthopedic conditions resulting from workplace exposure to repetitive stress as well as liabilities arising from hazardous waste generated by operations at various rail yards and repair and maintenance facilities. The Kansas City Southern Railway Company and Kansas City Southern Industries v. Stonewall Insurance Company, Cause No. B-161,903, District Court of Jefferson County, Texas, 60th Judicial District.
Handled litigation involving environmental remediation at forty-one (41) railroad maintenance, refueling and repair facilities. Obtained summary judgment on the issues of allocation and exhaustion in a case of first impression in Alabama. Illinois Central Railroad Company, individually and as successor-in-interest to The Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio Railroad v. Stonewall Insurance Company, No. CV-99-3525, Circuit Court for the Thirteenth Judicial District, Mobile County, Alabama.
Secured summary judgment on all claims in a matter involving environmental remediation of a locomotive maintenance and refueling facility located in Huron, South Dakota. Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London, No. 99-164, Circuit Court, Third Judicial District, County of Beadle, South Dakota.
Defended litigation arising from employee sensorineural hearing loss allegedly caused by work-place exposure to high decibel noise and environmental remediation of rail yards and repair and maintenance facilities. Kansas City Southern Railway Co., et al. v. Stonewall Insurance Co., et al., First Judicial District, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, No. 467,975.
Handled litigation related to application of excess coverage for employee claims arising from various occupational diseases and liabilities allegedly related to hazardous waste at various rail yards and maintenance facilities. International Surplus Lines Insurance Company v. The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, No. 02CV21775, Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri.
Handled national management and oversight of the defense of thousands of asbestos, silica and mixed dust claims against a respirator manufacturer.
Defended property owners with respect to respiratory claims asserted by workers involved in the clean-up operations following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In re World Trade Center Litigation, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Defended numerous actions involving alleged exposure to products in various industrial and residential settings, including product liability and design defect claims related to industrial solvents and chemicals, naptha, toluene, xylene, styrene, butadiene, butadiene-containing products, benzene and benzene-containing products.
Represented telecommunications company in federal breach of contract litigation arising from media placement agreements. Direct Response Media, Inc. v. PRIME TV, L.L.C., No. 03-6786, (E.D. Pa).
Defended floor tile manufacturer in litigation involving alleged property damage to municipal facilities arising from the installation of asbestos-containing floor tiles. Bay City School District, et al. v. Kentile Floors, 36th District Court, Detroit, Michigan.
Represented beverage manufacturer in connection with Lanham Act and unfair trade practices litigation. Vermont Pure Holding, Ltd. v. Nestlé Waters North America, Inc., Nestlé SA, (D. Mass.).
Counsel to reinsurer in litigation and arbitration matters involving accounting, finance and disclosure issues associated with insurance-backed financing for motion picture productions. Silicon Valley Bank v. AXA Re UK; New Hampshire Insurance Company; AIG Europe (UK) Limited; and Great Lakes Resinsurance (UK) PLC, United States District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, Case No. CV-00-10611 RSWL (RCx); The Chase Manhattan Bank v. New Hampshire Insurance Company and AXA Corporate Solutions, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, Commercial Division, Index No. 600996/00.
Secured summary judgment on behalf of primary and excess carrier in litigation involving claims of "regulatory estoppel," bad faith and punitive damages in connection with environmental property damage claim. This matter was a case of first impression regarding the claim of regulatory estoppel, which was based upon alleged misrepresentations to state insurance regulators in connection with regulatory approval of the pollution exclusion. Hyde Athletic Industries, Inc. v. Continental Casualty Co. 969 F. Supp. 289 (E.D. Pa 1997).
Handled litigation involving application of occurrence-based excess of loss contracts to a railroad's losses in connection with more than 20,000 employee noise induced hearing loss claims. The railroad employees alleged that they had sustained sensorineural hearing loss from long-term exposure to high decibel, industrial noise. The number of occurrences issue was successfully tried to a jury. The jury's verdict was affirmed by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, Maryland's highest court, in a published decision, CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Continental Insurance Company v. Continental Insurance Company, 680 A.2d 1082 (Md. 1996).
Successfully defended insurer in case involving application of occurrence-based excess of loss contracts to railroad employee toxic encephalopathy claims arising from occupational exposures. Obtained summary judgment on critical medical etiology issues bearing upon the applicability of aggregate loss provisions. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Admiral Insurance Co., Case No. 96-00415-CA.
Successfully handled arbitration proceedings involving claims of bad faith and breach of contract in connection with coverage-in-place agreement covering asbestos-related occupational disease claims. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. CNA Insurance Companies, American Arbitration Association.

Professional Activities

American Bar Association
Pennsylvania Bar Association
Philadelphia Bar Association

Admissions

Pennsylvania
New Jersey
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

Education

Temple University School of Law, J.D., 1988

Temple Law Review

Franklin & Marshall College, B.A., 1985

Experience

Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2006-present
Cozen O'Connor
- Member, 1990-2006
Rawle & Henderson
- Associate, 1988-1990

Selected Publications

Co-author, "Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts," Vol. I, Ch. 13, Issue and Claim Preclusion, (2d ed. 2005)
Author, Standing and Direct Review in Appellate Court, 60 Tem.L.Q. 1045, (1988)