Personal Background
- Enjoys working with his kids raising livestock for 4H events.
- Collects antique firearms primarily from World War II.
- Rides superbikes on backroads and race tracks.
- Loves to travel with his family to places near and far.
- Prior to joining The Lanier Law Firm, Ben was an associate at highly respected law firms in Beaumont and Lubbock. Before attending law school, Ben taught English and coached basketball and tennis in the public school system.
Representative Cases
- Ben helped preserve one of the largest tort judgments ever to survive an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, the firm represented twenty-two women (and their families) who developed ovarian cancer due to exposure to asbestos in the defendants’ talcum powders. Leading the briefing effort on multiple dispositive issues, Ben helped the firm’s clients preserve a multi-billion dollar judgment on appeal. Ben’s work on this case attributed to the firm’s appellate group gaining recognition by the National Law Journal as one of the nation’s elite appellate teams.
- Briefing efforts headed up by Ben prevented Johnson and Johnson from moving all state court actions involving its talcum powder products to the court where its talc provider’s bankruptcy was pending, which prevented a scenario where injured women and their families would have to wait years more before having access to the courts.
- Ben defeated dispositive motions in a false claims action that allowed a state government to recoup several million dollars paid in Medicaid claims due to the defendant’s misconduct.
- Ben defeated dispositive motions in antitrust litigation involving a client’s multi-seat drag racing experience that led to a favorable settlement for his client.
- In a case involving the death of an up-and-coming race car driver during a race in upstate New York caused by a hall of fame NASCAR driver, Ben successfully persuaded a federal judge that other courts had mistakenly held that similarly situated racing competitors could not invoke a New York statute that nullifies waivers signed by participants at recreational events. After Ben’s efforts defeated the defendant’s dispositive motions and application of the waivers, the Firm’s clients obtained a very favorable settlement.
- In his pro bono work, Ben recently recovered over $110,000 for an estate from an heir who, before the decedent died, stole that money from the decedent after she suffered multiple strokes and became incapacitated.
Admissions and Certification
- State Bar of Texas
- He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Northern, and Eastern Districts of Texas, as well the federal Fifth Circuit and Ninth Circuit courts.
Education
- J.D. – Summa Cum Laude from The Texas Tech School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal
- B.S. in Political Science – Magna Cum Laude from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas
Awards
- Received Order of the Coif honors at Texas Tech School of Law
- Thomson Reuters recognized Ben among the list of Texas Rising Stars in 2018, 2019 and 2020
- Member of appellate team recognized as National Law Journal’s appellate teams to watch
Community and Professional Activities
- National Trial Lawyers
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Northeast Harris County Bar Association
- Houston Trial Lawyers Association
- Ben has served a term as captain on the Judging Contest Committee at The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and remains an active member of the committee.
- Ben sits on the board of directors for Blue Tide Aquatics swim club in Kingwood, Texas.
- Presents and lectures on legal writing and ethics in legal writing to lawyers and law students.
