Mikal Watts

Mikal Watts (born July 17, 1967, in Corpus Christi) is a 49-year-old plaintiff's attorney from San Antonio, Texas and a prolific donor to the Texas and national Democratic Party, and candidates running for office as Democrats. Mikal has two brothers David age 51, and Guy, age 45. He formed an exploratory committee to run for Senator of Texas against incumbent John Cornyn in the 2008 U.S. Senate elections,[1] but announced on October 23, 2007 his decision not to run.[2]

As a trial lawyer he has represented plaintiffs in many of the highest-profile cases in the country over the past 15 years. His work involving defective Chrysler minivan lift gate latches resulted in a $262.5 million jury verdict. Chrysler recalled more than 4 million minivans. Together with Tab Turner, Watts spearheaded the litigation nationwide against Firestone Tire Company and Ford Motor Company for defective Firestone tire failures, causing rollover of Ford Explorer vehicles. By the close of the litigation, Watts and Turner had recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for their clients, and the two corporate behemoths had been forced to publicly apologize and to recall more than 17 million defective tires. Watts tried the first case in the country in other product defect litigations, including cases involving Rezulin, a diabetes drug that caused liver damage, which ultimately was recalled; Sulzer Hip Implants, where oily residue on implants caused the product to fail, and where his punitive damage verdict against the company led to a nationwide settlement of more than $1 billion involving the now-recalled defective implants; the drug Levaquin, where Watts obtained the only Plaintiffs' verdict in the United States. In total, Watts has achieved more than $1 billion in jury verdicts and arbitration awards, and more than $3 billion in settlement recoveries, on behalf of his clients.

Watts repeatedly has been named one of the top trial lawyers in the United States. Having tried cases in courtroom across the United States, Watts frequently lectures other lawyers at seminars across the country.

In 2015, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi indicted Watts and six others for their work on the litigation following the April 20, 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, accusing them of committing 95 felonies, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft and aggravated identity theft. Watts vociferously and very publicly proclaimed his innocence. Facing life in prison if convicted, Watts took the highly unusual step of choosing to represent himself at his criminal trial. Before trial began, Watts secured the dismissal of 22 of the 95 counts, and during trial convinced the judge to dismiss 7 additional counts. After a five-week trial, a federal jury in Gulfport, Mississippi unanimously acquitted Watts, his brother and his legal assistant of all remaining charges, 66 felony counts. Watts is working to use his experience as a vehicle to secure statutory reforms of the federal criminal justice system, and has returned to his work representing innocent victims harmed by corporate malfeasance.

He has been married for 23 years to his wife, Tammy, and they have three children, Taylor, age 22, Hailey, age 20, and Brandon, age 18. Watts and his wife are actively involved in their church, Oak Hills Church is San Antonio, pastored by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee. Watts and his wife Tammy founded Rapha God Ministries, a ministry they founded in order to provide free Christian prayer counseling to those in need.[3]

Political positions

Watts opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, but supports civil unions for same-sex couples. He supports the expansion of federal funding for stem cell research.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Yin, yang of Democratic frustration, Houston Chronicle, September 8, 2007
  2. ↑ Statement from Mikal Watts October 23, 2007 Archived October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Watts for US Senate Exploratory Committee
  4. ↑ Watts, Mikal (2007-09-19). "Mikal Watts DFT Questionnaire Response". Retrieved 2007-10-09.
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