James, Frederick W.

Tye is the managing attorney for our Oklahoma City office. He concentrates his practice in personal injury, wrongful death and insurance bad faith litigation. Tye handles most of the jury trials for our clients in Oklahoma City and the remaining western half of Oklahoma. He has obtained significant jury verdicts in the central, western and southeastern areas of Oklahoma. He has persuaded major insurance carriers to change their claims-handling procedures through his pursuit of bad faith litigation.

In 1999, Tye obtained a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court in Burch v. Allstate that was a major victory for clients seeking uninsured motorist benefits. This decision continues to cause an uproar in the insurance industry. In 1998, he sued Allstate for bad faith because of its policy of requiring insured motorists to sign a release in exchange for payment of undisputed benefits due under their uninsured motorist coverage. After obtaining a favorable ruling from the court on the issue, the case settled for a confidential amount. Immediately after the settlement, Allstate changed its claim-handling procedure on this issue.

When not practicing law and spending time with his family, Tye enjoys fishing in bass tournaments at the state and national level.