Palzer, Jeffrey T.

Jerry R. Palmer is the founder of the firm of Palmer, Lowry, Leatherman & White, LLP. He graduated from the University of Kansas Law School with a J.D. in 1966. He was an associate and then partner in the firm of Fisher, Patterson, Sayler & Smith, a premier defense firm, and was mentored by Don Patterson, one of the nation's most outstanding product liability lawyers. This was followed by three years as an associate with the firm of Fisher & Benfer, where he had a divided practice between plaintiff's personal injury and defense. He participated as co-counsel in the case of Martin v. State Highway Commission , (213 Kan. 877 (1974)) which at the time was the largest personal injury verdict ever rendered by a Kansas jury.

After three years in private practice and three more years with another Topeka firm, he founded a solo practice in the historic Columbian Building in downtown Topeka which is still home to the firm today.

He has been active in a variety of organizations associated with the legal profession, generally. The American Bar Association and its product liability committees, the Kansas Bar Association and special committees, and the Topeka Bar Association and special committees. He has served on the Board of Governors for over 20 years and as President of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association in 1977-78. He was the State Chairman and President of the Kansas Chapter of The American Board of Trial Advocates, an honorary organization of both plaintiff and defense attorneys. He has been elected as a Fellow of The American College of Trial Lawyers in 1988 (an honorary organization of all types of trial lawyers whose membership is limited to no more than one percent of the State Bar) in recognition of achievements in civil trial practice. In 1987 he was elected to the American Law Institute where he has served on members consultative groups for such projects as the Restatement of Torts 3d Products Liability, General Principles of Tort Liability and Apportionment. The American Law Institute is an organization of approximately 2,700 members made up of practicing lawyers, judges and legal academicians, which is responsible for writing the ten Restatements of The Law. Locally he has served as President of the Topeka Lawyers Club (1989) and is a Master of the Bench in the Honorable Sam Crow, American Inns of Court. He is also an elected member of Scribes, an organization of legal authors.

Mr. Palmer has been at the forefront of the move for specialty certification in the United States. In 1980 he received the first certificate from the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a Civil Trial Advocate, and has been re-certified three times. He has been a member of the Board of that organization for over 15 years, serving as its President and Chairman of the Board in 1991-1993. He also spearheaded the organization's effort in the case of Peel v. Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois , 110 S.Ct. 2281 (1992) decided affirmatively for NBTA by the United States Supreme Court.

He was certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys initially in 1990 and re-certified in 1998 in the subspecialty of medical malpractice. These two organizations are the only two certifying in the fields of civil trial practice or in professional liability practice at the national level and accredited to certify by the American Bar Association. They both require proof that the lawyer is in good standing, is substantially involved in litigation and trying cases, has met continuing legal education requirements and has been subjected to peer review by persons against whom they have tried cases, as well as judges before whom they have appeared. There are minimum trial day requirements. Both organizations require passing a written examination. NBTA, in addition, requires a trial court memorandum and an annual disclosure of misconduct to monitor quality and a continuation of substantial involvement in civil trial practice.

Mr. Palmer has been active in the national organization of trial lawyers known as The Association of Trial Lawyers of America and is a life-time member, having served on its Board of Governors for three years, and chairing initially its Constitutional Challenge Committee as well as its Home Office & Budget Committee for a number of years, and receiving on three separate occasions the Organization's Citation of Excellence. He is also a Trustee of The American Jury Trial Foundation.

Mr. Palmer is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, of which he is a Life Member. This organization is devoted to the advancement of public justice and Mr. Palmer has served as local counsel for the organization in their class action abuse project, and serves on its Program Development Committee.

In recognition of his service to the Trial Bar, he has been recognized by the National Board of Trial Advocacy with its Theodore I. Koskoff Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Trial Specialty Certification in 1998, and the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association First Consumer Advocate Award in 1998 for the case of Long v. Turk , 265 Kan. 855, a landmark case holding gun owners responsible for negligent entrustment or negligent storage of weapons which are used by minors to commit crimes. He has also been designated in the book "Best Lawyers in America" in the field of personal injury. He was invited to become a member of The Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell which he has had for the past 18 years. He was an elected member of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission voted upon by mail ballot of the lawyers in the Second Congressional District for two consecutive terms. He is also listed in Who' Who in American law, and Who's Who in the World.

Mr. Palmer's practice covers the field of products liability, medical malpractice and all other forms of torts and personal injury. Representative cases in the appellate courts of Kansas include:

• St. David's Espiscopal Church v. Westboro Baptist Church , 22 Kan.App.2d 537(1998, review denied by the Kansas Supreme Court, certiorari denied by the United States Supreme Court, establishing for the first time anywhere the rights of privacy of worship as a governmental interest and holding those who would interfere to the standards of a mixed audience.
• Sheila A. v. Whiteman , 259 Kan. 549 (1996), the first case to overrule a district court on the award of attorney fees in either a class action or common fund case.
• Cerretti v. Flint Hills REC , 251 Kan. 347 (1992), upholding a verdict for the death of a woman by electrocution where damages of over $1 million were awarded.
• Harding v. K.C. Wall Products, Inc. , 250 Kan. 655 (1992), a case of first impression upholding the constitutionality of a statute of repose, specially designed for latent disease cases.
• Jackson by Jackson v. Wood , 11 Kan. App. 2d 478 (1986), a landmark case applying the landlord/tenant act to impose duties upon landlords in tort actions for injuries to invitees of tenants.
• Flax v. Kansas Turnpike Authority , 226 Kan. 1 (1979), a case overruling prior precedent and removing immunity from the Kansas Turnpike Authority on state constitutional grounds.
• Smith v. Union Pacific , 222 Kan. 303 (1977), a case overruling prior precedent regarding passenger look-out duties at a railroad crossing.
• Bell v. Kent Brown Chevrolet , 1 Kan. App. 2d 131 (1977), the first appellate case involving the Consumer Protection Act.

Mr. Palmer is a mediator and has taken the basic course work and has been certified by the State of Kansas as a mediator.

He has taught Law and Medicine and Trial Techniques as an Adjunct Professor at Washburn University Law School and has given over 75 lectures on areas of substantive legal practice in products liability, medical malpractice, automobile liability, third-party liability of insurers. In addition he has given lectures on aspects of trial techniques involving discovery, the use of technology, computerized research, structured settlements, case evaluations, and mediation. The speeches have been given at least in one dozen states and at national meetings.

Publications include articles for the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, the Kansas Bar Journal, Trial Diplomacy Journal, and Trial Magazine.

Mr. Palmer is admitted to practice in the State of Kansas, the United States District Court in the District of Kansas, the United States Claims Court, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.