Ray, Jeff

Jeff is known as a trial lawyer who is one of the few lawyers who spends much of his time in court and in front of juries throughout the Southwest. He has tried or has been lead counsel in cases in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Oklahoma.

During his career, a number of Jeff's cases have received regional or national recognition for defense verdicts in pipeline explosion, tire defect, automobile defect, product defect, oil field accident, refinery explosion, transportation accident, and liquor liability cases (reported by various news sources including CNN, USA Today, Business World and ABC News). He has also represented businesses and clients as plaintiffs and has obtained substantial verdicts and settlements on their behalf. Some of his more recent verdicts and accomplishments as lead trial counsel are set forth below.

In Santa Fe, NM, Jeff defended a national transportation company in a multiple fatality trucking/auto accident case. Plaintiffs' estates alleged that our truck driver rear-ended a vehicle, causing a chain reaction of multiple accidents and deaths. Weather and dust conditions contributed to the accident and the jury returned a defense verdict.

In El Paso, TX, Jeff represented a client with property in Mexico and Texas acquired during a 19-year period. Jeff's client was offered virtually no business assets in a complex and high asset/business divorce case. After a lengthy trial in the 388th District Court of El Paso County, Texas, the jury awarded over $23 million dollars to Jeff's client.

In Santa Fe, NM, Jeff defended a regionally and nationally publicized case involving the deaths of two teenage Navajo Nation girls and serious injuries to their parents. Jeff represented an international bar and restaurant corporation in a liquor liability case. The bar was accused of selling over 88 ounces of beer to a patron who left the bar and later rear-ended the family at a very high rate of speed. A multimillion-dollar offer was rejected by plaintiffs. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a defense verdict.

In Bell County, TX, Jeff acted as Plaintiffs' counsel for his clients. After a two-week trial, he recorded the highest fraud verdict in Texas for 2012 when a jury awarded Jeff's clients over $20 million. The verdict is ranked in the top 100 verdicts in the U.S. for 2012 and 2013 and has recently been recognized from 2012 to 2015 in the Texas Verdicts Hall of Fame.

Jeff has been the lead trial counsel for a major utility company in the largest wildfire in the history of Texas, the Bastrop Complex Fire Litigation, representing the utility against over 600 plaintiffs and 40 attorneys with damage claims totaling over $450 million. Jeff's client secured a substantial confidential settlement on its cross claim in the fire litigation.

Jeff represented a major pipeline company in an explosion case in New Mexico involving 27 plaintiffs. He defended the company in a multi-million dollar 2 ½ month trial. The trial received both regional and national attention and was broadcast by a national court service. The plaintiff demanded over $100 million. The jury returned a defense verdict for the natural gas corporation.

Jeff represented a major tire manufacturer in a multiple fatality/brain damage of a minor child case in Texas. After a lengthy trial, the jury returned a defense verdict for the corporation.

Over the course of several years, Jeff and his trial team represented a worldwide clothing manufacturer in over 2,000 claims and cases filed by workers who had suffered various respiratory, formaldehyde and other related injuries. The cases were all pending in counties along the South Texas Border. After trying and securing four straight defense verdicts over the course of two years, the remaining cases were dismissed.

Jeff currently represents high-profile individuals, companies, and entertainment industry professionals in high-risk/high-exposure litigation cases in New Mexico and Texas.

Jeff and his firm are very active in pro bono representation of clients in need of emergency legal representation. In response to the August 2019 mass shooting that took place in El Paso, Texas, Jeff and the firm donated substantial time, money, and resources to assist families with counseling, family aid, fundraising, legal matters, and seminars to assist hundreds of people in the community. On a personal note, Jeff acted as pro bono counsel to families in serious family and custody disputes, dedicating well over 1500 hours to assist multiple families. Jeff received the 2020 Albert Armendariz Award of Civil Rights, awarded by the El Paso Bar Association.