James Lewis Hough

Since I started practicing law in 1998, I have practiced civil trial and appellate litigation with an emphasis on medical Malpractice defense and Health Law.  My representation of healthcare providers in malpractice suits has included every phase of litigation from the Indiana Medical Review Panel process, through trial and appeals.  It has also included professional medical licensing matters and hospital contract issues.  I have served as lead trial counsel in numerous medical malpractice jury trials.  Other matters I have handled have included HIPPA compliance,  insurance coverage and general contract litigation, employment matters including ERISA health plan litigation, federal civil rights cases, and products liability cases including medical device litigation.

From 2008 though 2015, I was lead defense counsel for a physician who was accused of medical malpractice by over 350 former patients.  This matter has been described as the largest mass medical malpractice case in American legal history.   I developed systems to effectively and efficiently manage this mass litigation in a manner which treated each case individually, but conserved resources by avoiding the unnecessary duplication of efforts.  My litigation of these cases has involved the development of strategies to address legal issues which are matters of first impression in the jurisdiction where the cases are pending.  In this regard, I have personally served as lead trial counsel as well as lead appellate counsel.  A global settlement of the remaining cases was completed in the first quarter of 2015.     

I am currently an adjunct faculty member of the Valparaiso University School of Law where I teach a course entitled “Law, Medicine and Bio-Ethics”.  In this course, the legal and ethical implications of such medical subjects as: patient care, the use of human research subjects, genetic testing, death and dying, and numerous other issues are explored.