James M. Dower
Partner
James M. Dower is a partner and a graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law. He has been admitted to practice in Iowa and Illinois.
He clerked for Chief U.S. District Judge Edward McManus of the Northern District of Iowa. Jim has been a litigator in Illinois since 1978. His practice is currently concentrated on the defense of construction, dramshop, consumer fraud, transportation, premises and product liability cases in both state and federal court. He has tried over 30 major lawsuits, including recent premises liability trials. He has obtained recent summary judgments for defendants in dramshop, premises liability, and construction negligence cases.
Jim is admitted to the state courts of Illinois and the United States District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of Illinois. He is also a member of the trial bars of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Central District of Illinois. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association. Jim has presented in-house seminars for insurance carriers and clients on employer tort liability, construction liability and dramshop liability. He represents respondents and is also an arbitrator in UM/UIM matters.
Jim has won summary judgment for general contractors on grounds that they were neither the possessor of the premises under § 343 of the Restatement of Torts (Second) nor in control of safety under § 414 of the Restatement of Torts (Second). He has obtained summary judgment for a restaurant operator on grounds that it was neither the owner of the restaurant nor the possessor of the premises nor was plaintiff a third-party beneficiary of the foodservice agreement. He won summary judgment for a defendant steel erection contractor, who also owned the steel erection company that employed plaintiff, on exclusive remedy grounds. He has won summary judgment for dramshops on grounds of lack of proof of intoxication, on the defense of provocation as a matter of law, and on lack of capacity of the intoxicated party or anyone bringing an action on their behalf.
