Wesley Todd Ball

713.221.8300 | wes@fbtrial.com | VCard |

In 2005 – three years after graduating from Baylor Law School – Wesley Todd Ball co-founded Farrar & Ball, LLP and built it brick by brick to what it has become today. In 2013, the firm joined forces with Kaster & Lynch, LLP to create Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball, LLP, one of the top product liability law firms in the nation.

Mr. Ball’s work is concentrated on automotive defect cases, including tire failures, rollover incidents, airbag failures, seat failures, fuel fed fire cases, and related design and manufacturing defects.  In addition, he has extensive experience handling major multiparty products liability litigation against virtually every major domestic and international vehicle manufacturer, tire company, and automotive component manufacturer in both state and federal court.  As such, Mr. Ball has tried cases to successful outcomes in eight different states, including Texas, Kentucky, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota, California, and New Mexico.

Mr. Ball has earned some of the legal profession’s highest honors, including selection by peer attorneys to Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2014. From 2009 to 2014, he was one of a very small number of Texas lawyers to be recognized by Texas Super Lawyers and its companion Rising Stars publication at the same time.  The National Trial Lawyers organization has named him to its 40 under 40 and, most recently, among is National Top 100 Trial Lawyers. In 2017, Mr. Ball was elected to and currently serves on the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG) executive board, which focuses on obtaining successful outcomes in the product liability arena against mainly Fortune 100 companies.

Mr. Ball is  a frequent media commentator on matters of product liability and other legal issues and has been featured in media outlets including  the Houston Chronicle, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, CBS, ABC, and others.

Over a career spanning nearly 20 years, Mr. Ball has taken dozens of cases to trial and earned multiple jury verdicts exceeding eight-figures. Clients represented by Mr. Ball have collectively recovered more than $250 million in awards and settlements.

Mr. Ball handles a large number of complex litigation settlements and multi-party district litigation (MDL) matters, and he has personally negotiated settlements in virtually every possible setting including with a settlement master, mediator, directly with opposing counsel (in-house and outside counsel) and every variation in between.  These settled matters include cases involving defective tires, defective airbags, roof crush safety defects in catastrophic rollover events, breach of corporate insurance contracts, negligence of international NAFTA commercial carriers, defective pedestals equipped to commercial bucket trucks, defective braking systems, dynamic vehicle stability controls, multiparty unsafe industrial workplace conditions, defective automobile safety restraint systems, industrial plant explosions, as well as defective automobile design resulting in catastrophic fuel-fed fires. Many of these cases involved complex engineering issues, as well as defects at the design stages of multiple products.

F&B and KLF&B have taken advantage of opportunities to expand into mass tort cases.   KLF&B is one of two firms to take on 3M in litigation related to its Bair Hugger product years before an MDL was formed, and the firm’s work has been material in the MDL formation thereafter.  Since the formation of the MDL, KLF&B has played an instrumental role in moving the litigation through discovery, trial, and beyond.

Additionally, Mr. Ball and the trial team have been materially involved in multiple other MDL proceedings, including MDL 2666: In re: Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Products Liability Litigation; MDL 2765: In Re: Smith & Nephew Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation; MDL 2197: and In Re: DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., ASR Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation.

Finally, in 2018 Mr. Ball and his firm were approached by parents of children who were killed in the tragic 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. For six years following the most tragic day a parent can ever experience, these parents have been forced to face cruel harassment from conspiracy theorists alleging that their children were not killed and that they are crisis actors. Led by inflammatory radio host Alex Jones and his internet website Infowars.com, the harassment campaign has forced these grieving families to move countless times and relive the December 12, 2012, tragedy day after day. The harassment has even prevented many of them from visiting their children’s gravesites. When these parents called, KLF&B accepted the cases without hesitation, and immediately began prosecuting cases against Mr. Jones for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. With the help of Mr. Ball, KLF&B is now handling five high-profile media cases on behalf of the victims wronged and harassed by Mr. Jones and his followers.

“I did not accept these cases because of some large financial gain to be made. Rather, I accepted these cases because it is the right thing to do, and the reason I became a lawyer.”

Mr. Ball is licensed to practice law in Texas and Iowa and has been granted pro hac vice status in more than 20 different state court jurisdictions.  He splits his time between Texas and Colorado.

 

Education
  • Bachelor of Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
  • Juris Doctorate, Baylor University School of Law, Waco, Texas.
Courts
  • Admitted to practice in all Texas state courts
  • Admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
  • Admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
  • Admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas
Honors
  • 2023 Trial Lawyer of the Year, Public Justice
  • Texas Super Lawyers, 2014-2023, Thomson Reuters
  • Texas Rising Stars, 2010-2014, Thomson Reuters
  • The National Trial Lawyers, Top 40 Under 40
  • Magna Cum Laude, High Honors, University of Tennessee
  • Order of Barristers, Baylor University School of Law
  • Dean’s List, University of Tennessee
Professional Activities & Affiliations
  • Texas Bar Association
  • Texas Trial Lawyers Association
  • Houston Bar Association
  • Southern Trial Lawyers Association
  • American Trial Lawyers Association

Video & Visuals

Tire Demo without Nylon Wedge

This video animation demonstrates how steel belts inside a tire without a nylon wedge can generate dangerous amounts of friction. Learn More

Michelin Tire Recommendations

Corporate tire industry video documents safety concerns when two new tires are mounted on back of vehicle. Learn More

Tire Demo with Belt Wedge

This demonstrative evidence video animation is used to show jurors the components of a tire and illustrates how tires without “belt wedges” can generate dangerous friction between the steel belts. Learn More

Modern Tire Diagram

This demonstrative evidence image shows a cross section of a modern tire with liners, belts, nylon overlay and undertread. Learn More

Replacing Tires Guidelines

Corporate tire industry video explains safety and performance issues when only two tires are replaced on a vehicle, and how vehicle handling is affected by placement of tires. Learn More

Tread Separation Test

Video created by Carr Engineering Inc. to document a tread separation test with a Ford Explorer. Test shows that even an expert driver with knowledge that a tread separation event is imminent still cannot maintain control of the vehicle. Learn More

Tire Demo with Nylon Over Wrap

A video animation used as demonstrative evidence to illustrate for jurors the components of a tire, including belts, liners and tread base. This animation demonstrates how two belt liners rubbing together can create friction that leads to tire failure. Learn More

Ford Explorer Crash Testing

Short video documenting an SUV on a test track flipping and rolling, then crashing into a guard rail. Learn More

Nylon Safety Strips

Demonstrative evidence illustration used to explain to jurors the components of a tire designed with nylon safety strips in addition to steel belts. Learn More

Nylon Safety Belt

Side-by-side demonstrative evidence used to explain to jurors the differences between a cap ply tire with a nylon safety belt compared to a traditional steel-belted tire. Learn More

Mercury Mountaineer Tire Testing

Demonstrative evidence showing three different camera angles of a 2001 Mercury Moutaineer performing a controlled maneuver with a defective tire. Learn More

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