Warner-Smith-Harris PLC

The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience. It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive. A trial is the resolution of a dispute. Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins. I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution. The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law. The law is reason, free from passion. The law: it has honored us; may we honor it.

Attorneys

Jason T. Browning

Jason T. Browning • Partner

Jason is in the litigation section of Warner, Smith & Harris and has a broad defense practice that encompasses products liability disputes, complex commercial litigation, mass tort or multi-district litigation, medical negligence of nursing homes, and employment related issues. His experience with employment related matters enables him to counsel clients on labor-management relations, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Jason's interest in employment law and labor relations transcends to his passion for sports, particularly baseball, and the working relationships between athlete and management. As a certified agent with the Major League Baseball Players Association, he has counseled Major League players in salary arbitration disputes and other grievances with Member Clubs. He has represented a professional baseball club affiliated with the Mexican League before the Commissioner of Major League Baseball in a grievance against a Major League Club.

Jason's products liability practice consists of defending subrogation matters and representing an international pharmaceutical company in mass tort litigation. One of the available resources Jason utilizes in handling litigated matters is mediation, a form of alternative dispute resolution. He counsels clients on the effectiveness of mediation, and has successfully resolved numerous matters through this form of dispute resolution. Arbitration is another element of dispute resolution Jason has engaged. He has represented individual investors against large brokerage firms in arbitration before the National Association of Securities Dealers, achieving substantial monetary awards representing the value of investments lost.

Jason's vast experience enables him to represent a regional non-profit eldercare agency in employment issues, and he provides counsel to such organization on state and federal regulatory matters and its relationship with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services. Furthering this non-profit organization's commitment to serve the elderly, Jason has counseled such client in the development of multiple affordable housing projects by way of utilizing Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

Areas of Practice

  • Employment/Labor Relations (FMLA, ADA, Title XII, ERISA)
  • Health Law
  • Medical malpractice/nursing home/long term care litigation
  • Appellate work
  • Sports law
  • Commercial litigation
  • Multi-district litigation
  • Products liability

Industry Focus

  • Employment /labor
  • Health law/nursing home/long-term care litigation
  • Sports law
  • Commercial litigation

Education

  • University of Arkansas, J.D., 1998
  • Hendrix College, B.A., 1995

Bar and Court Admissions

  • Arkansas, 1998
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, 1998

Activities and Community Service

  • Member, Sebastian County Bar Association
  • Member, Arkansas Bar Association - Labor and Employment Law Section
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Society for Human Resource Management
  • Member, Defense Research Institute, Inc.
  • Certified Agent, Major League Baseball Players Association
  • Member, Sports Lawyers Association
  • Associate Editor, Arkansas Law Review, 1996-1998

Publications

"A Questionable Application of the Arkansas Borrowing Statute in Durham v. Arkansas Department of Human Services-Child Support Enforcement Unit" 51 Ark. Law R. 407 (1998)