Before kick-off, tributes were paid to Terry Yorath, who made 99 league appearances for Coventry between 1976 and 1979.
The former Wales international died earlier this month and there was a minute of applause, with both sets of players and staff wearing black armbands to mark his passing.
With play under way, Leicester were soon in front as Abdul Fatawu freed himself down the right and pulled the ball back into the path of Bobby De Cordova-Reid.
He threaded a cute ball around the corner to James, who made no mistake with his finish, much to the delight of the visiting supporters behind the goal.
Coventry set a punishing pace in the first four months of this Championship campaign but have stuttered since and the Foxes ought to have doubled their advantage five minutes later when De Cordova-Reid’s miscued effort, from James’ cross, was tipped over by Carl Rushworth.
Leicester carved out the another notable opening when De Cordova-Reid met Oliver Skipp’s pull-back after he had broken forwards down the right, but the Jamaica international only found Rushworth’s midriff.
And they were made to pay for failing to emphasise their dominance when Coventry equalised within 90 seconds after the interval as Jack Rudoni drove a low cross-shot into the six-yard box and the ball found its way into the corner via the back of Simms’ leg.
The mood in the CBS Arena dramatically changed with the hosts level, and they might have taken the lead shortly afterwards when lively loanee Romain Esse beat defender Ben Nelson to Simms’ flick-on and crashed a shot against the post.
Coventry completed their turnaround at the death as Sakamoto proved too strong for Luke Thomas and although Stolarczyk produced an excellent save to deny the Japanese winger, Wright was on hand to force it over the line.
The result was particularly timely for Frank Lampard’s side, who had won just two of their previous eight league matches, while Leicester’s inconsistencies continue to damage their play-off aspirations – they remain four points outside of the top six.
