The Florida Justice Association Research and Education Foundation

Titans of Trial – Larry Stewart

April 09, 2021 00:00 - 35 minutes - 49.2 MB

Larry Stewart became a personal injury lawyer in Miami in the early 1960’s. It was a time when the longevity of the then-fledgling profession was in doubt. He took “show & tell” presentations before a jury to a whole new level, in one of the first automobile crashworthiness cases in the country. But he’s perhaps best known as the founder of Trial Lawyers Care, the national AAJ pro bono program that began for victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. He is a past president...

Titans of Trial – Jimmy Gustafson

November 20, 2020 23:22 - 43 minutes - 59.7 MB

It was losing a personal injury case in mid-career that almost made Jimmy Gustafson give up the practice of trial law. In a few minutes, you’ll hear about the inspirational story that changed him - and his career - and the lesson he learned about true success. He is a past president of the Florida Justice Association, an Eagle Founder, and winner of the Jon Krupnick Award. It’s given for perseverance in achieving justice for an injured client. And it was that very case that he c...

Titans of Trial – Sean Domnick

November 06, 2020 20:12 - 38 minutes - 53.5 MB

All Sean Domnick ever wanted to be while growing up was a lawyer. Today, he represents some of the most catastrophically injured people in the country – many from medical malpractice – and has won among the largest verdicts. As you’ll hear, he credits case preparation, but also a keen sense of empathy for his clients. He got an extra dose of that from his own bout with cancer. He’s been a longtime board member of the Florida Justice Association and won many of its top awards. T...

Titans of Trial – Rich Newsome

October 23, 2020 16:26 - 38 minutes - 53.4 MB

Rich Newsome of Orlando has been at the center of some of the biggest personal injury cases involving automobiles in this century. He played a key role in convincing Congress to pass the “Tread Act.” He also identified a quiet trend of settlements and seized on it – resulting in the recall of more than 100 million airbags – the largest recall in history. His love of law and exploration of innovative tactics among his peers, led him to found a school for trial lawyers. He also se...

Titans of Trial – Fred Cunningham

October 09, 2020 16:16 - 39 minutes - 53.8 MB

Fred Cunningham of West Palm Beach has made a definitive impact on bad faith law in Florida, enforcing the duty of good faith that insurance companies owe their insureds. To date, he’s won more than $600 million in verdicts and settlements. He’s also a former president of the Florida Justice Association, a long-time board member, and winner of many awards, including the Perry Nichols Award, our most prestigious. It honors an attorney whose perseverance, commitment, and unmatched...

Titans of Trial – Phil Freidin

September 25, 2020 17:09 - 43 minutes - 59.2 MB

When Phil Freidin opened his own practice in Miami at the age of 29, he quickly became a legal trend-setter. His success in a product liability case in the mid-1970’s and a bad faith case a decade later, both established significant case law. He’s also credited with starting many legal careers in the specialty practice fields that resulted. More than 50 years later, with his son in the practice, he’s now developed the model for trying False Claims Act cases. As a former presiden...

Titans of Trial - Don Hinkle

September 04, 2020 00:00 - 29 minutes - 40.3 MB

It was a chance encounter with trial lawyers Fred Levin and Chris Searcy when he was just a few years out of law school that taught Don Hinkle a big lesson: To be a successful trial lawyer, you just have to be yourself. It’s that and good old-fashioned hard work that he credits for much of his success. He focuses on catastrophic personal injury cases, limiting his practice to devote extra time and extra effort on each case. One of his cases spurred the creation of shallow diving ...

Titans of Trial – Jeffrey Liggio

August 21, 2020 18:03 - 36 minutes - 50.8 MB

Jeff Liggio approaches law practice as a human being first, rather than acting like a lawyer. It’s advice he passes along to younger lawyers and is one of his keys to trial success. As you’ll learn, he brings “honor” to an honorable profession. For the first 17 years he was a lawyer, Jeff Liggio was also a military pilot. Given his military background, you’d think he would have practiced aviation law. So did he. But it was a determined boss – and mentor – that steered him ins...

Titans of Trial – Keith Mitnik

August 07, 2020 00:00 - 42 minutes - 58.9 MB

His parents were school teachers, so it’s no surprise that part of Keith Mitnik’s practice at Morgan & Morgan in Orlando is to counsel other lawyers. He has a reputation as the “go-to guy” who helps turn seeming problems into solutions. He’s going to share some of those lessons with us today, so grab a pen and pad of paper. He prides himself as an inventor – a process guy who has developed systems to improve trial tactics, which he gladly shares with others. Otherwise, he’s in c...

Titans of Trial – Ted Leopold

July 23, 2020 22:12 - 38 minutes - 53.5 MB

It was helping a friend of a friend in a practice area outside of his usual cases that led Ted Leopold to find – and win – a new kind of case, one that would change his career. It was the first managed care case of its kind in the country and would lead to a flood of others. Most recently, he’s expanded into a novel way to try workers’ compensation cases, outside of workers’ compensation courts. Also, the discovery that he personally took from the engineers in the Takata air bag ...

Titans of Trial – Michael Haggard

July 10, 2020 17:22 - 39 minutes - 53.7 MB

Having a father who was a well-known and successful trial lawyer didn’t mean that Mike Haggard was on easy street. His interest in practicing law first came from his dad Andy, but Mike had to work hard. He had no success in repeated testimony before the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission on swimming pool safety. But he didn’t give up. He found a unique opportunity to finally make the kind of lasting policy change that all trial lawyers hope for. Swimming pools are safer...

Titans of Trial – David Fonvielle

June 05, 2020 17:59 - 43 minutes - 60.4 MB

David Fonvielle went from running a concessions business on Fort Lauderdale Beach to eventually starting a personal injury law firm in Tallahassee. He gladly shares how he did it and why, including overcoming concern about advertising to become the first firm in the region to actively mass market. His work on Florida’s lawsuit against Big Tobacco was but one of several cases that forced changes in consumer products, sparing injuries and saving lives. He took on the world’s larges...

Titans of Trial – Richard Slawson

April 23, 2020 20:19 - 35 minutes - 48.2 MB

Richard Slawson’s guiding principal in life has been to stay determined and never give up. He credits it to his success in personal injury cases and to becoming one of Florida’s preeminent insurance bad faith lawyers. He’s now focusing that tenacity on fighting human trafficking, having transitioned to an “of counsel” role. The Florida Justice Association has been another common thread in his life. He’s a past president of the FJA and has been honored with the Perry Nichols Awar...

Titans of Trial - Tom Edwards

April 10, 2020 17:43 - 28 minutes - 38.7 MB

Florida’s large percentage of folks over the age of 65 has highlighted a too common problem: elder abuse in nursing homes and other facilities. Originally a defense lawyer, Tom Edwards of Jacksonville changed sides to help this needy and helpless population. Along the way, he’s built a niche personal injury practice, with many victories. He’s also a champion of legal ethics, helping write the code of ethics for judges’ conduct. Among his many honors is the B.J. Masterson award ...

Titans of Trial – Greg Barnhart

February 14, 2020 19:29 - 42 minutes - 57.9 MB

Greg Barnhart refers to trials as “the ultimate game.” While certainly a competition between two sides, he insists that juries expect to be entertained. To be a successful trial lawyer, as you’ll hear, you have to be entertaining and tell a story. He’s won more than $90 million to date in verdicts and settlements for his clients, including at one point, the largest personal injury verdict in Florida history. Along the way, he served as president of the Florida Justice Associatio...

Titans of Trial – Steve Pajcic

December 06, 2019 17:43 - 35 minutes - 48.7 MB

On today’s program, something different. We feature someone who is as well known for his political life as his distinguished trial career. Steve Pajcic served Jacksonville in the Florida House of Representatives for six terms in the 1970’s and 80’s, nominated by the St. Petersburg Times as the Most Valuable House Member seven years in a row. As a lawmaker, he shepherded expansion of the property tax Homestead Exemption from $5,000 to $25,000. In 1986, he was the Democratic nomin...

Titans of Trial – Dale Swope

November 15, 2019 15:57 - 43 minutes - 60.3 MB

Dale Swope jokes that he’ll pay a thousand dollars to anyone that can prove they’ve been more broke than he’s been. He had to take losing cases no one else would touch and find a way to win them. He did, including his first personal injury case, a case that he never dreamt he would face. Along the way, he not only made a living, but has built a vibrant law practice from the ground up, that today has 11 lawyers with its offices in a remodeled old Tampa brewery. He is a recent pas...

Titans of Trial - Neal Roth

October 18, 2019 18:08 - 41 minutes - 56.8 MB

He really wanted to be a doctor. But a bad automobile accident in his teens that almost killed him – twice – landed Neal Roth in a courtroom as a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit. It was that early legal experience that convinced him to marry his desire for medicine with law, and pursue a career as a medical malpractice trial lawyer. He has lent his penetrating, decisive focus to the Florida Justice Association as its president. He’s also been honored with its Al J. Cone l...

Titans of Trial - Wayne Hogan

September 06, 2019 18:57 - 1 hour - 55.2 MB

As one of the nine Florida trial lawyers hired by the state to fight Big Tobacco in the 1990’s, Wayne Hogan became part of the glue that held the elite team together. He worked to smooth the disparate legal approaches and personalities to help shepherd an eventual $13+ billion judgment against the tobacco industry, the largest of its time. He also brought the first asbestos case involving punitive damages to trial in Florida, and was one of the first lawyers to become designated i...

Titans of Trial - John Romano

August 16, 2019 18:05 - 41 minutes - 56.9 MB

His first boss and mentor was Al J. Cone, the founder of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, the predecessor of the Florida Justice Association. As such, our conversation with John Romano of Lake Worth is as much the story and lessons of the legendary Al Cone as it is of John’s career. He learned well, as you’ll hear. John Romano is a Past President of the Florida Justice Association and a recipient of the Perry Nichols Award – the FJA’s most prestigious award. But Johns is be...

Titans of Trial - Stuart Grossman

July 26, 2019 18:09 - 39 minutes - 54.4 MB

As a young man growing up in Coral Gables, Stuart Grossman was upset at the social injustices shown on television news every night and wanted to change that if he could. He could and did. His victories include the largest verdict of its time for the death of a child and a more than one billion dollar settlement in a bank overdraft class action. His mentors include his first boss, the legendary J. B. Spence. Among Stuart’s many honors, is the Perry Nichols Award - the FJA’s most ...

Titans of Trial - James "Booty" Nance

June 28, 2019 20:17 - 40 minutes - 56.4 MB

It was his older sister’s mispronunciation of the word “beauty” that, as just an infant, gave James Nance the nickname that would stick with him for life: “Booty”. With a name like that, he had to be a good trial lawyer – and he was – and still is today as he goes into the office at nearly 88 years old. Booty Nance, of Melbourne, was one of the nine Florida trial lawyers who took on Big Tobacco in the 1990’s, eventually settling for the landmark $13 plus billion from the tobacco ...

Titans of Trial - W.C. Gentry

May 31, 2019 17:58 - 33 minutes - 46 MB

His mother was a smoker who died of lung cancer at the age of 54. So when W.C. Gentry of Jacksonville got the call to join a team of lawyers fighting Big Tobacco to recover state Medicaid dollars spent on those smokers’ care, his was an easy answer. Their $13 billion plus settlement, the largest recovery in the history of jurisprudence at the time, led to an eventual multistate settlement. As a past president of this organization, W.C. Gentry became a veteran of the tort reform w...

Titans of Trial - Chris Searcy

May 08, 2019 16:29 - 49 minutes - 68 MB

Chris Searcy grew up in trial practice in Miami, hanging around legendary lawyers such as Bill Frates, Larry Stewart, Bill Coleson, Bill Hicks, and J.B Spence, to name but a few. As a young law student at Stetson University in 1972, he became involved with the predecessor of the Florida Justice Association, the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, at an early age, attending seminars and getting early career guidance. And boy what a career he’s had, becoming one of today’s legendary ...

Titans of Trial - Troy Rafferty

March 27, 2019 18:59 - 33 minutes - 46.8 MB

Working in a sausage factory while attending college taught Troy Rafferty the value of hard work and sacrifice. Which helped him become what he is today: one of the top trial lawyers nationally who police the pharmaceutical industry by trying and winning complex mass tort cases. But as the old adage goes about sausages and laws – that you should never see them being made – Troy’s early experience also provided the fortitude for an important future battle with the Florida Legislatu...

Titans of Trial - Bruce Kaster

March 15, 2019 20:42 - 37 minutes - 51.7 MB

He describes himself as a trial lawyer, cowboy, hog hunter, and red fisherman. And not always in that order. But then Bruce Kaster is not your typical trial lawyer. His niche practice of suing tire manufacturers over tread defects is an esoteric and technical field of law. He’s folksy and full of funny stories, as you’ll soon hear – but dead serious when it comes to tire and auto safety. Some of his corporate opponents dismissed him as a country bumpkin from Ocala, but they did...

Titans of Trial - Mike Eidson

March 01, 2019 21:26 - 35 minutes - 48.5 MB

The Coral Gables firm of Colson, Hicks, Eidson was instrumental in the development of personal injury law in Florida, with its roots in firms with legendary founders such as Perry Nichols, Bill Colson, Bill Hicks, J.B. Spence, and others. So it should come as no surprise that Mike Eidson has had the success he’s had and continued the momentum of the firm’s founders – his mentors. Mike was one of the first practitioners of the law of strict liability in tort. He helped change t...

Titans of Trial - Mike Papantonio

January 28, 2019 16:23 - 33 minutes - 46.8 MB

Growing up as a kid, one of Mike Papantonio’s favorite books was To Kill a Mockingbird, with its sympathetic lawyer hero Atticus Finch. Today, he’s a champion of the abused and victimized. Mike has become known as the “King of Mass Torts” for his innovative approach to maximizing his cases and client recoveries. It’s earned him the Defender of Justice award by the American Association for Justice, among many other awards. Mike Papantonio sat down with FJA Radio host Harvey Benne...

Titans of Trial - Mike Maher

January 10, 2019 20:33 - 29 minutes - 40.9 MB

Imagine working on a big case with your team and then leaving town – without them – to try to settle the case before the trial starts. Well that’s the situation that Mike Maher of Orlando found himself in back in 1997. As Chairman of the so-called “Group of Nine” Dream Team of Florida trial lawyers, Mike negotiated the $13 plus billion settlement from Big Tobacco to the state of Florida for Medicaid recoupment costs on sick smokers. In just a few minutes, you’ll hear his story of...

Titans of Trial - Bob Spohrer

October 19, 2018 18:45 - 29 minutes - 40.2 MB

Admittedly, his practice of law seems like one disaster after another. But that’s okay for Bob Spohrer of Jacksonville who specializes in aviation and maritime law. Disaster has become his specialty. He and the firm he founded have recovered more than $1 billion for victims and their families, and achieved safety improvements that benefit all of us. His notable cases include the sinking of the El Faro cargo ship with all 33 souls aboard during a tropical storm in 2015. ...

Titans of Trial - Bill Wagner

September 21, 2018 19:00 - 27 minutes - 38.3 MB

Bill Wagner hasn’t tried a case since 2008. But he’s very engaged in – and concerned about – the practice of trial law. At age 84, he still goes into the office on most days and is actively involved in helping fellow lawyers recover from mistakes in their careers. If you’re a lawyer and not particularly happy about being one, Bill says you’re not alone. He’s been involved in petitions before the Florida Supreme Court to amend the rules on lawyer ethics. He advocates for a comp...

Titans of Trial - Bob Kerrigan

August 31, 2018 03:37 - 23 minutes - 31.8 MB

Bob Kerrigan is as irrepressible as the sunrise over the Pensacola Bay that his law office has overlooked for the past 45 years. Bob is one of the nine trial lawyers who brought – and settled – the famous Big Tobacco lawsuit by the state of Florida back in the mid 1990’s. At $13 billion, it was the largest civil judgment at the time in the nation. Among his many achievements is the Florida Bar’s Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award. He’s currently in pursuit of international human...

Titans of Trial - Dianne Weaver

August 02, 2018 14:59 - 26 minutes - 36.8 MB

There’s an old saying that “Lawyers change the world one case at a time.” Dianne Weaver of Jacksonville is certainly proof of that. She’s earned a reputation both in the courtroom representing her injured clients, but also on the boards of state and national brain injury associations as a compassionate expert. Dianne Weaver is not only a top trial lawyer, she’s a pioneer. She was the only woman practicing jury trial law in Fort Lauderdale for more than five years back in the 198...

Titans of Trial - Steve Yerrid

May 24, 2018 15:02 - 35 minutes - 48.4 MB

Barely in his 40’s at the time, Steve Yerrid was the youngest member of the so-called “Dream Team” of Florida lawyers who took on Big Tobacco in the mid-1990’s - and won. The idea to add racketeering and conspiracy charges – tripling the potential damages that could be awarded – contributed to the tobacco companies’ $13 billion settlement to reimburse Florida’s state Medicaid costs for ailing smokers. Steve is still fighting Big Tobacco, helping to win a $15 million jury verdict ...

Titans of Trial - Howard Coker

April 27, 2018 00:00 - 19 minutes - 27.1 MB

Howard Coker of Jacksonville is a trial lawyer with a teacher’s heart. From that one morning in fourth grade he woke-up and declared he wanted to be at trial lawyer, he also very much wanted to be an athletic coach. In his law career, he’s created the perfect blend of his two huge talents. He’s been recognized with the Mickey Smiley Award, given by the Florida Justice Association, for the terrific amount of counsel he’s given to newer lawyers throughout his four decades plus car...

Titans of Trial - Sammy Cacciatore

April 02, 2018 22:27 - 25 minutes - 35.3 MB

Every trial lawyer in Florida – and their clients – owe a debt of gratitude to Sammy Cacciatore of Melbourne. It was back in the early 1970’s, fresh out of law school, that he made his most successful argument before the Florida Supreme Court: that damage awards should not be disallowed simply because the victim bore some fault; but rather, awarded based on each party’s percentage of fault for the act in question. The standard of Comparative Negligence has been the law of the land...

Titans of Trial - Fred Levin

March 16, 2018 03:26 - 29 minutes - 40 MB

You may know Fred Levin as the father of the Florida tobacco lawsuits. He rewrote the Florida Medicaid Third Party Recovery Act in 1993 to allow the state of Florida to sue the tobacco industry, eventually settling for $13 billion and forever changing the face of tobacco litigation in the United States. But if not for a stubborn client who refused to settle an insurance case nearly 60 years ago, Fred might not have become a trial lawyer. Among his many honors, is the Perry Nich...

Titans of Trial - Introducing the Titans of Trial

March 16, 2018 01:48 - 6 minutes - 9.43 MB

Florida’s most prominent trial lawyers in the past half century have a new designation – and a podcast to go with it: Titans of Trial. In this new podcast series by the Florida Justice Association, we’ll meet the men and women who’ve not only won the big cases, but created positive social change by the rulings they’ve secured. Along the way, they’ve also changed the way law is practiced today in Florida. Hosted by Paul Jess, Executive Director of the Florida Justice Association, ...

Episode 5 - 2017 Legislative Session Wrap-Up

May 10, 2017 18:18 - 13 minutes - 19.4 MB

The Florida Legislature ended its regular session this week and with it, the hope of any fair reform or needed enhancement on several crucial issues for Florida consumers. Among them, bills on: Workers Compensation Insurance, Automobile Insurance, and Assignment of Benefits. None passed the legislature. What happened? And is no bill better than a bad bill with some of these issues? Paul Jess, Interim Executive Director of the Florida Justice Association and Jeff Porter, FJA's Director...

Legislative Session Update - Week 4

March 31, 2017 00:00 - 2 minutes - 4.2 MB

FJA Interim Executive Director Paul Jess discusses the progress of our civil justice agenda in the fourth week of the 2017 legislative session and what’s to come. Tune in!

Episode 4 – Prove It!

March 28, 2017 17:12 - 11 minutes - 16.4 MB

In a major victory for civil justice advocates, the Florida Supreme Court in February 2017 threw-out the Daubert Standard of expert witness testimony, pointing to “grave constitutional concerns.” Four years earlier, the Florida Legislature passed Daubert into statute as a replacement to the longstanding Frye Standard, after pressure from business interests. But the Court declined to adopt it, as well as the “Same Specialty” rule, siding with the Florida Bar and FJA’s concerns that doing so...

Episode 3 Part One – Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Crossroad

February 22, 2017 21:53 - 13 minutes - 18.9 MB

The Florida Legislature is facing a monumental challenge when it convenes in March: How to address a workers’ compensation insurance system which the Florida Supreme Court has determined to be “fundamentally unconstitutional” with respect to certain rights and remedies. Richard Chait and Kim Syfrett, both leaders with the Florida Justice Association and Florida Workers' Advocates, share their insight in this program on the Court’s rulings and the challenges faced by their clients who routi...

Episode 3 Part Two – Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Crossroad

February 22, 2017 19:13 - 7 minutes - 11.1 MB

Noted Workers' Compensation attorneys Kim Syfrett and Richard Chait return to FJA Radio for a no-holds barred discussion in this second part of our Workers’ Compensation program to share their reaction to the Florida business community’s reform proposal to a system the state Supreme Court ruled last year as “fundamentally unconstitutional.” In what they describe as a “shock to the conscience”, Kim and Richard reveal that the Associated Industries of Florida proposal would eliminate a mo...

Episode 2 - Managing Millennials in Your Law Firm

February 10, 2017 22:21 - 9 minutes - 13.1 MB

Attorney Dana Brooks Cooper has authored a new presentation titled “Managing Millennials in Your Law Firm and Marketing to Millennials”. She reveals how millennials are different in their attitudes and approach to life, how they affect your law practice as both clients and employees, and how best to manage the relationship. Her presentation will premiere at the Florida Justice Association Workhorse Seminar later in Orlando, February 28 to March 3, 2017. Ms. Brooks is a Partner in the Tal...

Episode 1 - Welcome & FJA Outlook

January 20, 2017 14:56 - 8 minutes - 11.4 MB

The Florida Justice Association’s FJA Radio Podcast keeps members updated on the happenings at the FJA and delivers relevant and timely information and insight on the practice of trial law in Florida. Today’s episode features Paul Jess, FJA Interim Director and James “Jimmy” Gustafson, FJA President, discussing the leadership transition at FJA, the group’s legislative agenda for 2017, and the vision and goals for membership this new year. Date of recording 1-18-17. Copyright 2017, Florid...

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