06/03/2026
I won this case after a jury trial in August 2024 and the final judgment was close to $11 million which was the highest public sector whistleblower award in Florida history before the County appealed the result. It turned out to be a pyrrhic victory because even though the Third Ditrsct Court of Appeals affirmed the result on the demotion and termination claims claims, it threw out the jury's award of $8.73 million in compensatory damages for emotional distress, career damage and the lost opportunity to have been Chief Medical Examimer for Miami Dade County.
Under the court's erroneous interpretation of the law those damages were never intended to be recoverable in the first place, even though courts have awarded them for more than 40 years. My client will still receive more than $2.5 million dollars in front pay and lost pension contributions and he has been vindicated both personally and professionally which is no small accomplishment, but despite the greatest victory of my 30 year legal career, corruption winsain the end...
You did the right thing. You saw something wrong at work, you reported it, and your employer punished you for it. You fought back, hired a lawyer, sat through a trial, and a jury believed you. They awarded you damages not just for the wages you lost, but for the very real emotional toll that […]
