Dennis P Waggoner

Practice Areas

Litigation; Professional Liability; Securities & Shareholder Litigation; Class Action & Complex Mass Tort; Consumer Products Liability Litigation; Appellate

Career

Dennis Waggoner has represented clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters, including contract and corporate disputes, fraud claims, class actions, environmental disputes, antitrust claims, securities claims, and claims for patent infringement and theft of trade secrets. Over the past 35 years, Dennis has also defended more than 50 law firms in a variety of professional liability and ethics matters.

Dennis has experience in the appellate area as well, and has handled appeals before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the Florida Supreme Court, and Florida's District Courts of Appeal.

Professional Memberships

Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers

Clients

Honeywell, Raytheon, Disney, Twitter, Bloomin’ Brands, Raymond James, Koppers

Experience

• Honeywell International in a civil fraud case arising from the sale of a business unit. After a seven-week jury trial in which the plaintiff sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.

• Raymond James in a breach of contract claim. After a one-week trial, an arbitration panel entered a multi-million dollar award in favor of Raymond James, which was confirmed on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

• Walt Disney World in a putative class action arising from park closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plaintiffs voluntarily agreed to dismiss their claims with prejudice after being confronted with Disney’s case dispositive motion to dismiss.

• OSI Restaurant Partners, Bain Capital, and Catterton Partners as lead trial counsel in a business dispute with the country’s largest Outback Steakhouse franchisee. The franchisee agreed to pay OSI $30 million after jury selection.

• WebMD as lead trial counsel in a business dispute involving trade secret and civil fraud claims. After a two-week jury trial in which the plaintiff sought more than $60 million dollars in damages, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.

• Koppers and Beazer East in a putative class action seeking damages for airborne contamination from a former wood-treatment facility. After a two-week evidentiary hearing on class certification and Daubert issues, the District Court denied class certification and struck a majority of plaintiffs’ expert witnesses.

• Raytheon in a putative class action seeking damages for groundwater contamination. After the Eleventh Circuit reversed a finding of class certification, the matter settled, with plaintiffs acknowledging a class could not be certified, that there were no threats to health posed by the Raytheon facility, and that there was no statistical evidence of diminution in property values.

• Icard Merrill as lead trial counsel in an eight-day jury trial for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty brought by the FDIC, as successor to First Priority Bank. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the jury’s verdict and judgment was entered in favor of Icard Merrill on all claims.

• Gerdau Ameristeel as lead trial counsel in successfully dismissing a putative class action brought by a shareholder who sought to enjoin the sale of Gerdau Ameristeel’s stock to Gerdau S.A.

Education

Awards