Christopher Torres

Commercial Litigation

Environmental

Environmental & Toxic Tort Litigation

Complex Torts

Christopher Torres is a skilled litigator with nearly three decades of experience defending corporations, governmental entities, and individuals in complex and high stakes matters. Concentrating his practice in business and commercial litigation, environmental and toxic tort defense, and land use litigation, he has built a reputation for tackling technically demanding cases that require a command of cutting-edge scientific disciplines alongside sophisticated legal strategy. Chris has defeated and reversed class certifications, obtained Lone Pine orders, and excluded key technical and scientific expert testimony through Daubert challenges. Securing major summary judgments and trial victories, Chris strives to deliver results for clients across a broad range of industries, including aerospace, chemical manufacturing and processing, electric utilities, mining, insurance, financial services, and others. A recent jury trial victory earned him and his colleagues a national recognition in the American Lawyer's Litigation Daily for securing one of the notable defense verdicts of 2026.

Chris is perhaps best known for his work in large-scale environmental and toxic tort litigation, where he has defended clients against claims of contaminated air emissions, groundwater, surface water, and soil from chemicals and radioactive materials. His cases have routinely involved the marshalling and management of experts across fields as varied as statistics, biostatistics, geostatistics, economics and econometrics, forensic chemistry, epidemiology, toxicology, causal inference, and many other disciplines.

While environmental and toxic tort litigation is a cornerstone of his practice, Chris applies that same rigorous analytical approach across a wide range of commercial disputes. He has significant commercial litigation experience spanning contract disputes, securities fraud defense, trade secret and non-compete disputes, insurance class actions, and banking and financial services litigation. He has tried cases in federal and state courts and represented clients in administrative and other evidentiary proceedings. Chris is currently part of a team handling a major national multi-district proceeding, encompassing more than 2,000 matters brought by state and local governmental entities across the country. With cases pending in federal and state courts spanning multiple jurisdictions, Chris is currently managing statisticians, health economists, risk analysts, and forensic accountants in these complex, large-scale, and high-profile litigations.

Concentrations:

Business and complex commercial litigation

Environmental and toxic tort litigation

Land use litigation

Outside General Counsel, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, 2019-Present

Member, The Florida Bar

Member, District of Columbia Bar

Member, The Massachusetts Bar

Member, American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Environmental Enforcement and Crimes Committee; Vice Chair, The Year in Review; Vice Chair, Technology, 2011-2012

Member, Defense Research Institute

Member, Hillsborough County Bar Association

Member, The Hispanic National Bar Association

Member, Latino Justice PRLEDF

Member, Leadership Tampa, Class of 2010