Frank Burt, senior litigation partner at Jorden Burt LLP, has broad experience in several substantive areas including major market conduct and financial services litigation, First Amendment, intellectual property and employment law. He also has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and related litigation.
Mr. Burt represents banks, insurance companies, other financial institutions and major building materials manufacturers in a range of substantive areas including major litigation, mergers and acquisitions, employment discrimination, trademark and intellectual property. Representative litigation includes defense of financial services institutions in federal and state courts throughout the country. Mr. Burt has extensive experience managing major class action litigation on behalf of financial services institutions in more than 30 states, and he is a frequent speaker on class action issues.
Mr. Burt also has substantial experience litigating intellectual property issues including trademark and copyright infringement and trade dress violations. In addition, his early involvement in precedent-setting cases in communications law has earned him a reputation as one of the nation's foremost experts in First Amendment law involving the news and media industry. He has litigated on behalf of and represented some of the nation's top communications companies on issues such as libel and slander defense, defamation counseling and journalistic access. Many of his cases have shaped the development of access law, as a significant number of these rulings have set state and federal precedents on how access law should be treated.
Mr. Burt has also represented industrial clients in major environmental litigation and site clean-up negotiations, bankruptcy issues and regulatory compliance with federal, state, and local regulatory standards relating to air and water pollution, and he has represented a number of insurers on environmental coverage issues and financial institutions on environmental lender liability issues.
Representative Matters
· Adams v. Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, 493 F.3d 1276 (11th Cir. 2007)
· American Bankers Insurance Group, Inc. v. Long, 453 F.3d 623 (4th Cir. 2006)
· American Bankers Group, Inc. v. United States, 408 F.3d 1328 (11th Cir. 2005)
· American Bankers Ins. Co. v. Alexander, 818 So. 2d 1073 (Miss. 2001)
· American Bankers Ins. Co. v. Wells, 819 So. 2d 1196 (Miss. 2001)
· Askew v. City of Ocala, 348 So. 2d 308 (Fla. 1977)
· Baron v. Best Buy Co., 79 F. Supp. 2d 1350 (S.D. Fla. 1999)
· Bath Club Inc. v. Dade County, 394 So. 2d 110 (Fla. 1981)
· Benefits Consultants, Inc., FISI*Madison LLC and Cendant Corporation v. Fortis Benefits Ins. Co., et al., Case No. 286111, Chancery Court, Williamson County, Tennessee (2006) ($70 million jury verdict on counterclaims after four-week jury trial)
· Boehm v. American Bankers Ins. Group, Inc., 557 So. 2d 91 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1983)
· Buell v. Direct General Insurance Agency, et al., 2008 WL 598281 (11th Cir. 2008)
· Burstein v. First Penn-Pacific Life Ins. Co., 209 F.R.D. 674 (S.D. Fla. 2002)
· Cernuda v. Heavey, 720 F. Supp 1544 (S.D. Fla. 1989)
· Cheatwood v. Barry University, 2001 WL 1769914 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)
· Cramer v. John Alden Life Ins. Co., 2011 WL 382227 (D. Mont. 2011)
· Dade County Schools v. Miami Herald Publ'g Co., 443 So. 2d 268 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1983)
· Dade County v. Matheson, 605 So. 2d 469 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1992)
· Dunlap v. Friedmans, Inc., et al., 2005 WL 2561470 (S.D.Va. 2005)
· Edwards v. Your Credit, Inc., 148 F.3d 427 (5th Cir. 1998)
· Feldman v. Glucroft, 522 So. 2d 798 and 580 So.2d 866 (Fla. 1988)
· Fender v. City of Miami, 666 So. 2d 596 (Fla. 1988)
· Feldman v. Glucroft, 80 So. 2d 866 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)
· Frelin v. Oakwood Homes, 2002 WL 31863487 (Ark. Cir. 2002)
· Futura Realty v. Lone Star Bldg. Centers (Eastern), Inc., 578 So. 2d 363 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)
· Gras v. Associates Financial First Capital Corp., 786 A.2d 886 (N.J. App. Div. 2001)
· Hammett v. American Bankers Ins. Co., 203 F.R.D. 690 (S.D. Fla. 2001)
· In re Humana Inc. Managed Care Litigation, 285 F.3d 971 (11th Cir. 2002)
· Jones v. Miami Herald Publ'g Co., 416 So. 2d 480 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1982)
· Jordan v. AVCO Fin. Services of Ga., Inc., 117 F.3d 1254 (11th Cir. 2001)
· Koberg v. John Alden Life Ins. Co., 2011 WL 6122309 (D. Mont. 2011).
· Linder v. Calero Portocarrero, 747 F. Supp. 1452 (S.D. Fla. 1990)
· Linder v. Portocarrero, 963 F.2d 332 (11th Cir. 1992)
· London v. Chase Manhattan Bank USA, N.A., 150 F. Supp. 1314 (S.D. Fla. 2001)
· London v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 340 F.3d 1246 (11th Cir. 2003)
· McCorkle v. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, 112 P.3d 838 (Idaho App. 2005)
· McDonald v. Southern Farm Bureau Life Ins. Co., 291 F.3d 718 (11th Cir. 2002)
· McIlnath v. General Electric Capital Assurance Co., 146 F. Supp. 2d 1304 (S.D. Fla. 2001)
· Miami Heart Institute v. Reis, 638 So. 2d 530 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1994)
· Miami Herald Publ'g Co. v. Chappell, 403 So. 2d 1342 (Fla. App. 1981)
· Miami Herald Publ'g Co. v. Hagler, 506 So. 2d 1037 (Fla. 1987)
· Miami Herald Publ'g Co. v. Morejon, 561 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1990)
· Minton v. American Bankers Ins. Co., 2000 WL 1040984 (S.D. Fla. 2002)
· Minton v. American Bankers Ins. Co., 2003 WL 21303330 (11th Cir. 2003)
· Mooney v. Allianz Life Ins. Co. of North America, 2010 WL 419962 (D. Minn. 2010)
· NCL Corp. v. Lone Star Bldg. Centers (Eastern), Inc., 144 B.R. 170 (Fla. Dist. 1983)
· Parkway General Hosp., Inc. v. Allinson, 453 So. 2d 123 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1984)
· Parsons & Whittemore, Inc. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 429 So. 2d 343 (Fla. Dist. 1983)
· Paul v. Blake, 376 So. 2d 256 (Fla. Ct. App. 1979)
· Richardson v. Standard Guaranty Ins., 2002 WL 972181 (N.J. Super. 2002)
· Richardson v. Standard Guaranty Ins. Co., 371 N.J. Super. 449 (N.J. Super Ct., App. Div. 2004)
· Schilke v. Wachovia Mortg., FSB, 758 F.Supp.2d 549 (N.D.Ill. 2010)
· State ex rel Veale v. Boca Raton, 353 So. 2d 1194 (Fla. App. 1977)
· Taylor v. American Bankers Ins. Group, Inc., 700 N.Y.S. 2d 458 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)
· Voyager Ins. Companies v. Whitson, 867 So. 2d 1065 (Ala. 2003)
· Wahl v. American Sec. Ins. Co., 2010 WL 1881126 (N.D.Cal. 2010) and 2009 WL 1766620 (N.D.Cal. 2009)
· Wait v. Florida Power & Light Co., 372 So. 2d 420 (Fla. 1979)
· Woodall v. GE Financial Assurance Holdings, Inc., et al., Case No. 02-04025 (Fla. 13th Cir. Ct. 2003), affirmed (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 2004)
· Transactions: $3.1 billion hostile takeover of American Bankers Insurance Group, Inc.; $125 million sale of assets from Lone Star Industries, Inc. to Tarmac Florida, Inc.; and sale and lease of $60 million cement plant; purchase of numerous concrete companies and associated properties and plants; purchase and sale of media properties; purchase of quarries, sand and aggregate properties
Speeches and Publications
· Co-Author: "A Profound Disquiet: Losing Sight of Defendants' Rights in Rule 23 Certification Analysis," The United States Law Week, Vol 79, No. 17, November 9, 2010.
· Co-Author: "Fringe Banking," Review of Banking & Financial Services, Vol. 22, No. 9, September, 2006
· Co-Author: "Journey to the Fringe: A Survey of Select Fringe Lending Products," Practising Law Institute, 1535 PLI/Corp. 349, March-May, 2006
· Speaker: ALI/ABA and PLI financial services litigation and class actions seminars
· Co-Author: FL sections of Libel Defense Resource Center 50 State Survey and Open Government Manual for Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press
(Also Partner at Washington, DC)