Mr. Michael James Wiggins | Partner/Shareholder

Michael Wiggins is a founding member of SMITH TOOLE & WIGGINS, PL.  Mr. Wiggins' current practice is devoted entirely to litigation and trial of catastrophic cases.  He defends cases for the medical device, consumer products, industrial equipment and entertainment industries. His clients include Medtronic, Crown Equipment Corporation, Federal Express, Disney, and Black & Decker.  He has defended cases for his clients in 18 states and federal jurisdictions around the country. 

Mr. Wiggins is a frequent lecturer and presenter at legal seminars and law functions.  He is frequently retained as lead counsel in substantial litigation around the country, and he has extensive experience managing local counsel in national and regional litigation.  In 2003, Mr. Wiggins was selected to be on the faculty of the 2004 IADC Trial Academy at Stanford University .  The Trial Academy is one of the oldest and most well respected programs for developing defense trial advocacy skills.  The faculty consists of fifteen leading defense trial lawyers selected on a national basis from different regions of the country.

Mr. Wiggins received his B.A. in advertising and public relations from the University of Alabama in 1986.  He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1989.  Mr. Wiggins is a member of the bars of Florida and Alabama , the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits.

Representative Cases/Experience         

     *  Obtained a defense verdict for an industrial equipment manufacturer in a jurisdiction well known as very unfavorable to corporate defendants.

      *  Florida counsel for a medical device manufacturer in multi-district litigation involving bone allografts.

      *  Served as U.S. counsel in Canadian class action concerning dental and jaw implant material.

      *  Obtained a defense verdict for theme park client sued by a Methodist minister who alleged his wife died as a result of injury suffered in the park.

      *  Successfully defended an automotive manufacturer in a rollover accident in which the female passenger was fatally injured while traveling to her honeymoon destination on her wedding night.

      *  Successfully defended a pharmaceutical company in a wrongful death case in which the decedent was using a drug off-label but perscribed to her by her physician.

      *  R eceived a defense verdict for an industrial equipment manufacturer in a case in which a design defect was alleged to have caused a warehouse employee to be impaled against a wall by the product.

In 1999, he was named by Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood to the City of Orlando 's Citizen Police Review Board. He served as its Vice-Chair from 2001-2002. He previously served on the Board of the Arnold Palmer Hospital Women and Children's Lawyers for Children program.  In 2007, he was nominated and elected to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

He is a member of the Product Liability Committees of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC).