David Luck is a partner in the Miami office of Lewis Brisbois and a vice-chair of the Appellate Practice. David focuses on appeals and appellate trial support in federal court, Florida state court, and various jurisdictions in which he has been admitted pro hac vice. He has argued appeals in the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Florida Supreme Court, and Florida's District Courts of Appeal.

David's areas of concentration include products liability, general liability, commercial litigation, insurance coverage and alleged bad faith, and personal-injury defense.

In addition to handling appeals, he provides pre-trial, trial, and post-trial civil litigation support in federal and Florida state court, including drafting and arguing complex pre-trial motions, case-dispositive motions, jury instructions and verdict forms, and post-trial motions.

David frequently publishes and speaks on matters pertaining to developments and changes in appellate litigation. He is a member of the Florida Bar's Appellate Court Rules Committee, the American Bar Association, the Dade County Bar Association, and the Dade County Defense Bar Association.

David has been selected as a finalist for the Miami Daily Business Review's Most Effective Lawyers Award and has been chosen for inclusion as a Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2013-2018.

Before entering private practice, David served as a law clerk to Florida Supreme Court Justice R. Fred Lewis (2007-09) and as a legal intern to Judge David L. Levy on Florida's Third District Court of Appeal (2005).

Publications

Pro Bono & Philanthropy

Professional Presentations

• Presenter, An Update on SCOTUS Personal-Jurisdiction Precedent, A.B.A. Regional Appellate Meeting, Miami, FL (Spring 2017).
• Presenter, "A Brief Primer on Recent SCOTUS Personal-Jurisdiction Precedent," Dade County Defense Bar Association, Miami (June 29, 2016).
• Presenter, "Recent Developments in Personal Jurisdiction," Third Annual Appellate Forum for Trial Lawyers, Miami, FL (October 23, 2015).
• Presented analysis and summary of the Supreme Court's decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012), upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") for the ABA Young Lawyers Division Teleconference on 2011-12 Decisions of the United States Supreme Court, (July 13, 2012).

Admissions

• State Bar Admissions
  • Florida
• United States District Courts
  • United States District Court for the District of Colorado
  • United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
• United States Courts of Appeals
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• United States Supreme Court

Admissions

Florida

United States Supreme Court

U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court, District of Colorado

Associations

• Chair, Original Proceedings Subcommittee of the Florida Bar Appellate Court Rules Committee
• Member, The Florida Bar Appellate Court Rules Committee
• Member, the American Bar Association
• Member, the Dade County Bar Association
• Member, the Dade County Defense Bar Association

Awards & Honors

• Listed in Best Lawyers in America® 2023 — Appellate Practice
• Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star (2013–2018)
• Finalist, Miami Daily Business Review's Most Effective Lawyers Award (2015)

Education

University of Miami School of Law

Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, 2007

• Order of the Barristers
• Order of the Coif
• Law Review
• Moot Court

Florida State University

Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, 2004

Representative Matters

• Echevarria v. Taco Bell of Am., LLC, No. 20-cv-22810, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180253 (S.D. Fla. Sep. 30, 2020), dismissed with prejudice, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 203874 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 29, 2020). As part of a team with Miami appellate associates, Brian S. Goldenberg and Keoki Baron, secured dismissal of the plaintiff’s causes of action for failure to state a claim in an alleged chemical-exposure case. This dismissal subsequently resulted in the plaintiff voluntarily dismissing her claims with prejudice.
• Ballard v. Boca Ciega Inv’rs, Inc., Case No. 2D20-181, 2020 Fla. App. LEXIS 12648, 2020 WL 5408051 (Fla. 2d DCA Sep. 9, 2020). As part of a team with Miami appellate associate, Jenna L. Fischman, secured affirmance of a trial-court order compelling enforcement of mandatory arbitration provisions contained in nursing-home residency agreements.
• Echevarria v. Taco Bell of Am., LLC, No. 20-cv-22810, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160503 (S.D. Fla. Sep. 2, 2020). As part of a team with Miami appellate associates, Brian S. Goldenberg and Keoki Baron, defeated plaintiff’s motion to remand alleged chemical-exposure case to Florida state court. The issue centered on the proper means to measure the alleged amount in controversy for purposes of federal diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).
• Samsung SDI Co. v. Hildreth, 299 So. 3d 582, 583 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020). As part of a team with Miami associates, Jenna L. Fischman and Alexander Fumagali, obtained reversal of the trial court’s orders denying Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.’s motions for protective order regarding plaintiff’s attempts to include upfront sharing provisions in confidentiality orders. The Florida plaintiff desired to share all confidential discovery (trade secrets and proprietary business information) gathered from Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. with other plaintiff’s lawyers across the country, with no intervention of those lawyers in the Florida action, and with no rulings that such discovery obtained in Florida complied with the discovery laws of the jurisdictions in which those outside plaintiff’s lawyers sought to use the materials. In addition to reversing on this discovery issue and requiring confidentiality orders with no upfront sharing provisions, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal further agreed with Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. that it was improper for the trial court and its magistrate judge to make “public hazard” determinations as to Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.’s products under Florida’s Sunshine in Litigation Act.
• Schmidt v. Wash. Newspaper Publ’g Co., LLC, No. 20-cv-00830-BAS-NLS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112787, 2020 WL 3487806 (S.D. Cal. June 26, 2020). As part of a team with Miami appellate associates, Brian S. Goldenberg and Jenna L. Fischman, defeated, with prejudice, a forum-shopping plaintiff’s attempts to assert defamation claims against a D.C.-based newspaper and website publisher, after previously having defeated the same plaintiff’s claims on the same alleged defamation claims in Florida federal court and Delaware state court.
• McCasland v. Pro Guard Coatings, Inc., 799 F. App’x 731 (11th Cir. 2020). As part of a team with Miami appellate associate, Jenna L. Fischman, secured affirmance of a defense summary judgment in an alleged products-liability action. The result was a defense final judgment as a matter of law in favor of the manufacturer of a paint-based roof-patching material.
• Vazquez Santiago v. Lakeland Drag Strip Inc., 288 So. 3d 28 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019). As part of a team with Miami appellate associate, Jenna L. Fischman, obtained affirmance of a defense summary judgment in an alleged wrongful-death action, stemming from a crash at a Central Florida dragstrip.
• Schmidt v. Wash. Newspaper Publ’g Co., LLC, No. N19C-03-262 CLS, 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 665, 2019 WL 7000039 (Del. Super. Ct. Dec. 20, 2019). As part of a team with Miami appellate associate, Brian S. Goldenberg, obtained dismissal with prejudice of a forum-shopping defamation plaintiff’s claims against a D.C.-based newspaper and website publisher on statute of limitations grounds and, alternatively, a dismissal for forum non conveniens given that the plaintiff had previously sought to sue in Florida and the vast majority of the pertinent evidence was located in California, not Florida or Delaware.
• Schmidt v. Wash. Newspaper Publ’g Co., No. 18-80614-CIV, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208091 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 6, 2018). In an alleged defamation action brought against a D.C.-based newspaper by a California-based plaintiff, secured a final order dismissing the action for lack of personal jurisdiction.
• Eustache v. State, 248 So. 3d 1097 (Fla. 2018). In a pro-bono criminal appeal, obtained a new sentencing proceeding for our client, who had previously been sentenced as a Youthful Offender.
• Thomas v. Bethune-Cookman Univ., Inc., 250 So. 3d 79 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018). On appeal, successfully defended the entry of a final summary judgment in favor of the university in a case involving alleged fraternity hazing. The Fifth District affirmed an order holding that the university owed no duty in tort regarding the off-campus meeting and car accident at issue.
• Vancelette v. Boulan S. Beach Condo. Ass’n, 229 So. 3d 398 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017). In a personal-injury action brought against a developer, its contractors, and a successor condominium association, obtained affirmance of final defense summary judgments under Florida’s Slavin doctrine. This doctrine shifts the duty of care, post-construction, to the accepting owner to correct a patent, potential hazard on its property.
• A/R Assist, Inc. v. Gray, 221 So. 3d 616 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016). After a jury returned a multi-million-dollar verdict against our clients in an alleged trade-secrets action, obtained the post-trial grant of a directed verdict exonerating these defendants and successfully defended that result on appeal.
• Severino v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 191 So. 3d 470 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016); Severino v. Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany GMBH, 179 So. 3d 329 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015). On appeal, successfully defended the dismissal of European tire manufacturers for lack of specific and general personal jurisdiction in the State of Florida.
• Garcia v. GEICO Gen. Ins. Co., 807 F.3d 1228 (11th Cir. 2015). Obtained reversal of multi-million-dollar bad-faith verdict and judgment entered against an insurer on the grounds that the trial court improperly excluded evidence regarding the development of the law on the underlying coverage issue. Case remanded for a new trial.
• Edwards v. Pilatus Aircraft, Ltd., No. 8:14-cv-1326-T-36MAP, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183999 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 13, 2015). Obtained an order dismissing a Swiss aviation manufacturer and its U.S. subsidiary from an alleged wrongful-death action in Florida, in favor of transfer to federal district court in Colorado, where the U.S. subsidiary is based.
• Fagan v. AMN Healthcare, Inc., 156 So. 3d 1089 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014). On appeal, successfully defended a defense verdict returned in medical-malpractice action against the plaintiff’s contentions that it was improper to allow the remaining defendants to implead former, settling defendants as Fabre defendants.
• Ojeda v. 50 State Sec. Servs., 145 So. 3d 848 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014). Successfully defended a final defense summary judgment on appeal based on the conclusion that the security guards at a Miami-Dade Metrorail station owed no duty of care to prevent a criminal attack outside the Metrorail station, on a public sidewalk, and outside the guards’ established area of patrol.
• IberiaBank v. Coconut 41, Ltd. Liab. Co., 589 F. App’x 479 (11th Cir. 2014). On appeal, successfully defended a final judgment returned in an action involving a land-development project and alleged unjust enrichment.
• Weitz Co., LLC v. Lexington Ins. Co., 982 F. Supp. 2d 975 (S.D. Iowa 2013), aff’d, 786 F.3d 641 (8th Cir. 2015). In the Southern District of Iowa, obtained a defense summary judgment where the plaintiff general contractor improperly attempted to obtain a $50-million-plus double recovery in equity against a project owner’s post-construction property insurers. The general contractor was previously sued for its materially deficient construction of the project in the Southern District of Florida. It settled with the project owner after having recovered several million dollars more from its liability insurers, subcontractors, and their liability insurers. As part of the appellate team in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, defended the entry of this summary judgment and obtained affirmance.
• Henry v. State, 175 So. 3d 675 (Fla. 2015). Represented an indigent juvenile non-homicide offender before the Florida Supreme Court, including briefing and oral argument. Appeal involved an Eighth Amendment challenge to a 90-year sentence based on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010). The Florida Supreme Court ruled, unanimously, in favor of the pro-bono client, holding that his 90-year aggregate sentence was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment as construed in Graham.
• Kostelac v. Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty AG, 517 F. App’x 670 (11th Cir. 2013). Defended a forum non conveniens dismissal based on a German forum-selection clause.
• Ford Motor Co. v. Stimpson, 115 So. 3d 401 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013). Overturned a JNOV and new-trial order issued below that had been predicated on unsupported findings of “fraud on the court,” an incorrect rejection of expert testimony, and an incorrect characterization of defense closing argument as improper.
• Chapman v. Ford Motor Co., 489 F. App’x 999 (8th Cir. 2012). Defended an order dismissing the plaintiff’s action, which had alleged purported “fraud on the court.”
• Uribe v. McDuffie, 133 So. 3d 947 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012). Defended a new-trial order based on the improper use of a medical treatise, the improper introduction of evidence, and improper closing argument.
• Farias v. Mr. Heater, Inc. & Home Depot, Inc., 684 F.3d 1231 (11th Cir. 2012), aff’ing, 757 F. Supp. 2d 1284 (S.D. Fla. 2010), and 2011 WL 283245 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 25, 2011). On appeal, successfully defended the entry of a defense summary judgment in a products-liability warnings action in which the plaintiff contended that the subject product was defective for failing to include Spanish-language warnings and instructions (in addition to its concededly sufficient English-language instructions and warnings).
• Dorsch v. Pilatus Aircraft, Ltd., et al., No. 8:11—CV-441—T-17MAP, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130381, 2011 WL 5459716 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 10, 2011), reconsideration denied, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61207, 2012 WL 1565447 (M.D. Fla. May 2, 2012); Dorsch v. Pilatus Aircraft, Ltd., No. 8:11-CV-441-T-17MAP, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 196650 (M.D. Fla. July 12, 2012); Dorsch v. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., No. 8:11-CV-441-T-17MAP, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 196648 (M.D. Fla. Sep. 28, 2012). Removed an aviation products-liability action to federal district court based on the doctrine of fraudulent joinder and defended against the plaintiffs’ attempts to remand to state court. Action was later dismissed against the Swiss aircraft manufacturer based on a lack of personal jurisdiction in the State of Florida.
• Waisman v. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., et al., Case No. 11-CA-007795 (Fla. 13th Jud. Cir. Dec. 21, 2011). Obtained dismissal with prejudice of a products-liability action against a Swiss aircraft manufacturer based on lack of personal jurisdiction in the State of Florida.
• Bank of Am., N.A. v. Smith, 72 So. 3d 765 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011). On appeal, defended a verdict and judgment in favor of an estate and the estate’s personal representative based on a financial institution’s unreasonable refusal to honor a durable power of attorney.
• Maynoldi v. Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High Sch., Inc., 62 So. 3d 1149 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011). Successfully opposed a request for attorney’s fees based on the denial of requests for admission.
• State v. Stang, 41 So. 3d 206 (Fla. 2010). Represented an indigent habeas-corpus petitioner before the Florida Supreme Court. Persuaded the court to discharge jurisdiction, leading to the client's immediate release.