Overview
A skilled business litigator, bankruptcy lawyer and deal-savvy counsel, Jason resolves high-stakes and complex cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as through mediation and arbitration. As outside general counsel to numerous companies, including global enterprises, he helps clients manage risk and crafts future-focused solutions.
Representing commercial lending institutions, REITs, hedge funds, private equity groups, financial institutions and businesses across industries, Jason advises on and litigates wide-ranging issues. These include everything from disputes in the context of mergers, acquisitions and dispositions to contract disputes, finance-related matters, securities fraud cases, and business divorces and dissolutions.
Certified by the American Board of Certification in Business Bankruptcy and recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” for bankruptcy litigation in 2022 by Best Lawyers®, Jason has extensive experience in all aspects of creditors’ rights cases and bankruptcy, commercial foreclosure and workout proceedings, including cases with client assets exceeding $50-billion and claims exceeding $1 billion. He also handles white-collar criminal and government relations matters.
A creative problem-solver and zealous advocate, Jason focuses on efficient and cost-effective solutions based on his clients’ goals. In his role as outside general counsel, he works toward ensuring front-end protections to avoid ambiguities and future disputes. He looks beyond the discrete matter presented. With a litigator’s eye, he works on uncovering potential risks, considers how possible outcomes may impact the client’s overall business plan and finds ways to protect the client from problems down the road.
Additionally, as a Florida Supreme Court-certified circuit mediator, Jason has helped parties resolve more than 100 sophisticated commercial restructuring and complex commercial litigation cases. This experience as a successful mediator also gives Jason a unique perspective on the litigation side of his practice. He sees issues from both sides and knows the gamesmanship tools employed by his opponents. When coupled with his experience with the judiciary and how similar issues are often decided, he readily identifies appropriate pressure points to obtain desirable pretrial settlement outcomes for his clients.
Experience
- Served as lead counsel for Freddie Mac—one of largest secondary mortgage lenders in the United States—in the largest independent mortgage seller/servicer failure in United States history. Protected Freddie Mac’s $50 billion in directly involved assets and maximized return on Freddie Mac’s approximately $1.78 billion claim.
- Served as lead counsel for a commercial bank—the lead bank on a number of syndicated loans in the case—in the $350 million Ponzi scheme case of boy band impresario Lou Pearlman. The client was the only creditor to recover any collateral prior to bankruptcy. Defended the client in an approximately $10 million fraudulent transfer action resulting in no monetary exposure for the client.
- Served as lead counsel for a major nationwide provider of short-term post-acute and long-term health care in a multimillion-dollar corporate embezzlement and fraud action. Obtained a final judgment in favor of the client and against defendants exceeding $16.8 million.
- Served as lead counsel for multiple clients—an industrial supply company and a commercial developer—and obtained early litigation mandatory injunctions, forcing obstinate opposing parties to take certain actions that advanced clients’ interests and case objectives.
- Served as lead counsel for a professional international athlete in litigation against his former manager over misuse and embezzlement of the client’s assets. Obtained and collected a seven-figure recovery for the client.
- Served as lead counsel for a local governmental entity in separate litigation against a major healthcare insurance company and a related consulting partner. Obtained and collected six-figure recoveries from both opponents.
- Served as lead counsel for a defrauded investor in an arbitration proceeding against former business partners for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and fraudulent transfers. Obtained an arbitration award on summary judgment in favor of the client exceeding $2.7 million, which award was then confirmed in a Florida state court action.
- Served as lead counsel for an industrial drilling company in the defense of a lawsuit, including claims for breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, trade secrets violations, fraudulent misrepresentation, conversion and defamation. Successfully extricated the client from the case, resulting in the dismissal of all claims and no financial exposure for the client.
- Served as lead counsel for a Florida business owner in the collection of a debt from a business partner. The business partner owned real property in North Carolina on which the business partner granted the client a lien. The business partner put the entity that owned the real property into bankruptcy in North Carolina. Successfully defeated an objection by the debtor to the client’s claim. Recovered almost $1.3 million through the liquidation of the real property in the North Carolina bankruptcy case.
- Served as lead counsel for a car dealership in an ejectment action over a boundary line dispute with an adjacent business. Obtained a final judgment after trial, which resulted in the ejectment of the adjacent business from the client’s property, and the recovery of valuable real property for the client’s business and its operations.
Honors
- Recipient of Martindale-Hubbell “AV” Preeminent rating
- Named to Best Lawyers in America®, 2012-25
- Named to Orlando Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Orlando,” 2012-25
- Named Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation-Bankruptcy, 2022
- Named to Florida Super Lawyers, 2013-24
- Named to Florida Super Lawyers “Florida Rising Star,” 2009, 2011
- Named to Florida Trend’s “Florida Legal Elite,” 2017
- Recipient of American Bankruptcy Institute “Medal of Excellence”
- Recipient of Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association “President’s Merit Award”
Involvement
Professional Associations & Memberships
- Board Certification in Business Bankruptcy, American Board of Certification
- Semi-Finalist for Judicial Appointment, United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando and Jacksonville Divisions
- Semi-Finalist for Judicial Appointment, United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division
Civic & Community Service
- City of Winter Park, Planning and Zoning Board
- City of Winter Park, Board of Adjustments, Past Chairman
- Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, Orlando Chapter Executive Committee
- Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association, Board of Directors, Past President
- Central Florida Gator Club, Board of Directors, Past President
- Meritas Law Firms Worldwide, Financial Services Practice Group Co-Chair
- Orlando Ballet, Board of Directors
- Orlando Cumberland Club, Past President
- Special Olympics Florida, Founder and Host Committee for Annual “Jack in the Park” Fundraiser
- Tiger Bay Club of Central Florida, Board of Directors, Past President
Education
- Samford University Cumberland School of Law, J.D., 1999
- University of Florida, B.S., 1994
Admissions
- Florida Bar
- Supreme Court of the United States of America
- Supreme Court of the State of Florida
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- United States District Court for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida
