Guy F. Giberson

Mr. Giberson concentrates his practice on commercial litigation, employment and securities law. His experience as an associate attorney at the New York office of a large national law firm and then as a partner at a nationally recognized business law firm in Miami, prepared him for the complex matters that he now handles at Mathews Giberson.

Overview of education and employment experience:

• University of Miami, J.D. magna cum laude, 1996 (law review, order of the coif, multiple book awards for highest class grade)
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, B.A., with distinction, economics, 1992
• Tew Cardenas, Miami (Partner)
• Damian & Valori, Miami (Partner)
• Wadsworth Huott, Miami (Partner)
• Latham & Watkins, New York (Associate)

Business Litigation Experience

Mr. Giberson is an experienced litigator who has handled complex commercial matters in many areas including corporate litigation, securities litigation, professional liability, construction litigation, real estate litigation, employment litigation and appeals. Mr. Giberson also has extensive experience in class action litigation, fraud litigation and receivership litigation and is experienced in handling insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. Mr. Giberson handles litigation at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts, administrative proceedings and arbitration (FINRA, AAA, JAMS).

For example, Mr. Giberson has: (i) obtained a complete dismissal of a $5,000,000 claw back claim brought by an equity receiver against a former investor investment fund that had been operated as a Ponzi scheme; (ii) represented five different investors in claw back actions brought by the same federal court appointed receiver for claims totaling over $4,000,000 that were ultimately settled on terms that were highly favorable to the defendants; (iii) recovered $1,000,000 from a commercial bank on behalf of an equity receiver for claims arising out of the bank’s previous relationship with the receivership entity; (iv) successfully represented one of Florida’s largest homeowner’s associations in a litigation that successfully blocked the construction of a big box store near its members’ homes; (v) defended a large national law firm in a legal malpractice action arising out of an over $100,000,000 jury award; (vi) represented several equity receivers in claims against third parties and in administering receivership entities that ultimately returned millions of dollars to defrauded investors; (vii) represented numerous of individual investors and brokers in arbitration actions against broker dealers; (viii) represented numerous developers, owners, contractors and sub-contractors in construction defect and breach of contract actions; and (ix) represented both plaintiffs and defendants in numerous class action litigations, including a securities class action case in which he recovered $700,000 from the former proprietor of an alleged Ponzi scheme and a large roofing company for whom he blocked a group of former customers seeking roof replacements from obtaining class certification and identical relief for nearly 3000 other former customers and tens of millions of dollars in damages; and (x) successfully clawed back over $1.6 million on behalf of an SEC receiver from a single individual.

Employment Law Experience

Mr. Giberson has represented scores of individuals and companies in employment disputes including whistle blower claims, gender discrimination claims, age discrimination cases, and cases arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. He frequently represents executives and companies in severance disputes and in negotiating employment agreements and non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. Mr. Giberson has taught multiple seminars on employment law.

Representative Clients

Mr. Giberson has represented numerous institutions and companies including financial institutions, banks and insurance companies, as well as numerous wealthy individuals. For example, Mr. Giberson has represented Kimco Realty Corporation, L-3 Communication, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Miami-Dade County School Board, Aequicap Insurance, Liggett Vectors Brands (formerly Liggett Group), Barclays (formerly Lehman Brothers), Whole Foods Market, Fifth Third Bank, Bank of America, Sunbeam Corporation, Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, Lazard Ltd. (formerly Lazard Frerès & Co.), Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston, Discover Insurance Company, American Realty Company, Terranova Corporation, Equity One, Inc., Liberty Mutual insurance, AMS Staff Leasing the NASDAQ Stock Market and dozens of local business in the South Florida area.

Representative Cases

The following is a list of some of the cases that Mr. Giberson has litigated that resulted in published decisions:

• Ebright v. Blancer, 2010 WL 4157131 (2d DCA 2010) (affirming defense verdict in trucking accident case involving two deaths and potentially tens of millions of dollars in damages).
• Citizens Property insurance Corp. v. European Woodcraft & Mica Design, Inc., 49 So.3d 774 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), (rehearing denied (Jan. 10, 2011), review denied 68 So.3d 234 (Fla. 2011)) (reversing trial court ruling in holding that insurance broker was not the “agent” with power to bind insurance company).
• Telemundo Television Studios, LLC v. Aequicap Ins. Co., 38 So.2d 807 (Fla. 3d DCA, 2010) (affirming trial court’s finding of no coverage for truck driver not listed as a named insured on trucking company’s policy).
• Biscayne Dollar Store, Inc. v. Green East No. 2, Ltd., 29 So.2d 397 (Fla. 3d DCA, 2010) (affirming trial court’s summary judgment in favor of landlord enforcing guaranty against tenant who claimed that stricken language in guaranty created ambiguity).

Employment Background

Mr. Giberson was previously a partner at the law firms Damian & Valori, LLP, Wadsworth Huott, LLP and Tew Cardenas, LLP, all in Miami, Florida. Prior to working in Florida, Mr. Giberson was an associate in the New York office of Latham & Watkins. During law school Mr. Giberson served as (i) a summer clerk for Latham & Watkins in New York, (ii) an intern in the office of the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida, (iii) a research assistant to a tenured law processor, Prof. David Abraham, Ph. D., and (iv) an articles and comments editor for the University of Miami Law Review. Prior to going to law school, Mr. Giberson founded and grew a family business that has operated in and grown with Broward Country, Florida since 1982.

Education

Mr. Giberson earned his J.D. at the University Of Miami College Of Law where he graduated with high honors (magna cum laude) in 1996. While attending law school, he was a “grade on” member of the University of Miami Law Review where he served on the Executive Board as an Articles and Comments Editor. Mr. Giberson is the recipient of book awards for criminal law and criminal procedure and was admitted to the Order of the Coif. He earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (GO BLUE!), where he majored in economics and graduated in 1992 with honors.

Admissions

Mr. Giberson is admitted to practice in Florida, the United States District Courts of the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He is a member of the Florida Bar, the Miami-Dade County Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Community

Mr. Giberson has both lived in and operated a business in Broward Country since 1982. With his wife and children, Mr. Giberson is currently an active member of the Saint Maurice at Resurrection Church, in Dania Beach, where he serves on the Parish Finance Counsel, and is a founding member of its Creation Care Committee, which seeks to implement Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s encyclical letter on the need to preserve our environment.