Jeffrey Donner

Jeffrey T. Donner is a trial lawyer who has been solving clients’ problems and winning cases in Florida since 1999.  Born and raised in Central Florida, Jeff earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida, where he edited the Florida Law Review.

In 2002, Jeff moved to Miami, where he lived and practiced law for over 22 years.  While the experience he gained litigating for over two decades in South Florida was invaluable, Jeff was pleased to accept an invitation to return to his hometown to join Byrd Campbell’s commercial litigation team, where he practices out of the firm’s Winter Park office.

With over 25 years of experience solving complex legal problems, creating imaginative solutions, and winning cases for both individuals and business entities in Florida, Jeff provides astute and creative counseling, efficient and results-driven advocacy, and impactful and significant solutions for clients in a wide range of practice areas, including complex commercial litigation and business contract disputes; property damages and insurance coverage litigation; construction delay and defects litigation; product liability, class actions and multi-district litigation; constitutional, government, and civil rights law; personal injury and wrongful death; probate and guardianship/mental health proceedings; and environmental permitting, land use, and regulatory law.

A former Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Miami Beach, Jeff has extensive experience counseling clients concerning constitutional, land use, government permitting, and municipal code enforcement matters.

Jeff also provides sensitive, understanding, and imaginative counseling and advocacy for individuals in all aspects of marital and family law, including divorce and related matters (e.g., negotiating and drafting marital settlement agreements, child support, parenting plans, spousal support, property division, mediations, relocations, and modifications), elder law, estate planning, probate, bankruptcy, immigration, and incapacity/guardianship/mental health matters.

While he carefully performs his role as a pragmatic counselor at law, which often saves clients’ money, Jeff is also a skillful and determined advocate for the firm’s clients when necessary. He has tried four complex insurance coverage cases to a jury verdict in the last three years.

Jeff is admitted to practice before all Florida state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Representative Cases

• Successfully represented over 425 insureds in first-party property insurance coverage cases (both residential and commercial), recovering over $19 million for clients.  Tried four of these property damage cases to a jury verdict in the last three years.
• Senior member of litigation team that achieved the first approved class-action settlement of a “Chinese Drywall” case in the United States, approved by a Florida state court.  The team also represented hundreds of homeowners in the federal multi-district litigation concerning defective Chinese-manufactured drywall overseen by Judge Fallon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
• As Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Miami Beach, counseled and advocated on behalf of the City in numerous substantive areas related to local government law, including historic preservation, code enforcement, construction, and environmental law.  Drafted groundbreaking ordinance regulating littering by third-party leafletting and presented it to the City Commission. Served as the City’s chief code enforcement prosecutor, handling cases such as noise and light (nuisance) violations, littering, operating without a business license, and illegal commercial use of single-family homes during an era long before the invention of Airbnb. Counseled the City on the constitutionality of using red-light cameras to issue traffic citations at a time when this practice was new and controversial.
• Member of litigation team serving as outside special counsel to Miami-Dade County and American Airlines in environmental litigation matters involving the Miami International Airport.
• Member of litigation team representing United States Sugar Company in high-profile federal and state litigation over Florida Everglades restoration, involving issues concerning agriculture’s effect on the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee.
• Counseled Republic Services, Inc. and AutoNation, Inc. in environmental litigation and transactional matters concerning underground petroleum storage tanks.
• Member of trial and litigation teams serving as outside special counsel to Hillsborough County and Sarasota County in administrative, local government, and environmental law matters, including contested administrative hearings and rulemaking challenges.
• Member of trial teams that tried four complex, multi-party final administrative hearings—each final hearing lasted four to six weeks—defending contested environmental resource permits, representing IMC Phosphates Co. and Cargill, Inc. (now merged as The Mosaic Company).
• Member of trial team that successfully represented Hillsborough County in complex arbitration over interlocal agreement governing an above-ground regional water reservoir, adverse to Tampa Bay Water (fka West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority).