Fredric Gerson Levin (March 29, 1937 – January 12, 2021) was an American plaintiffs' lawyer who served as chairman of Levin, Papantonio, Rafferty, Proctor, Buchanan, O'Brien, Barr, Mougey, P.A., a law firm in Northwest Florida. The Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida is named for him because of a monetary donation he made to the school in 1999.

He was best known for rewriting Florida's Medicaid Third-Party Recovery Act to allow the State of Florida to sue and recover billions of dollars from the tobacco industry for smoking-related illnesses. His flamboyant and brazen personality resulted in him being prosecuted by the Florida Bar two times, and investigated two additional times.

Levin's life was summarized in the weekly medical journal The Lancet. In its December 2014 edition, the author wrote: "And Give Up Showbiz? explores the extraordinary life of a pioneering and often controversial lawyer. Seen as an inspiring innovator by some, and a flamboyant self-promoter by others, Levin's work was not always met with a favourable outcome. Levin was accused of two murders, and often met with controversy because of his relentless fight for justice against big companies. His home life, while loving, was often neglected in his pursuit of business, and this is mentioned several times in the book—bringing a sense of balance to the stories."

Personal life

thumb|left|Marilyn and Fred – 1967

thumb|170px|Fred Levin (bottom right), with his parents and brothers in 1950

Levin was born in 1937, in Pensacola, Florida. He grew up in a conservative Jewish household, with his mother (Rose), father (Abe), and brothers (David, Herman, Stanley, Martin, and Allen). His father was a pawnbroker catering to the large military presence in the Pensacola area, and also ran the concessions at the Pensacola Greyhound Park and at a store on Pensacola Beach. While attending the University of Florida, Levin met his future wife, Marilyn, who was a member of the Jewish sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi.

Levin began law studies in 1958, as a student enrolled in the College of Law at the University of Florida. This was mostly due to his reluctance to leave behind the college party lifestyle, as well as the fact that his older brother David had established a small law firm where Levin could work. He attended summer classes to raise his Grade Point Average for law school admission, as his grade scores were below the required minimum 2.0 G.P.A. (Note: In 1958, virtually any white male could gain admittance to Florida public law school, where approximately one-third would graduate.)

In 1961, Levin began practicing in the law firm of Levin & Askew (now known as Levin Papantonio) in Pensacola.thumb|200px|Fred Levin and a few partners in the late 1960s. David Levin (top, middle), Reubin Askew (top right), and Fred Levin (bottom left).

Levin began his legal career in family law, but once a client explained that her husband said he would kill her divorce lawyer, he chose to switch to general civil law. In 1980, Levin received a jury verdict for the family in the amount of $18 million. As a result of the verdict, Us magazine did a story on Levin in its swimsuit preview issue. On the cover were Randi Oakes from CHiPs, Morgan Fairchild from Flamingo Road, and Donna Mills from Knots Landing. Inside was a half-page picture of Levin standing in front of an L&N railcar under the headline, "I'll Sue".

Levin received more than thirty jury verdicts in excess of $1,000,000 (six in excess of $10,000,000). At various points in his career he held the national record for jury verdicts involving the wrongful death of a child, the wrongful death of a housewife, the wrongful death of a wage earner, and the largest personal injury verdict in the state of Florida. He was listed in every edition of Best Lawyers in America; was a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates; and was inducted into the National Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2009.

Tobacco litigation

Levin played a significant role in the litigation brought by numerous states against the tobacco industry during the 1990s. Levin was at a trial lawyer conference when another attorney saw Levin drinking whiskey and smoking a cigarette. The attorney told Levin that smoking was going to kill him, and that he was working with the State of Mississippi to sue the tobacco industry for compensation for all the money Mississippi was spending in Medicaid dollars treating smoking related illnesses. Levin did not believe the legal theory would be successful, explaining that the tobacco industry had never paid a penny to anyone as a result of smoking injuries. John Shebel, president of the pro-business organization Associated Industries of Florida, told the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, "This law is probably one of the worst laws ever passed by any Legislature." Walker Merryman, vice president of the Tobacco Institute, said, "It's certainly creative, and it demonstrates how a government will try to impose a significant financial burden on one portion of the economy."

Gannett News Service wrote: "What they engineered was a first-of-its-kind bill making it much easier for the state to recoup money it spends for treating cancer patients and others with smoking-related diseases. ... Its created such an uproar in Tallahassee that tobacco companies have pledged millions of dollars to fight the bill either by getting it vetoed or using the upcoming special session on health care to change or eliminate it."

"I could say, I think without exaggerating, that the financial life of the tobacco industry is riding on [the veto of the bill]", said John Banahaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health.

Challenges to the law made it the United States Supreme Court, but was upheld. Immediately after jury selection, the tobacco industry settled with the State of Florida for a record $13 billion. Levin's law firm would end up earning a fee of more than $300 million. Next, he appeared on two full pages of George magazine, standing on his putting green in a tuxedo, drinking Crown Royal whiskey and smoking a cigarette.

Florida Bar

Levin had a lengthy and hostile relationship with the Florida Bar whom he often and openly referred to as "lily-white elitists, country club, men". He has been prosecuted by the Florida Bar on two occasions, and formally investigated on another two occasions. In the first investigation, Levin stated on his primetime, live, call-in, television show that doctors have "this God-complex--they think they are above the law." The investigation did not result in bar charges. He mocked law enforcement for arresting and prosecuting local bookies, as if they were an elite swat team fighting terrorism. He commented that the local law enforcement and prosecutors wouldn't have the guts to go down to the high crime streets in Pensacola to arrest drug dealers and rapists because they would be scared to get shot. The Florida Bar charged Levin with ethics violation as he was admitting to violations of Florida law, and demeaning the legal profession. Levin was found guilty and a public reprimand was recommended. Levin challenged the decision to the United States Supreme Court, but in the end he received his public reprimand.

The third investigation, and second prosecution, involved Levin's use of the word "ridiculous" to describe the defense in two separate civil cases. Levin won both cases and received large jury verdicts, but both verdicts were taken away on appeal because the appellate court believed Levin inflamed the jury by calling the defense ridiculous.

The fourth investigation occurred when a friend of Levin's, the Senator who passed the tobacco legislation, was being prosecuted for violations of the Florida Sunshine Law. The key witness against the Senator (who now was a county commissioner) was another local county commissioner who claimed the now former Senator offered him a bribe to pass an item before him. When the former Senator was convicted of violation of the Sunshine Law, Levin made comments to the press calling the witness a "rat fink". He then told the Pensacola News Journal, "If [the witness] was on the Titanic, he would dress like a woman and jump on the first lifeboat." Levin called the judge's ruling not to free the politician while he appealed "unconscionable". He also assailed the judge. "I have never been so embarrassed or ashamed of the legal profession", he told the paper. "I believe the inmates have taken over the asylum." Asked what exactly he meant, Levin replied, "That means the nuts are in charge." However, the Florida Bar sent Levin a "letter of advice" as to how to act in the future. The letter said: "While your conduct in this instance does not warrant formal discipline, the committee believes that it was not consistent with the high standards of our profession. The committee hopes that this letter will make you more aware of your obligation to uphold these professional standards, and that you will adjust your conduct accordingly."

Death of Jake Horton

On April 10, 1989, at approximately 1:00 p.m. C.S.T., a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 200 crashed within minutes of takeoff from Pensacola Regional Airport, killing the two pilots and the single passenger, Jacob F. "Jake" Horton. The plane was owned by Southern Company, an American electric utility holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is currently the 16th largest utility company in the world, and the fourth largest in the U.S.

Jake was a senior vice-president at Gulf Power Company, a subsidiary of Southern Company. The cause of the plane crash has never been solved, with theories including pilot error, poor maintenance, sabotage, and suicide. Levin became embroiled in the incident because he was one of the last people to speak with Jake, and he also was legal counsel for Gulf Power. Within two weeks of the plane crash, and in protest to Southern Company blaming Jake, Levin quit as counsel for Gulf Power.

Despite numerous federal and state investigations, and multiple lawsuits, the cause of the plane crash has never been solved.

The fact that Levin was chosen to help manage Roy's career was controversial considering he had no experience in the boxing business. Roy had been courted by some of the biggest names in boxing, including Don King and Sugar Ray Leonard. Levin received the 1995 Al Buck Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America as boxing manager of the year; and received the Rocky Marciano Foundation President's Award in 2001.

Levin managed Roy's boxing career from 1989 to 2003. Levin's last fight with Roy involved heavyweight champion John Ruiz on March 1, 2003. Ruiz had recently defeated Evander Holyfield for the championship. Jones officially weighed in at 193 pounds to Ruiz's 226 pounds. Jones won by unanimous decision, becoming the first former middleweight title holder to win a heavyweight title in 106 years, the last being Bob Fitzsimmons in 1896. Jones also became the first fighter in history to start his career as a junior middleweight and become a heavyweight champion.

After the first semester of law school, Levin approached George to become his study partner.

Awards and honors

Levin received the Perry Nichols Award in 1994, which is the highest honor bestowed by the Florida Justice Association, and is given in recognition of a person's lifetime achievements in the pursuit of justice.

In December 2017, Levin was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from University of West Florida.

Later career

At the age of 80, Levin continued to practice law. "I want the practice of law to continue", he said. "I want there to be lawyers. Less and less people are going to law school now. In 2013, applications to accredited law schools dropped for a third consecutive year. My son, Martin, left the practice of law because of its transformation from the personal--a lawyer representing one client--to a business where a lawyer represents thousands of clients in mass tort or class action." Despite his opposition to mass torts, Levin agreed to transfer his law firm's primary practice to this niche area of law. The firm now runs Mass Torts Made Perfect, a conference held twice a year, usually in Las Vegas, to bring together mass tort lawyers from across the country.

In 2013, when he was 76, he won a $3.4 million jury verdict in an ATV case. In 2014, at the age of 77, he won a $12.6 million jury verdict in an automobile accident case. In 2016 (age 79), he was named national Trial Lawyer of the Year.

In 1998, Levin gave the University of Florida law school $10 million, the second largest cash donation ever given to a public law school as of that time. In 1999, the law school name was officially changed to the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

In 1998, Levin contributed $2 million to the Levin & Papantonio Family Foundation.

In 2006, Levin gave the University of Florida law school $2 million to help fund the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center.

In 2013, Levin gave $1 million in memory of his recently deceased wife to the Lubavitch-Chabad Student and Community Center at the University of Florida.

In 2015, Levin (along with his sister-in-law Teri) gave $1 million to the YMCA of Northwest Florida to support the construction of its new facility in downtown Pensacola.

In 2016, Levin gave $1 million to the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition to help fund the institute's 30,000 square foot research facility in artificial intelligence, robotics, human-centered computing, agile and distributed computing, and many related areas.

In 2017, Levin gave $550,000 to the University of West Florida to establish the Reubin O'D. Askew Institute for Multidisciplinary Studies.

In 2017, Levin gave $2 million to the Brigham & Women's Hospital to establish the Fredric G. Levin Distinguished Chair in Thoracic Surgery and Lung Cancer Research. The gift was given in honor of Dr. Raphael Bueno for saving Mr. Levin's life after he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

In 2018, Levin gave an $8 million home, including its personal belongings, to the University of West Florida. In honor of the gift, the school named its government department the Reubin O'D. Askew Department of Government, after Levin's former law partner and two-term governor of the state of Florida.

In 2019, Levin gave 300,000 shares of Charlotte's Web Holdings, LLC stock to the University of Florida Levin College of Law. At the time of the announcement of the donation, the stock was valued at $6 million.

In 2019, Levin donated $2 million to Dana–Farber Cancer Institute to establish the Fredric G. Levin Endowment in Translational Cancer Research.

In 2021, Levin donated an additional $40 million to the University of Florida Levin College of Law through his estate.

Levin College of Law

The Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida is named for him because of a $10 million cash donation he made to the school in 1999. The gift was the largest-ever cash donation to the University of Florida; the second-largest gift ever to a public law school when matched with state funds; and more than three times larger than any gift in the college's 90-year history.

One letter to the then dean of the law school read: "I have no problem with naming the law school in honor of an appropriate person, as other colleges have done, but naming our college after Fred Levin does no honor to him, to the institution, or its constituency, and demeans the efforts of the many deans, faculty, and alumni who have worked for so many years to achieve the vision of making our college one of the top twenty law schools. ... You degraded the image and prestige of the University of Florida College of Law by selling its good name to Fred Levin, a lawyer who has been castigated by the courts for abusing the rules, and is notorious for commercializing the practice, thumbing his nose at the bar, and otherwise manipulating the system." "It makes me feel great, when their great-grandchildren go up to that stage to get the law degree, they'll know that, dadgum it, that Jew's name is up there on the damn diploma. It's just gotta eat at them."

Health issues and death

In January 2016, Levin was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that had metastasized to his brain. The brain tumor was removed at the University of Florida Health, and he was treated for his lung cancer at Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Levin died from COVID-19 on January 12, 2021, after surviving stage 4 lung and brain cancer. He was asymptomatic for 10 days and died within 5 days of experiencing any symptoms. He was 83 years old.

Publications

  • Operations and the Rule Against Perpetuities, 13 Fla. L. Rev. 214 (1960–1961)
  • Wrongful Death and Florida's '10–20' Liability Policy -- The Twilight Zone, 13 Fla. L. Rev. 377 (1960-1961)
  • A Trial Lawyers look at No-Fault, 1 Miss. College L. Rev. 271 (1979)
  • Personal Injury Protection Coverage, Florida No-Fault Ins. Prac. (2d ed. 1979)
  • Attorney's Fees, Florida Civil Practice (2d ed. 1980)
  • Visiting Florida's No-Fault Experience: Is it Now Constitutional?, 54 Fla. Bar. J. 2 (1980)
  • Structured Settlements in Review: A Case Study, The Am. J. of Trial Advocacy Vol. 4, No. 3, pg. 579 (Spring 1981)
  • Effective Opening Statements: The Attorney's Master Key to Courtroom Victory (1983)
  • The Trial Masters, Strategy for Opening Statement: A Case Study pp. 158–196 (1984)
  • The Art of Cross-Examination: A Case Study, 9 Trial Diplomacy J. 1 (1986)
  • Plaintiff's Trial Strategy, Periodic Payment Judgment (1987)
  • The Winning Attitude, 2 Trial Practice News Letter 4 (1988)
  • A Plaintiff's Guide to Effective Opening Statements, 9 Verdicts, Settlements & Tactics (Sept. 1989)
  • Opening Statement, Fla. Civil Trial Prac. (4th ed. 1990)
  • Opening Statement, Florida Civil Trial Practice Ch. 8 (5th ed. 1998)
  • Closing Arguments, The Last Battle (2003)

References

  • Levin Papantonio
  • University of Florida Levin College of Law