Mr. Blackburn obtained his doctorate of law from
the Stetson University College of Law where in 1991 he graduated cum laude
in the top ten percent of his class of 130 students. While at Stetson University College of Law, Mr. Blackburn
was a member of the Stetson Law Review
and elected to its editorial board as Articles and Symposia Editor. While a member of the Stetson Law Review, Mr. Blackburn
published a commentary in the Stetson Law
Review on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in a landmark First
Amendment establishment clause case, County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 109 S.Ct. 3086, 106 L.Ed.2d
472 (1989). That commentary, Government,
the Holiday Season, and the Establishment Clause A Perspective on the Issues,
20 Stetson L. Rev.
217 (Fall 1990), has since been
widely cited in the legal academic literature.
While
a student at Stetson University College of Law, Mr. Blackburn served as a
judicial intern for the Honorable Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, United States
District Judge, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, where he
concentrated in the area of civil litigation. While in law school, Mr. Blackburn was appointed a Cecil and
Augusta Bailey Scholar, Charles A. Dana Scholar, and Stanley Milledge Award
recipient for academic excellence, named to the school’s honor roll in each of
his three years of study, received the American Jurisprudence Book Awards in civil
procedure, professional responsibility and conflicts of law, and maintained
membership in the Trial Advocacy Society, and the American Bar Association.
Mr.
Blackburn received his Bachelor of Science degree in criminology with honors
from the University of Tampa in 1988, graduating with a 3.893 grade point
average. While at the University
of Tampa, Mr. Blackburn was a member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society, named to
the school’s dean’s list in each semester of his studies, and, on nomination by
his professors, received the National Collegiate Criminal Justice Award among
other honors.
Prior
to attending law school and while still enrolled as an undergraduate, Mr.
Blackburn worked in radio and television as a producer and board operator at
radio stations WWQT-AM and WHBS-FM in Clearwater, Florida and as a technical
director with the Home Shopping Network.
Mr. Blackburn also spent five years from 1983 to 1988 with Honeywell
Incorporated, first working with the Space Shuttle Main Engine Controller
program and later on secret programs associated with the Strategic Defense
Initiative, more commonly known as President Reagan’s “Star Wars” program.
Born
in Tampa, Florida, on October 13, 1963, Mr. Blackburn is a member of the
Florida Bar, and is admitted to and has practiced before the United States
District Court for the Middle District of Florida and the United States Court
of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Mr. Blackburn is also an active member of the Hillsborough County Bar
Association and is a past member of the Ferguson-White American Inn of Court in
Tampa, Florida. Mr. Blackburn is
or has in the past been a member of the American Bar Association’s Torts and
Insurance Practice Section, the Defense Research Institute, and the Medical
Claims Defense Network.
Mr.
Blackburn has been invited to speak to trade, professional claims, and
underwriting associations on a variety of insurance issues and to university
students on Florida’s motor vehicle no-fault insurance law.
Mr.
Blackburn’s practice over the last twenty years has included professional and
medical negligence defense, nursing home defense, commercial lines defense, first-
and third-party property and casualty defense, business and personal auto defense,
defense coverage disputes, subrogation matters, employment litigation
representing employers and employees, commercial litigation, and arbitration of
securities industry and commercial disputes before the NASD and AAA. Mr. Blackburn has tried over thirty
cases to jury trial verdict in both state and federal court, has tried multiple
bench trials to judgment, and has gone to final arbitral decision before the
NASD.
In addition to practice at the trial court level,
Mr. Blackburn has substantial experience in state and federal appellate
work. In one of Mr. Blackburn’s
most significant appeals, Rodante v. Fidelity Nat’l Ins. Co., 725 So. 2d
1151 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998), a case presenting an issue of essential first
impression in the state courts of Florida, Mr. Blackburn successfully preserved
the trial court’s dismissal of a bad faith action for untimely filing of the
statutory notice of insurer violation.
In addition to briefing and argument in the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit, the Florida First, Second, and Fifth District Courts of
Appeal, Mr. Blackburn has also briefed in matters before the Supreme Court of
Florida.
Mr. Blackburn is politically active and has worked
as a volunteer on campaigns at the local, state, and national levels.
