Charles D. Bavol
About
Chuck Bavol is a civil trial lawyer with over 30 years of experience trying a broad range of cases in federal and state courts across the country involving a wide variety of complex issues including products liability, commercial litigation, construction defect litigation, medical negligence, and guardianship/trust litigation. Chuck has also successfully litigated mass tort cases, both individual and class action, involving a variety of medical devices, implants, pharmaceuticals, and building products.
In the commercial area, Chuck has litigated cases involving private and public contract issues, UCC sales, insurance contracts and insurance coverage, trademark counterfeiting, environmental pollution, construction, fraud proceedings, and non-competition and employment disputes.
In the mass tort area, Chuck served as National Trial Counsel for Dow Corning Corporation in its defense of silicone implant product liability cases involving its many and varied non-mammary implants. In that capacity, he has tried silicone mass tort cases across the country, as well as serving on the National Litigation Team managing local counsel throughout the United States and Canada. Chuck continued to serve Dow Corning Corporation during its Chapter 11 reorganization brought about by the silicone mass tort cases by serving the company’s efforts to develop its generic trial strategies and defenses for cases expected to be defended in the Litigation Trust formed through the plan of reorganization. Thereafter, Chuck continued to work with the Litigation Facility in the ultimate successful resolution of all non-mammary opt-out cases.
Other mass tort representations have included the successful resolution of cases involving products in both the medical and non-medical arenas. Mass tort medical product representations have included an adhesion prevention solution used during gynecologic procedures, drug infusion (“pain”) pumps, implantable defibrillator leads, uterine sling devices, cochlear implant systems, female hormone replacement therapy medications, and fen-phen. Non-medical products mass tort representation has included products as diverse as bulletproof vests (alleged defective Kevlar-type product sold to law enforcement) and table saws (allegedly failing to employ an automatic shut-off technology within milliseconds of a blade touching skin).
Chuck has also served as Florida Trial Counsel to manufacturers supplying parts and products to the automobile industry, including air bag and seat belt automotive product liability litigation.
In the construction litigation area, Chuck has handled the gamut of construction related cases from defending general contractors in litigation involving public projects, wastewater treatment plants, and the like, to defending luxury home builders involved in construction defect/mold claims involving oceanfront property. Chuck serves as Florida Trial Counsel for TopBuild Corp., the leading installer and distributor of insulation products to the United States construction industry. Chuck also serves as Florida Trial Counsel for Masco Corporation and its subsidiaries in all manner of construction related litigation matters.
A significant portion of Chuck’s trial practice has been in defense of medical malpractice claims against physicians, dentists and hospitals.
Along with partner Ron Denman, Chuck was part of the BBDG trial team winning a recent landmark $16.4 million verdict in a federal district court trial in West Palm Beach on behalf of a guardianship estate of an incapacitated ward for breach of professional and fiduciary duties by a law firm hired by the professional guardian.
Chuck was appointed to the 2010 faculty of the esteemed Trial Academy of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), the preeminent trial advocacy training program for defense lawyers seeking to improve trial skills and techniques. The Trial Academy faculty is annually selected from lawyers recognized as the best civil defense litigators in the country.
Chuck is a member of The Florida Bar, State Bar of Michigan, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits. He is also a member of the Defense Research Institute. He was selected as a “Leading Florida Attorney,” a recognition conferred upon fewer than 6% of the state’s attorneys. Chuck served as Past President and Emeritus Director of the Florida Easter Seal Society, and also served on the Executive Committee of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.
Practice Areas
- Commercial Litigation
- Construction Litigation
- Drug and Medical Device Products Liability
- Automotive Products Liability
- General Products Liability
- Professional Malpractice Defense
- Guardianship/Trust Litigation
Professional & Community Involvement
Chuck and his wife Georgia enjoy travel and time away at their summer home in northern Michigan. An avid golfer, Chuck is a member of Tampa Palms Golf and Country Club and Crystal Mountain Resort (Michigan). Chuck also served as co-chairman of the Great Lakes Golf Academy, a charitable organization seeking to provide talented young golfers access to professional instruction and necessary exposure in order to receive college opportunities and scholarships.