Catastrophic Injuries. Medical Malpractice. Wrongful Death
Aggressive. Thorough. Accomplished. Creative. Determined. Ethical. Respected. These are some of the words often used to describe serious injury attorney John Leighton.
Leighton is unlike most lawyers. He doesn’t seek out cases; they seek him out. For over 30 years he has represented people who have been seriously injured and families of those killed by negligence. But his cases most don’t usually come from the public. They come from other lawyers.
That’s because Leighton is referred the serious, complex and catastrophic cases from around the state and elsewhere in the country. He is seen as the go-to trial lawyer for major personal injury and death cases like medical malpractice, catastrophic trucking and car crash, resort/hotel/theme park, violent crime/negligent security, traumatic brain injury and defective product cases. His cases are almost always referred by lawyers from Florida and around the world.
Mr. Leighton fought for passage of the first parasailing safety law in the United States after his client’s daughter was killed while parasailing off Florida’s coast. It took seven years but the regulations finally passed in 2014.
Known for his success in medical malpractice cases, Leighton’s track record in obtaining recoveries in Central Florida is remarkable. He won a record-setting $24.1 million verdict for a child who suffered a terrible medical mistake in Seminole County. Then he obtained $9 million for a woman who was given improper anesthesia in the hospital, and $3 million for the Central Florida family whose mom bled to death from a doctor’s error. He followed that with a $24.3 million verdict for the family of an Orlando police officer who was killed at an ATM, won an $8 million award for the parents of a teenage girl killed on the turnpike, and recently recovered a $7.4 million verdict in Osceola County for a trucking crash.
These are examples of why Leighton has developed a national reputation. He has been hired to handle cases in Georgia, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois and Texas. And while many of his cases garner media attention, most of the time Leighton’s clients are ordinary people who have suffered serious loss. Like the Orlando family of a teen who was killed in a drunken boating crash. That family hired Leighton, who obtained a $1.35 million recovery and saw the boater sent to prison for 6 years. And like the $3.5 million recovery he won for an Orlando motorcyclist who suffered a brain injury where the driver who hit him only had $10,000 in insurance.
A board certified trial lawyer, Leighton is considered one of the foremost experts in negligent security litigation (people injured from a criminal assault) and child sex abuse. He wrote the 2-volume textbook, Litigating Premises Security Cases, lectures around the world, and was recent re-elected Chairman of the Inadequate Security Litigation of the American Trial Lawyers. He is past Chairman of the organization’s Motor Vehicle, Highway and Premises Liability Section. As part of his commitment to give back to the legal community, Leighton has lectured to lawyers in over a dozen states and two other countries.
Leighton is recognized by his peers as being at the very top of this his field. For 10 years he has been chosen as one of the Top 100 by Florida SuperLawyers, is included in Florida Trend magazine’s “Florida Legal Elite,” and selected 11 consecutive years for The Best Lawyers in America for Plaintiff’s personal injury, medical malpractice and product liability litigation. Mr. Leighton loves helping people who have had terrible things happen to them, and seeks justice for his clients in the courts.
121 S. Orange Ave., Suite 1150, Orlando, FL 32801 | 888-395-0001 | 407-384-8004 | www.Leightonlaw.com
