Tom Pennekamp

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Tom Pennekamp, Jr. is an SMGQ Law litigation partner who focuses his practice in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, and medical malpractice litigation and trial. His experience spans auto accidents, trucking crashes, negligent security, premises liability, pool drownings, aviation disasters, all forms of maritime incidents, product liability issues, electric gates, medical malpractice, construction defects, dog attacks, mass tort, engineering negligence, maintenance of traffic, bridge collapses, amusement ride disasters, and all other catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death claims in all State and Federal Courts throughout the Southeastern United States. He also handles commercial litigation matters most often on a contingency fee basis.

Mr. Pennekamp has maintained an "AV" rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory since eligible upon beginning his legal career.  Super Lawyers has ranked him in the top 5% of his peers every year since 2006. He was awarded South Florida Business Journal’s first "2006 Key Partners Award" in law.  Miami Metro Magazine's South Florida Legal Guide named him one of South Florida’s Top "Up and Comer" Lawyers. The Miami Today newspaper featured Mr. Pennekamp as "The Newsmaker." Coral Gables Magazine profiled him as one of its "21 People to Watch."  The Daily Business Review featured Mr. Pennekamp’s multi-million-dollar award for an injured bridge tender after the collapse of the Flagler Street Bridge.

Mr. Pennekamp began his career at Mershon Sawyer Johnston Dunwody & Cole in 1990.  Looking for more trial focused work, Tom joined Grossman Roth, P.A. in 1993 and soon after became a named partner and shareholder in the firm.  In 2006, he founded his injury focused boutique law firm, Pennekamp Law, P.A.

Mr. Pennekamp graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in 1982, Dartmouth College in 1986 and the University of Florida College of Law in 1990 where he graduated with high honors in the top 10% of his class as a member of the Order of the Coif.

Tom Pennekamp is a Miami native. Both sides of his family have long and historic ties to our community. Mr. Pennekamp is the grandson of John D. Pennekamp, former editor of the Miami Herald and namesake of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo.  Tom’s grandfather, John, was the driving force behind our modern Florida State Park System and was responsible for the establishment of the Everglades National Park.  Tom’s other grandfather, Dr. Festus Earl Kitchens was one of the first doctors for Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.  His Coral Gables medical building is now a Gables historic landmark.  Doc was a founding member of the Orange Bowl Committee and the first doctor for the University of Miami football team.  Of quirky interest, he pronounced the water at the Venetian Pool safe for swimming at its opening. 

Mr. Pennekamp is committed environmentally, professionally, and personally to Florida. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Florida State Parks, was a founding Board Member of the Cape Florida Bill Baggs State Park Citizens Support Organization (CSO) and is presently a founding CSO Board Member of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Dagny Johnston Key Largo Hammock State Park.

 

NOTABLE CLIENT WORK

Mr. Pennekamp’s major recoveries for families cover a broad range of extremely serious personal injury and wrongful death matters.

Tom regularly handles the largest, most complex, high profile and newsworthy personal injury cases in Florida having consummated what was thought to be one of the largest individual personal injury settlements in Florida history, $17,500,000 for a man paralyzed in a SCUBA diving incident in Jamaica.  He also recently represented the family of another SCUBA diver killed in the Bahamas recovering $6,000,000 for his family.  Mr. Pennekamp is an avid boater and diver with strong ties in our fishing, boating and diving community. 

In the aviation sector, he has successfully represented victims in claims ranging from ultra-lights, private aircraft, foreign aircraft, military aircraft, aviation product liability and major commercial airline disasters. 

He represented the family of a crew member killed in the Million Air crash, the father of a child lost in the Value Jet disaster and a young man killed in an ultra-light crash in the Florida Keys.   He also has represented victims in helicopter crashes, the American Airlines disaster as well as the crash that took the life of the young pop singer Aaliyah and her entourage in the Bahamas among other noteworthy aviation cases.

His product liability actions include claims for a defective pressure relief valve causing an in-flight commercial jet explosion to a defective fuel system that led to a crash of an Italian combat aircraft.

Other product liability cases have included major personal injuries caused by defective bicycles, defective aircraft components, and several tragedies caused by dangerously defective electronic sliding gates as well as vehicular rollover cases.

He has also handled multiple claims for major personal injury involving bascule bridge (draw bridge) defects and construction engineering and inspection failures in our transportation systems.  These bridge cases alone resulted in a total of $12,000,000.00 in recoveries for the injured parties. 

Additionally, Mr. Pennekamp has handled some of the largest and most complicated cases in South Florida courts for commercial marine and pleasure boat incidents.  As well as his notable SCUBA cases, he represented a young lady who suffered extremely serious injuries and brain damage in a multi-collision multi-vessel multi-victim incident on July 4^th in Biscayne Bay.  He has also handled several hit and run boat crashes, each time locating the culprit and recovering for the victims and their families. Also in Biscayne Bay, Tom represented the husband of a woman who was struck and killed by a boat while diving.  He also sued Fisher Island for a ferry collision killing a doctor’s wife.

His other maritime matters include personal watercraft (Jet Ski) collisions and multiple claims against the cruise lines for a variety of negligent conduct causing serious injury and wrongful death to their passengers and crew members, including shipboard medical malpractice.  Tom also has significant maritime law experience in limitation of liability actions, seaman claims and the Jones Act. 

He has obtained major recoveries for victims of dog attacks (one resulting in a confidential but multi-million-dollar settlement), negligent security, and complex medical malpractice actions in numerous medical specialties.

Tom’s work in medical malpractice spans cases involving most medical specialties including cancer misdiagnosis, anesthesia mishaps, surgical errors, stroke, post operative negligence, radiology negligence, and birth related injury for some examples.

Most cases Mr. Pennekamp handles are confidential, and therefore, the monetary results are not public, to protect, most importantly, his clients’ privacy. 

 

PROFESSIONAL/CIVIC ACTIVITIES

The Florida Bar (1990-Present)

• Past Chairman, 11^th Circuit Fee Arbitration Committee
• Mentoring Attorney Professionalism Program
• Aviation Law Committee

Dade County Bar Association, Past President (2002-2003)

Chairman, Lawyer Regulation Task Force

Chairman, Membership Committee

Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers

• Medical Malpractice Task Force
• HMO Task Force
• Insurance Task Force

Association of Trial Lawyers of America

Broward County Trial Lawyers Association

Cuban American Bar Association

American Bar Association

Biscayne Bay Yacht Club

• Board of Governors
• Long Range Planning Committee

Miami Project to Cure Paralysis

Miami-Dade County Volunteer Special Assistant State Attorney

Orange Bowl Committee

Friends of Florida Parks, Board of Directors

Bill Baggs State Park, Cape Florida

• Founding Member
• Citizens Support Organization

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

• Board Member
• Citizens Support Organization

 

SEMINARS AND SPEECHES

Investiture of Justice Raul Cantero to the Florida Supreme Court

Investiture of Honorable Bertilia Soto

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Aviation Law & Insurance Symposium, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

DCBA Symposium Panel Article V, Section 7- Court Funding

International Law Group Presentation- Survey of US and Florida Law

Traumatic Brain Injury Seminar

International Lawyers Group Survey of US and Florida Law