Swope Rodante

Shea Moxon is a graduate of two of the most prestigious universities in the country. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University in 1990 and his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1994.

Before joining Swope Rodante, P.A., Mr. Moxon ran his own private practice from 1997 to 2003. He primarily practiced criminal defense and appellate law, including appellate representation of parents when the state was attempting to take their parental rights away, or when the children had been declared dependent upon the state. Before then, he was an associate with the law firm of Richard Escobar, P.A. in 1997 and an Assistant Public Defender in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit from 1994 to 1997.

Altogether, Mr. Moxon has been the sole or lead counsel in over 125 separate appeals. He is admitted to the Florida Bar and all Florida state courts, the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. Moxon joined Swope Rodante, P.A. in April 2003 as our first appellate specialist, and since then his contributions have added a new, powerful dimension to the firm. He provides intellectual support to our principal advocate attorneys when they are handling large trials, and helps us ensure that if the case is won before the jury, it is not later lost due to a legal issue on appeal. In addition, his outstanding academic background and real-life experience allow him to perceive developing trends in the law, so that, working together, we can create strategies for pursuing evolutionary changes to the law for the benefit of our clients.

Mr. Moxon’s lifelong passion for achieving meaningful justice for individuals is now part of our firm’s core ethic, and helps drive us all to do the best we possibly can for every client we accept.

Distinctions

• Graduate of Harvard Law School, cum laude.
• Elected to 1989 membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and largest academic honor society. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa is an honor that is reserved for university students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement.
• At Emory University, where Mr. Moxon earned his undergraduate degree, he was in the dean’s list for academic performance every year from 1987-1990.
• He earned the highest score of all the prospective attorneys who took the Florida Bar Exam in Fall of 1994.
• Served at the Harvard Journal on Legislation as a Technical Editor from 1993-1994
• Served at the Harvard Journal on Legislation as a Line Editor from 1992-1993

Professional & Community Involvement

Shea Moxon belongs to several professional organizations including the Florida Bar, the Hillsborough County Bar Association, the Florida Association for Justice (formerly known as the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers), and the Tampa Bay Trial Lawyers Association.

Publications & Presentations

Co-author with Dale Swope and Celene Humphries, “Bad Faith Claims,” The Florida Medical Malpractice Handbook, Florida Bar CLE Manual (2005)

Co-author with Dale Swope and Celene Humphries, “Keeping Faith in Bad Faith – Berges v. Infinity Insurance Co.,” Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Seminar (June 2005)

Co-author with Dale Swope and Celene Humphries, “Practice and Procedure in Handling an Automobile Case,” Florida Automobile Insurance Law (6th Edition), Florida Bar CLE Manual (2005)

Co-author with Dale Swope and Celene Humphries, “Bad Faith under the Knife: Dealing with Medical Malpractice Bad Faith Law,” Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Seminar (April 2005)

Selected Published Decisions

• Macola v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 420 F.3d 1359 (11th Circuit 2005): certified two questions of law regarding insurance bad faith to the Supreme Court of Florida. Also held that a federal district court had misapplied Florida law when it ruled that an action against an insurance company for committing bad faith was barred by the doctrine of election of remedies.
• Macola v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 953 So. 2d 451 (Fla. 2006): in response to the questions of law certified by the Eleventh Circuit, the Supreme Court of Florida held that an insurer did not extinguish its liability for bad faith under the common law of Florida by tendering its policy limits to its insured in response to the insured’s filing of a statutory civil remedy notice which alleged that the insurer had committed bad faith. A federal district court had ruled otherwise and granted summary judgment in favor of the insurer. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the summary judgment and remanded the case back to the district court so that the plaintiffs could proceed with their suit against the insurer for bad faith.
• Florida Institute for Neurological Rehabilitation, Inc. v. Marshall, 943 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006): affirmed a judgment that awarded wrongful death damages to the parents of a patient who died while residing at a long-term care facility for persons with brain injuries. The patient’s death resulted from asphyxiation that was caused by poorly-trained staff members of the facility who negligently restrained the patient in a prone position on the floor. The institute appealed from the judgment, arguing that the trial court committed errors in admitting and excluding evidence during the trial. The appellate court rejected the institute’s arguments and affirmed the judgment.
• In the interest of J.L., 824 So. 2d 1023 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002): held that father’s health problems were not a sufficient basis to adjudge his son dependent on the state.
• In the interest of M.M., 708 So. 2d 990 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998): held that the circuit court improperly the parental rights of two parents by default after they arrived at an adjudicatory hearing 90 minutes late.
• Von Goff v. State, 687 So. 2d 926 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997): held that the circuit court had departed from the essential requirements of the law by affirming a young man’s conviction for loitering and prowling, where the evidence showed that he had merely been waiting for a friend outside a gas station.