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Ryan M. Garrett is a Partner in the Tallahassee office. His practice is focused on construction, trucking, and third-party liability defense. Ryan has tried cases in administrative, civil, and securities arbitration, as well as administrative licensing issues, automobile negligence, contractor liability claims, construction defects, product liability, professional negligence, toxic mold, and challenges to administrative rule-making by professional boards.

Ryan joined Butler in 2004, bringing him more than a decade of investigative and hands-on experience. Ryan was part of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office from 1981 to 1992. There, he worked in the Homicide Unit of the Special Investigations Division and specialized in major case/inter-agency investigations, forensic anthropology, and homicide investigations, as well as sex crimes and boating accidents, before leaving to go to law school. Ryan earned his law degree from Florida State University in 1994.

Ryan is very active in the legal community. He has appeared as a guest speaker on trial techniques, law enforcement liability, and search and seizure. He has lectured at Florida State University, Barry University, and before various civic organizations in Tallahassee. Ryan is also state-certified as an instructor in general liability and adjuster optional courses.

Admissions

  • Florida

Education

  • Saint Leo College
    Bachelor of Arts
  • Florida State University
    Doctor of Jurisprudence

Memberships

  • Defense Research Institute (DRI)
  • Tallahassee Bar Association
  • The Florida Bar

Courts

  • United States District Court – Northern District of Florida
  • United States District Court – Middle District of Florida
  • United States District Court – Southern District of Florida
  • Florida State Courts

Media

Butler Awards Laptops for the 2021 CTRL Your Future Contest

For the sixth year in a row, Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig has celebrated the achievements of high school seniors across the country through our CTRL Your Future Laptop Contest. This year’s laptop contest however, has been especially meaningful in the need and impact it has had on the recipients. High school seniors have had to continue adapting to the changing circumstances of COVID-19. These la...

THE MANY FACES OF MULTIPLE LIABILITY CLAIMS: TWO DIVERGENT OPINIONS FROM THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently released two opinions involving multiple liability claims against an insured with insufficient policy limits.  Both cases involved appeals from summary judgment orders in bad faith cases granted in favor of the insurance company.  In Montanez v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co., 824 Fed.Appx. 905 (11th Cir. 2020), the appellate court affirmed the summar...

2020 Seniors Awarded Laptops From Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig

For the fifth year in a row, Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig has celebrated the achievements of high school seniors across the country through our CTRL Your Future Laptop Contest. This year’s laptop contest however, has been especially meaningful in the need and impact it has had on the recipients. In a year that is typically marked by milestones, like prom, graduation and college acceptance letter...

Butler Awards 8 laptops for the 2019 CTRL Your Future Contest

For the fourth year in a row, Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig has spread some end of the school year cheer to seniors in eight different locations. Butler’s annual CTRL Your Future essay contest was created by the Firm’s Community Service Committee to recognize deserving high school seniors who have exhibited a commitment to their academics. The winners in each city received a brand-new laptop wi...

Southern District of Florida Awards Duplicate Medicare Lien Payment

In a puzzling decision on the resolution of Medicare liens entered on March 16, 2015, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida found that a private insurer, Humana Medical Plan, which provided Medicare Advantage Medicare benefits, had a private right of action to pursue reimbursement directly from a primary payer, Western Heritage Insurance Company, and awarded Humana ...

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Duel Revisited: Are Commercial Trucking Trials Payback Time For Jurors?

This article was originally published in DRI's In Transit, The Newsletter of the Trucking Committee (Volume 15, Issue 1) I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the idiot riding six feet off my bumper in wind-driven rain, driving a cabover tractor pulling a flatbed trailer, had assumed that position just South of Chattahoochee, where the State of Florida houses its criminally insane. Looking over...

What Happens When You Cross The State Line?

This article was originally published in For The Defense magazine, January 2009, Vol. 51, No. 1, page 26.  Copyright © DRI.  Republished with permission. This article began as a compendium of state laws governing the application of no-fault personal injury protection, primarily from the standpoint of insurers’ rights to subrogation for benefits paid to their own insureds, and arising from da...

Ryan Garrett