Dick Caldwell has been a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer since 1983 and is one of the firm’s founding partners. He is engaged in civil trial and appellate practice, concentrating in the defense of product liability, insurance, professional liability, and commercial litigation.
Dick is a past member of the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions, and has served on The Florida Bar Civil Procedure Rules Committee as well as the Appellate Rules Committee, which drafted the current Florida Appellate Rules. Dick served several years as Vice-Chair of the Florida Bar Senior Lawyers Committee. He has lectured on appellate practice and product liability in Florida Bar CLE seminars, and is the author of the chapter on “Defenses” in the Florida Bar CLE handbook on product liability, as well as the chapter on “Florida Law” in the DRI Product Liability Handbook.
In addition, he is a member of the Committee on Product Liability Litigation of the Section of Litigation and the Product, General Liability, and Consumer Law Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section, both of the American Bar Association. Dick is also an emeritus member of PLAC.
He is admitted to practice in Florida, Alabama and Texas, and admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the 5th, 6th and 11th United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, several United States District Courts, and the Supreme Courts of Florida, Alabama and Texas.
In 1971, Dick served as a law clerk for Judge Spencer C. Cross, Fourth District Court of Appeals. He also served as City Attorney and Prosecutor for Ocoee, Florida, from 1973 to 1975.
Community
•Board Member and Past President, The Florida Orchestra
•Florida International Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, Docent 2007-2011
•St. Petersburg Opera, St. Petersburg, Florida (Board member 2011-2017, president 2013-2015)
•Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Suncoast Chapter (2003-2008), Board Member
Certifications
•Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer (1983-date)
•AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
Awards & Honors
•Listed in Florida Super Lawyers, Personal Injury Defense: Products Liability, 2007-2019
Articles & Presentations
•Presenter, 'Punitive Damages: The Statute Means What It Says,' Florida Defense Lawyers Association (FDLA), 2024 Florida Liability Claims Conference, June 2024
•Co-Author, 'Recent Rule Change in Florida Can Protect Corporate Officials from Depositions,' April 2024
•Co-Author, 'Punitive Damages 2023: The Statute Means What It Says,' FDLA Trial Advocate, Volume 42, No. 3, December 2023
•Moderator, 'Crossing the Line: Zealous Advocacy or Unprofessional and Unethical Conduct,' The Florida Bar Senior Lawyers Committee CLE, January, 2022
•Author, 'Thinking of Signing Up for an ABA Course for CLE? You May Want to Think Again,' The Florida Bar Senior Lawyers Newsletter, Experience Matters, February 21, 2022
•Moderator, 'Crossing the Line: Zealous Advocacy or Unprofessional and Unethical Conduct,' The Florida Bar Senior Lawyers Committee CLE, January 26, 2022
•Presenter, 'Automated Vehicles and the Law,' with Prof. Nicholas J. Wittner, Michigan State University College of Law, April 28, 2021, Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel
•Author, '30(b)(6) Discovery in the Age of COVID-19: Defending Corporate Representative Depositions in the New Reality,' Product Liability Advisory Council, February 2021
•Presenter, 'Defending Corporate Representative Depositions in the Age of COVID-19,' PLAC, January 26, 2021
•Co-Author, 'What Are the Constitutional Considerations in Resuming Civil Jury Trials During a Pandemic?' Daily Business Review, October 13, 2020
•Co-Author, 'Pandemic-Era Civil Jury Trials Require Constitutional Scrutiny,' Law 360, October 6, 2020
•Co-Author, 'Negligence Per Se,' The Trial Advocate Vol. 39 No. 1, February 2020
•Presenter, “Energy Utilities Law/Toxic Tort and Environmental Law - Walking the Tightrope: Balancing the Defense in a War on Multiple Fronts,” Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, Montreux, Switzerland, July 2017
•Presentation, 'Keeping the Craft Alive,' Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, White Sulphur Springs WV, July 2014
•Presentation, 'Negligence Per Se,' Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, White Sulphur Springs WV, July 2014
•Presentation, 'Damages-Only Trials: Preliminary Considerations,' Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, Phoenix AZ, March 2012
•Presentation, 'An Appeal to Reason: Proposed Rule 26.1,' Lawyers for Civil Justice, Washington, D.C., May 2011
•Presentation: “Motions for Sanctions,” Florida Defense Lawyers Association, Orlando, FL June 2010
•Presentation: “Overhaul of Florida Standard Jury Instructions,” Product Liability Advisory Council, San Antonio, TX, May 2010
•Presentation: “Motions for Sanctions - Riding the Storm,” Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, Banff, Alberta, August 2008
•Presentation: “Faces of Evil - Cambodian War Crimes Trials,” McMaster School for Advancing Humanity, Defiance College (Ohio), April 2008,
•Presentation: “Death of the Trial Lawyer? - Keeping the Craft Alive” - Products Liability Advisory Council, Chicago, April 2007
•Presentation: “How to Get the Bad Case Settled at Mediation (Mediating the Bad Case - Trial Counsel Perspective), Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, Bermuda, July 2006
•Presentation: “Tailoring Case Presentation to Fit Geographic Venue,” Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, Chesapeake Bay, MD, July 2004
•Presentation: “Pretrial Motion Practice - Addressing Punitive Damages Claims”, Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, July 2003
•Presentation: “Don’t Get Shifted in the Courtroom - Experts and Electronic Discovery Pitfalls”, Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, Boca Raton, FL, March 2002
•Presentation: Florida Bar CLE Civil Trial Certification Review, “Products Liability”, Miami 1998
•64 Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Quarterly 465, “Negligence Per Se” (2015)
•The Briefs, Vol. 78, No. 1 (December 2009/January 2010), “Jury Service in the Electronic Age: New Solutions for New Challenges”
•FDCC Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 2 (Winter 2009), “Motions for Sanctions - Riding the Storm” (Co-Author)
•Sales & Marketing Magazine, “Are Salespeople Responsible for Their Customers’ Injuries?” (June 2009) (Co-Author)
•Journal, Defiance College McMaster School for Advancing Humanity, Vol. 3 (Spring 2009), “The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia - A ‘Magic Tree’?”
•Defense Research Institute, Product Liability Handbook, “Florida Law”
•Florida Bar, CLE Products Liability, Ch. 5, “Defenses”
•Note, 'Racial Discrimination in Employment,' 23 U. Fla. L. Rev. 157 (1971)
•'Case Comment' -'Discovery in Condemnation Cases,' 22 University of Florida Law Review 40 (1970)
Dick's News and Insights
09.03.2025
Events
Dick Caldwell Offers Practical Review of Punitive Damages Law for FDLA
During a webinar for the Florida Defense Lawyers Association (FDLA),...
06.07.2024
Events
Punitive Damages: The Statute Means What It Says
Cases in which plaintiffs advance a claim for imposition of...
04.08.2024
Appellate
Recent Rule Change in Florida Can Protect Corporate Officials from Depositions
In 2021, The Supreme Court of Florida adopted the “apex...
Photo: Shutterstock.com/Peshkova
03.26.2024
Appellate
Punitive Damages 2023: The Statute Means What It Says
This article was originally published in the Trial Advocate, Volume 42, No...
05.11.2023
Beyond the Bio
Mother’s Day Advice: What Our Mothers Taught Us
From wiping our tears when we were hurt or sad,...
01.26.2022
Events
Crossing the Line: Zealous Advocacy or Unprofessional and Unethical Conduct
Sponsored by The Florida Bar Senior Lawyers Committee, the CLE...
09.20.2021
Beyond the Bio
Tampa Office Celebrates 30th Anniversary
Managing Partner Frank Sheppard shared these thoughts on the 30th...
03.05.2021
Beyond the Bio
Founding Partner Dick Caldwell Marks 50th Anniversary as Member of Florida Bar
Since Dick Caldwell was first sworn in to The Florida...
02.10.2021
Product Liability
30(b)(6) Discovery in the Age of COVID-19
Defending corporate representative depositions in the new reality. If there...
01.26.2021
Events
Defending 30(b)(6) Depositions in the COVID Age and Beyond
Dick Caldwell participated on a panel discussion for PLAC (formerly...
