Overview
Greg Schwinghammer is a shareholder who joined Gunster following law school in 1996 and is now co-chair of Gunster's Class Action Defense Practice and its Product Liability and Mass Tort practice groups. Prior to law school, Greg served as a tank commander and cavalry officer in the U.S. Army in Germany and Kuwait.
Greg’s practice focuses on high-stakes, complicated litigation. He has handled and won cases involving toxic tort claims, consumer and environmental class actions, complex business, real estate and breach of contract cases, deceptive trade practice claims, and high-profile discrimination claims. He handles cases throughout Florida, and when needed, around the county, including a six-week jury trial in Anchorage, Alaska in 2024.
Greg has successfully tired cases at all levels, from local administrative hearings to county court commercial evictions to arbitration to jury trials in circuit and federal courts. Greg handled a toxic tort case involving an alleged cancer cluster that included two putative class actions (10,000 property owners) for property damage and dozens of personal injury and wrongful death cases. The result was denial of class certification, a defense jury verdict, and summary judgments granted. Another matter involved a class action for 38,000 residents making claims relating to alleged property damage from agricultural practices, which resulted in plaintiffs dismissing their entire cases.
Greg's clients include businesses of all sizes, from Fortune 50 companies to local businesses, as well as high-net-worth individuals.
Since 2012, Greg has served as a commissioner for the judicial nominating process in Florida. He was appointed to the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) for the trial court in Palm Beach County in 2012 and was Chair for five years. He was then elevated to serve on the JNC for the Fourth District Court of Appeal in 2020, reappointed in 2022, and elected Chair in 2025. Additionally, Greg has served as Chair of a Florida Bar Grievance Committee in two separate terms.
On two occasions, Greg was honored to present on class certification at the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges.
Active in his community, Greg is a member of Leadership Florida (Class 34), serves on the Board of the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County, and for several years has served as coach and board member for the Jupiter Tequesta Athletic Association Lacrosse League.
Experience
- Served as counsel for Pratt & Whitney in a group of environmental toxic tort cases involving claims for more than $1 billion in alleged property damage and personal injury claims arising from allegations of a “cancer cluster” in a neighborhood a few miles from Pratt & Whitney’s facility. Pratt & Whitney Acreage “Cancer Cluster” Litigation.
- Defeated class certification after five-day evidentiary hearing. Cotromano v. United Techs. Corp., 2018 U.S. Dist. Lexis (S.D. Fla. May 2, 2018).
- Obtained defense verdict after three-week jury trial on seven of the plaintiffs’ property damage claims (2022).
- Obtained summary judgment ruling dismissing wrongful death claim, which was affirmed on appeal.(Pinares v. United Technologies, 973 F.3d 1254 (11th 2020).
- Represented client in class action seeking to enjoin and obtain damages for a long-standing, regulated agricultural practice. Won several motions to dismiss to narrow the claims, and after production of air quality data demonstrating that the practice caused no damage, obtained a voluntary dismissal, with prejudice, of all claims. Sugar Cane Burning Class Action Litigation.
- Defeated class certification involving a putative class of 36,000 members claiming violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Plaintiffs alleged they were charged a “hidden” administrative fee as part of a tax, but we demonstrated that the fee was not hidden, and was disclosed on invoices, and further that several members of the putative class were aware of the fee. In fact, in a deposition, we established that the named plaintiffs were aware of the fee, so class certification was denied and the case was dismissed. Pop’s Pancakes, Inc. v. NuCo2, Inc., 251 F.R.D. 677 (S.D. Fla. 2008).
- Won summary judgment for employer dismissing claims of age discrimination. Price v. United Technologies, 264 F.3d 1146 (11th Cir. 2001).
- Won summary judgment for an employer, dismissing whistleblower claims as preempted by Airline Deregulation Act. Tucker v. Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., Inc., 268 F.Supp.2d 1360, 16 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D528 (S.D. Fla. 2003).
Honors
- Florida Bar, Board Certified in Business Litigation, since 2007
- The Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation, 2014-26
- Florida Super Lawyers, 2010-13, 2017-18
- Palm Beach Illustrated, "Top Lawyers"
- Business Litigation, 2019-20
- Commercial Litigation, 2021
- Jupiter Magazine, "Top Lawyers"
- Commercial Litigation, 2021
- AV Preeminent Rating as independently determined by Martindale-Hubbell
- Florida Trend, “Legal Elite,” 2004-05
News & Insights
- "Class Certification," Florida Conference of Circuit Judges 2025 Annual Education Program, panelist, 2025
- "Surviving in Today's Class Action Climate," ACC 12th Annual CLE Conference, speaker, September 2022
- "Class Certification," Florida Conference of Circuit Judges 2019 Annual Education Program, speaker, August 2019
- “Employment Case Law Update: Recent U.S. Supreme Court and Eleventh Circuit Employment Cases,” Federal Bench Bar Conference, 2012
- “A Primer on Employment Discrimination Litigation,” Lorman Education Services, November 2000, 2001, 2003
- “Change: The Obama Administration’s Plans for Employment Law,” Gunster Employment Seminar, February 2009
- “Litigation Skills in Florida: Executions, Garnishment and Discovery in Aid of Execution,” Lorman Education Services, June 2000
- “Judgment Day — Start to Finish: Post-Judgment Remedies — Attachment, Garnishment and Post-Judgment Discovery,” Palm Beach County Bar Association, December 1999
- “Insurance Litigation in Florida: Declaratory Judgments and the Duty to Defend,” 50 U. Miami L. Rev. 945, 1996
Speaking Engagements
Blog Posts
Involvement
Professional Associations & Memberships
- Judicial Nominating Commission for the Fourth District Court of Appeal
- Chair, 2025-present
- Commissioner, 2020, 2022-26
- Vice Chair, 2023-24
- Association of the United States Army, Gulf Stream Chapter, Executive Vice President, 2025-present
- Judicial Nominating Commission for the 15th Judicial Circuit
- Chair, 2015-20
- Commissioner, 2012-20
- Grievance Committee, 2014-17, 2021-24 (Chair)
- Federal Bench Bar Committee, 2010, 2012
- Leadership Florida Class 34
- Federalist Society
Civic & Community Service
- Education Foundation of Palm Beach County
- Member
- Board of Directors
- JTAA Girls' Lacrosse league
- Member
- Board of Directors
Education
- University of Miami School of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 1996; University of Miami Law Review, editor-in-chief, 1995-96; Eight Book Awards; National Moot Court Team, Member, 1996
- University of Virginia, B.A., 1988; Distinguished Military Graduate
Admissions
- Florida, 1996, Board Certified, Business Litigation, 2007 to present (renewed 2012, 2017, 2022)
- United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, 1997
- United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, 1997
- United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, 1998
