Fred Levin

Fredric Gerson Levin (March 29, 1937 – January 12, 2021) was an American plaintiffs' lawyer who served as chairman of Levin, Papantonio, Rafferty, Proctor, Buchanan, O'Brien, Barr, Mougey, P.A., a law firm in Northwest Florida.

Levin was born in 1937, in Pensacola, Florida.

He grew up in a conservative Jewish household, with his mother (Rose), father (Abe), and brothers (David, Herman, Stanley, Martin, and Allen).

His father was a pawnbroker catering to the large military presence in the Pensacola area, and also ran the concessions at the Pensacola Greyhound Park and at a store on Pensacola Beach.

Levin attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, as an undergraduate, but did not do well academically.

Instead, he was known as a drinker, smoker, and gambler.

He was a member of Pi Lambda Phi, one of two Jewish fraternities on campus.

It was at the University of Florida where he met his future wife, Marilyn, who was a member of the Jewish sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi.

In 1958, Levin entered the University of Florida College of Law, mainly because he didn't want to leave the college party lifestyle, and his older brother David had established a small law firm where he could work.

He had to attend summer school to get into law school, as his grades were below the required minimum 2.0 average.

In 1958 virtually anyone who was white could get into a Florida public law school, but approximately one-third would graduate.

In Levin's first few weeks of law school, he received news that his brother Martin didn't have long to live, succumbing to the end-stages of leukemia.

Levin approached the dean of the law school, and asked for a few days away from school to attend his brother's funeral.

The dean looked at Levin's undergraduate record, and told him that he could take the time off and that he didn't need to return as he never would make it through law school.

Levin drove from Gainesville to Pensacola, but did not make it to Pensacola before his brother died.

Ignoring the advice of the dean, Levin returned to law school where he thrived, finishing third in his class.

Levin's plan after law school was to return to Pensacola and practice with his brother for one year, and then return to law school to get a masters in tax law.

He had no intention of becoming a trial lawyer as he was terrified by public speaking.

On January 12, 2021, Levin died from COVID-19 complications.

In the late 1960s, Levin handled a case involving the wrongful death of a child who had taken the antibiotic Chloromycetin.

Levin won the case.

While the compensatory damages were not large, the judge allowed Levin to pursue a punitive damage claim which ended up playing a role in the drug being pulled from the market in the United States for most uses.

Levin received national attention with the case of Thorshov v. L&N.

In 1961, Levin began practicing in the law firm of Levin & Askew (now known as Levin Papantonio Rafferty) in Pensacola.

The firm was founded by his brother David and Reubin Askew, who eventually would go on to become a two-term governor of Florida and candidate for President of the United States.

Levin began his legal career in family law, but once a client explained that her husband said he would kill her divorce lawyer, he chose to switch to general civil law.

His first case involved an insurance dispute over a residential fire claim.

The case ended up before a jury.

Levin won the case and decided he wanted to become a trial lawyer.

On November 9, 1977, Dr. Jon Thorshov, a thirty-eight-year-old physician, his wife, his four-year-old daughter, and his one-year-old son were at their home in Pensacola when a freight train operated by L&N derailed near their home and released anhydrous ammonia.

The family attempted to escape their home, but were overcome by the fumes.

Dr. and Ms. Thorshov died, and both children sustained serious physical injuries.

In 1980, Levin received a jury verdict for the family in the amount of $18 million.

As a result of the verdict, Us magazine did a story on Levin in its swimsuit preview issue.

The Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida is named for him because of a monetary donation he made to the school in 1999.

He was best known for rewriting Florida's Medicaid Third-Party Recovery Act to allow the State of Florida to sue and recover billions of dollars from the tobacco industry for smoking-related illnesses.

His flamboyant and brazen personality resulted in him being prosecuted by the Florida Bar two times, and investigated two additional times.

Levin's life was summarized in the weekly medical journal The Lancet.

The Levins had been married for 51 years upon her death on February 6, 2011, survived by four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

In its December 2014 edition, the author wrote: "And Give Up Showbiz? explores the extraordinary life of a pioneering and often controversial lawyer. Seen as an inspiring innovator by some, and a flamboyant self-promoter by others, Levin's work was not always met with a favourable outcome. Levin was accused of two murders, and often met with controversy because of his relentless fight for justice against big companies. His home life, while loving, was often neglected in his pursuit of business, and this is mentioned several times in the book—bringing a sense of balance to the stories."