News & Education

John P. Joy

John P. “Jack” Joy, Esq. is a Senior Partner at WLSC who works out of the firm’s offices in Fort Lauderdale and Gainesville, as his practice extends throughout the state of Florida. Mr. Joy has been with the Firm since graduating from law school. Originally from New York, Mr. Joy is a “double Gator” having attended the University of Florida for both his undergraduate degree and for law school. After surviving a four-hour interview with one of the Firm’s most decorated Managing Partners, Brigadier General Carey Randall (“The General”), Mr. Joy began his career with WLSC working in the Firm’s downtown Miami Office. During this season of his career, Mr. Joy played on the Firm’s various star intramural sports teams. It was during this time in Miami that Mr. Joy met and married his lovely wife, Amy. Jack and Amy have five beautiful children and more recently have been blessed with two grandchildren. Over the years Mr. Joy’s practice has been primarily focused on insurance coverage law and appellate law. In his insurance coverage law practice, Mr. Joy has served as coverage counsel for multiple national insurers on matters relating to commercial and personal lines insurance. He has provided hundreds of coverage opinions to insurers, regularly handles insurance coverage declaratory judgment actions in state and federal courts, and regularly provides claim advice to insurers on complex liability claims. Mr. Joy is also the senior appellate attorney in the Firm. He has handled in excess of 250 appellate matters and has a legion of published opinions in state and federal courts in the areas of tort and insurance law. Some of his most notable appellate cases include: Koikos v. Travelers Ins. Co. (Fla. Supr. Ct. 2003) (establishing law in Florida for determining number of occurrences under liability insurance policies); Dade County School Board v. Radio Station WQBA (Fla. Supr. Ct. 1999) (establishing law in Florida for post-settlement claims by defendants based on equitable subrogation); Dosdourian v. Carsten (Fla. Supr. Ct. 1993) (reversing multi-million dollar personal injury verdict and ruling that Mary Carter settlement agreements were void as against public policy in Florida); Valcin v. Public Health Trust of Dade County (Fla. Supr. Ct. 1987) (establishing law in Florida regarding evidentiary presumptions and jury instructions for loss or destruction of evidence in civil litigation); FIGA v. Revoredo (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) and Stephens v. Mid-Continent (11th Cir. Ct. Appeals 2014) (opinions from Florida and Florida Federal appellate courts ruling that there is no coverage under CGL policies for claims by statutory employees of construction contractors). Rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale Hubble, Mr. Joy is a frequent speaker at Firm seminars and presents lectures to the insurance industry in the areas of appellate law, insurance coverage law, and the proper handling of insurance claims and insurance coverage disputes. In his free time, Mr. Joy enjoys spending time with his family, bicycling, playing tennis, seeing live theatre, and enjoying the great outdoors. Mr. Joy is a true legal scholar who genuinely enjoys the challenge of applying existing law to new and unique factual scenarios. During his tenure with the firm since the 1980s, Mr. Joy has endeavored to represent what the Firm stands for – being a strong legal advocate for clients, while at the same time always maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards. We are proud that he is a part of our WLSC family.

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