Thomas Stoneham Edwards Jr.

     Thomas S. Edwards, Jr. is the senior partner in Edwards & Ragatz, P.A.  He is AV rated and has been Board Certified in Civil Trial since 1991.  Tom has successfully tried many extraordinary cases in all different types of litigation in the State of Florida and other states.

     In 2012, Tom and his partner, Eric Ragatz, won one of the largest PI verdicts in the history of the State of Florida.  They won a trial against Memorial Hospital/HCA with a verdict of approximately $178,000, resulting in approximately $228,000, in Judgments.  In recent years, Tom also won over $8,000, against First Union (now Wells Fargo) for fraudulent trust practices, over $5,000, against a trucking company for injuries caused after a diabetic driver crashed the truck, and numerous other substantial verdicts in the nursing home field.  In addition, Tom handles select appeals.  This past year he won the case of Franks v. North Florida Surgeons in the Florida Supreme Court resulting in limitations on healthcare providers’ use of arbitration agreements.  The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court and certiorari was denied. 

     Tom has been recognized in the Best Lawyers in America, Florida Trend and Florida Super Lawyers and is a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.  Tom was the recipient of the 2013 Justice Raymond Ehrlich Award for Trial Advocacy, Best Lawyers in America 2012 Malpractice Lawyer of the Year for NE Florida and the Jacksonville ABOTA 2009 Trial Lawyer of the Year.  He is a Past President of the The Florida Justice Association, The Jacksonville Bar Association, Jacksonville ABOTA.  He also served on the Supreme Court’s Committee on the Conduct of Judges, the Florida Supreme Court’s Florida Jury Instructions Committee (Civil Committee and founding member of Business Committee) and as a past Chair of the Circuit Grievance Committee.  Tom serves both the community and the Bar in numerous other ways.

     Tom currently serves as a member of the Executive Council for The Florida Bar Trial Lawyers Section, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Board of Directors and the ABOTA National Board.  In 2012 he was appointed by the Chief Justice of The Florida Supreme Court to the Judicial Management Council of Florida – a committee that assists and advises the Court in ensuring that our system of justice is efficient and effective throughout the state.  The council also assists during times of crisis.

     Tom has published numerous articles and chapters in legal books. He won the 1993 Barbara Sanders Award from The Florida Bar for outstanding legal writing for an article explaining trilogy of cases including the Fabre case.  Tom is a 1981 graduate of the University of the South – Sewanee and he received his Juris Doctorate in 1983 from Stetson University College of Law.