Spotlight: Get to know Shareholder John Osgathorpe

In addition to serving as a Managing Partner, Shareholder John Osgathorpe also serves as Treasurer on ALFA International‘s Board of Directors, as Chair for the Business v. Business Subcommittee and on the Program Planning Committee for ALFA’s Business Litigation Practice Group. Selected as this month’s Featured Member, learn more about John, his career highlights and his interests outside the law.

In his day-to-day legal practice, John represents companies and business owners in a broad variety of business and commercial disputes as well as torts litigation. The disputes range from straightforward contract or slip-and-fall litigation to complex fiduciary duty battles over private companies and catastrophic injury and death claims. John also assists clients in reasoning through their business relationships and action to place them in the strongest position available if litigation arises. Taylor Day’s cooperative cultural means John frequently assists other attorneys in the firm in matters as diverse as multi-party construction defects litigation, to associated accident claims, to claims arising under the longshore act.

Interesting Career Highlight

Interesting is, of course, relative, yet torts cases with “fun facts” from early in John’s legal career standout. A particularly memorable case involved a private label food supplier being sued when a customer bit into desiccated mouse in jar of freeze-dried peanuts (visualize furry Baby-Ruth candy bar minus one bite). In another case a big box retailer was sued when a cottonmouth snake bit a customer. The plaintiff was hospitalized for over 30 days and lost part of an appendage, but John’s team uncovered evidence the plaintiff had caught the snake, attempted to milk the snake dry of venom, smuggled the snake into the store, and agitated the snake to bite him while he was in the store (milking snakes dry of venom is harder than it appears).

Interesting is, of course, relative, yet torts cases with “fun facts” from early in John’s legal career standout. A particularly memorable case involved a private label food supplier being sued when a customer bit into desiccated mouse in jar of freeze-dried peanuts (visualize furry Baby-Ruth candy bar minus one bite). In another case a big box retailer was sued when a cottonmouth snake bit a customer. The plaintiff was hospitalized for over 30 days and lost part of an appendage, but John’s team uncovered evidence the plaintiff had caught the snake, attempted to milk the snake dry of venom, smuggled the snake into the store, and agitated the snake to bite him while he was in the store (milking snakes dry of venom is harder than it appears).

Alth ough the facts are drier, business disputes such as helping a local logistics company obtain a favorable settlement against an international materials processing and handling company that reneged on a multi-year contractual obligation despite grossly disproportion war chests; helping an international IT outsourcing company defeat claims of fraud, aiding-and-abetting fraud, and aiding-and-abetting breach of fiduciary duty brought by public company; or defending directors and officers against claims of self-dealing, embezzlement, or improper management oversight are the most personally satisfying. Another matter than stands out was John’s defense of a structural steel manufacturing and engineering company after a parking garage collapse resulted in a death, 19 personal injuries, and $39.8 million in alleged constructions defects damages. Likewise, John recalls the details of each electrocution cases in which he participated in the defense (there is seldom a minor electrocution).

Interests Outside the Law
In addition to trying to stay in shape by bicycling around Jacksonville, John enjoys spen ding time with his lovely and hard-working wife and their two delightful sons whether trav eling for vacation or for their boys’ various travel soccer teams.

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