Joe earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1987 and a law degree from the University of Florida in 1990. Joe is licensed to practice law in Florida and is admitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. A member of the American Association for Justice and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, he has been practicing for 34 years and spent 18 years as a partner with Babbitt, Johnson, Osborne & LeClainche. He started Osborne & Associates in 2015 which transitioned to Osborne & Francis in 2018.
Joe’s legal career is rooted in humble beginnings: he started in a small office, working off of a card table. Driven by the fast-paced nature of mass torts lawsuits, Joe has built a national reputation with his commitment to representing people who have been harmed by government agencies and the largest corporations. Over the past years, Joe has taken up the role of managing partner. Because of Joe’s successful and keen management of the firm, Osborne & Francis now has offices in Boca Raton, Orlando, Lakeland, and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Osborne & Francis is one of the fastest-growing national law firms in the state of Florida, allowing them to provide more people with the legal help they need. Joe and the firm have been recognized by The South Florida Legal Guide, Legal Elite, and the Daily Business Review for their track record and reputation. In 2010, Joe was a finalist for the South Florida Daily Business Review’s Lawyer of the Year and has been recognized nationally by Super Lawyers for the past 13 years.
Joe is well recognized for his practice in complex mass torts cases. In November 2014, Joe obtained a $26.7 million verdict as lead counsel in the Southern District of Florida on behalf of four clients who suffered injuries from Boston Scientific’s Pinnacle Pelvic Floor Repair Kit. The Pinnacle mesh kit is implanted to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Each client was awarded an average of $6.6 million in compensatory damages due to injuries suffered from the product's defective design.
In March 2017, Joe received a verdict against Zimmer for over $2 million in Albuquerque, New Mexico due to the premature failure of its M/L Taper Kinectiv hip implant. It is believed to be the first case to proceed to trial against Zimmer for claims involving the failure of the Kinectiv. In November 2018, he served on the executive committee that successfully consolidated and settled a group of hip lawsuits against another medical technology company. The settlement resulted in $1 billion dollars of compensation for the injured parties.
Joe also has extensive experience handling medical malpractice cases. He has successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases and tried dozens to verdict. They include cases involving birth injuries, paralysis, death, and many other medical conditions.
In 2023, Joe began working on a case for black farmers who had been denied loans or otherwise discriminated against by the USDA. Through Joe and the firm’s work, farmers who have experienced discrimination will be able to collect their share of the $2.2 billion dollar fund set aside by the federal government in August 2023.
Joe served on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2768) before the Honorable Indira Talwani in the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts. He also served on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 13-2441) before the Honorable Donovan W. Frank.
The firm also represented hundreds of victims of Wright Medical’s metal-on-metal and modular hip implants and served as lead trial counsel in the Florida litigation.
Joe was liaison counsel and a member of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in the Trasylol MDL No. 1928, pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He also prosecuted one of the bellwether cases from that litigation (Rodriguez v. Bayer, Case No. 1:08-MD01928) which was settled before trial. He also served on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Bard IVC Filter Litigation (MDL No. 2641) in Arizona under U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell.
Joe was also appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the following cases, all before the Honorable Chief Judge Joseph R. Goodwin pending in Charleston, West Virginia:
Building a case from scratch for a client’s unique and personal situation has set Joe apart from the very beginning. Early in his career, Joe represented a client who sustained a massive brain injury which, in turn, affected his heart. Through diligent representation, Joe was able to settle the case for millions of dollars.
Such a settlement helped this client secure a new home built around their needs. Shortly after, the client invited Joe to this new house. After seeing how his case victories led to real-life, tangible life improvements for his clients, Joe was inspired to continue the challenging work of advocating for his personal injury clients.
Joe and the firm actively support their local community through contributions to local youth sports programs. They have funded travel and uniforms for community sports, demonstrating a level of genuine care for their community. Joe is also a devoted family man and enjoys spending time with his three children.
Settlement on behalf of our client who did not receive timely medication in the Emergency Department to treat an evolving stroke, which left him with permanent injuries and neurologic deficits. The doctors and nurses involved failed to correctly diagnose his true condition and failed to administer clot-busting medication in a timely manner.
The claim was amicably resolved with all medical providers and their insurance companies prior to a lawsuit being filed.
Our 67-year-old client faced serious complications following hernia repair surgery. During recovery, he needed breathing and oxygen support. However, the physician chose an inappropriate method of respiratory support, opting for a mask with forced airway pressure instead of intubation. This misstep resulted in a tear in the client's esophagus, which the surgery had already weakened. Consequently, our client suffered catastrophic health issues, underwent additional surgery, and fortunately survived.
Hiring a lawyer is the first step towards recovering a better quality of life. At Osborne & Francis, we devote our undivided attention to each client, and all communications are held in the strictest privacy. Contact us by filling out the form or calling us directly at (561) 621-1385.
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