Ervin A. Gonzalez

Ervin A. Gonzalez (June 6, 1960 – June 8, 2017) was an American civil trial attorney whose practice focused on wrongful death, personal injury, medical negligence, product liability and class action torts. He was found dead at his home in Coral Gables on June 8, 2017.

Education Gonzalez graduated with summa cum laude honors from St. Thomas University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1985 with cum laude honors.

Legal career Gonzalez achieved a $60.9 million medical malpractice award that at the time ranked as one of the largest awards ever in a Federal Tort Claims Act case.

In 2005 Gonzalez secured a $65.1 million verdict in a wrongful death case against Eller Media Company for the electrocution death of a 12-year-old boy, who the jury found was killed by shoddy electrical work performed at one of its Miami bus shelters.

Gonzalez has also settled numerous cases for settlements greater than $1 million, including a $100 million settlement in 2006 with Service Corporation International, the largest funeral home operator in the U.S., for the desecration of graves in a Jewish cemetery.

Gonzalez was also selected by Federal Judge Eldon E. Fallon of Eastern District of Louisiana to serve on the 15-member PSC for the Chinese drywall litigation. He represented hundreds of homeowners who were victims of high-sulfur Chinese drywall in new home construction. He was the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the first jury trial in the country on the defective drywall, and the case resulted in a $2.5 million verdict for the plaintiffs. As a member of the PSC, Gonzalez assisted in securing a $1 billion settlement with Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a Chinese manufacturer of the drywall, and he helped to negotiate an $80 million class action settlement with insurance companies for many of the builders and installers of the drywall as well as a $55 million Florida class-action settlement with Banner Supply Company.

Gonzalez was a regular speaker and lecturer on legal and litigation matters throughout the U.S. for national and state legal industry organizations including the American Bar Association, American Justice Association, The Florida Bar, and others.

Death Gonzalez was found dead on June 8, 2017, in his Coral Gables home. The death was ruled a suicide.