Charles L. Vaccaro

Charles is a Florida Board Certified Civil Trial Specialist who has been practicing in the State of Florida since 1986. Charles also has been licensed to practice in the State of Texas since 2001 and since that time has handled over 700 cases in the State of Texas while simultaneously maintaining his practice in Florida. Charles is also currently a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and the General and Trial Bars for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Charles was conferred the status of Board Certified Specialist in Civil Trial Law in 1996 by the Florida Bar and has maintained the status for over 20 years.

Charles has not only handled a significant number of cases at the Trial Level, bringing more than 150 civil cases to trial, but he has also been an effective Appellate lawyer. In his career, Charles has defended thousands of Automobile Accident, PIP, First Party Insurance and Insurance Bad Faith matters for numerous insurance companies including Union General Insurance Company, Trans-Florida Insurance Company, Fortune Insurance Company, Ocean Harbor Insurance Company, Legion Insurance Company, Union American Insurance Company, First Miami Insurance Company, Seminole Casualty Insurance Company, United Auto Insurance Company and The Responsive Auto Insurance Company. During those same time periods, Charles has maintained a prolific Plaintiff practice handling an even greater number of Plaintiff PIP, Auto Accident, Bad Faith, and First Party insurance claims at the Trial and Appellate level, which include the noteworthy PIP cases of Amador v. United Automobile Insurance Company, 748 So.2d 307 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999) and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Universal Medical Center as assignee of Blanco Franco, 881 So.2d 5557 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004). 

Charles was also involved in the Ticketmaster Multi-District Class Action litigation in the 1990s where he not only participated as class counsel at hearings in the State and Federal Courts in Miami, Florida, but also in the Federal Courts in Boston, Massachusetts and St. Louis, Missouri. 

As a Maritime Lawyer, Charles has handled cases in Courts as far away as the United States District Court in St. Thomas, U.S Virgin Islands. Charles was also a member of the Boat US Hurricane Andrew Team and served as local legal counsel to assist with the quick adjustment of claims during the crisis. 

In 2011, Charles obtained the second highest Wrongful Death Plaintiff’s Verdict in the State of Florida according to Verdict Search Magazine.

Charles was born in Miami, Florida on September 9, 1961. He grew up in the South Florida area and graduated from Nova High School in Davie, Florida in 1979. In 1983, Charles obtained a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Boston University with a double major in Economics and Political Science. 

Charles went on to attend Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana where he graduated cum laude in the top 11 percent of his class in 1986. While in law school, Charles served as the Business Editor for "The Tulane Maritime Law Journal (f/k/a "The Maritime Lawyer"), a student run publication specializing in Admiralty and Maritime law. Charles also served as the Intramural Athletic Coordinate for the Law School in 1985 and 1986. In addition, Charles served as Justice (President) of the Tulane Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity International and had the distinct honor of swearing in The Honorable John Dixon, who at the time was serving as Chief Justice to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

In the Summer of 1984, Charles attended the University of Grenoble, College of Law, located in Grenoble, France, for the XII Annual Tulane Institute Of Comparative Law where he earned 8 law school credits. 

In 1985, Charles published the case-note titled Bringing in the Mother-Lode: The Second Circuit Rides in the Wake of Marino-Garcia - United States v. Pinto Mejia, which is found in Volume 10 of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal.

In September 2015, Charles and The Vaccaro Law Firm, P.A. were inducted in the 2015 Verdicts Hall of Fame in the category of Wrongful Death arising from the jury verdict they obtained in the case of The Estate of Fernando Castaneda v. Rigoberto Duarte and Edwin Espino.  The verdict was one of the Top 5 Highest Wrongful Death Jury Verdicts obtained in the State of Florida between the years 2010-2015 according to Verdict Search published by ALM and the Daily Business Review.

The professional and legal associations in which Charles has been a member include The Maritime Law Association of the United States, The Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar and the Insurance Law Section of the Texas State Bar. In the past, Charles also served on the Admiralty Law Committee to the Florida Bar.

Charles has also served as a volunteer football coach for NFL Youth Flag Football League in Pembroke Pines/ Miami Lakes, Florida.