Alex M. Gonzalez

Alex M. Gonzalez is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's Miami office. Mr. Gonzalez practices in the firm’s commercial and international litigation departments emphasizing complex commercial and class action litigation. His experience consists of representing domestic and international business clients in the areas of international contract and business claims as well as various business torts. As lead counsel in complex litigation, he has supervised the preparation of global multidefendant strategies; argued dispositive multidefendant motions; and coordinated complex multidefendant cases, arbitrations, trials and settlements involving voluminous facts. In addition, he has supervised local counsel in numerous actions across the United States and in foreign countries. Mr. Gonzalez also has significant experience in alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation. He has represented clients in matters involving most countries in Latin America.

Mr. Gonzalez also focuses on high-stakes matters related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) disputes, including those that lead to arbitration or litigation. In connection with his M&A disputes practice, Mr. Gonzalez represents purchasers (private equity and strategic investors), sellers, representations and warranties (R&W) underwriters and other transaction participants in post-closing disputes that impact domestic and international transactions involving small, middle-market and large businesses. His experience includes post-transaction negotiation, purchase price adjustments, indemnification disputes, R&W claims investigation and litigation or arbitration of the same.

Mr. Gonzalez has authored publications on the subjects of international law dealing particularly with Latin America. He has represented clients in the cruise line industry for over 20 years and has litigated cases involving all types of commercial litigation issues and maritime issues, including penalty wage claims and class action claims, Jones Act claims and passenger claims. Mr. Gonzalez is also experienced in drafting contracts and other agreements for maritime clients and has represented various cruise lines in the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements with various unions. As a licensed private pilot with an instrument rating and a licensed aircraft owner, Mr. Gonzalez understands issues encountered by both owners and pilots.

Mr. Gonzalez graduated from Duke University School of Law, with honors, and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami. He was awarded the James S. Bidlake Memorial Award for Excellence in Legal Writing, served as president of the Hispanic Law Students Association and as a representative for Long-Range Planning of the Duke Bar Association. While at the University of Miami, Mr. Gonzalez received the Bowman-Ashe Scholarship.

Representative Engagements

Selected recent representations by Mr. Gonzalez include:

• October 2022: Mr. Gonzalez led the trial team that represented a large international cruise line in obtaining the largest verdict in the state of Florida in 2022. The verdict, which totaled $158,750,000, included $127 million in punitive damage and was the product of a four-week jury trial in Florida state court (complex division) asserting claims for fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation claims against a manufacturer and servicer of cruise ship propulsion systems.
• March 2019: Mr. Gonzalez and his team successfully defended an international energy advisory and trading firm, and its owners, against claims allegedly brought by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), alleging its participation in a global bribery and contract-rigging scheme. The plaintiff, PDVSA US Litigation Trust, sought to recover in excess of $10 billion from multiple defendants. Mr. Gonzalez and his team argued that PDVSA lacked standing to assert the claims and that the purported assignment of claims from PDVSA to the trust was illegal under New York and Venezuelan law. The case was dismissed.
• September 2016: Mr. Gonzalez and his team won judgments in excess of $21 million for Policlinica Metropolitana, one of the largest private hospitals in Venezuela, and its Florida subsidiary, Medex Trading LLC. The judgments were issued following a five-day bench trial before Judge John Thornton of Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit Complex Business Litigation Division, and were entered against six corporate and individual defendants for the entire amounts sought on various claims, including claims for commercial bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty. Following an extensive internal investigation that uncovered fraudulent schemes perpetrated by several Policlinica Metropolitana employees and the former manager of Medex, Mr. Gonzalez and his team used forensic accounting and other evidence to prove that from 2003 to 2010 multiple insiders conspired, through offshore companies, to steal more than $15 million from the plaintiffs. The judgments included the recovery of more than $6 million in kickbacks that were paid to insiders and more than $5 million in illicit profits retained by an outside vendor, Premium Medical Group Inc. In addition, Mr. Gonzalez and his team obtained a favorable settlement against one of the conspiring defendants.
• July 2016: Mr. Gonzalez and his team represented one of the world's top manufacturers of electronics and cellular phones in an arbitration proceeding based on a distributor's breach of a distributor agreement and attendant purchase orders in which the damages sought exceeded $22 million.
• April 2016: Mr. Gonzalez and his team won a $3.25 million jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of Quantum Capital LLC against Banco de los Trabajadores de Guatemala (Bantrab), the fifth-largest bank in Guatemala. The eight-person jury returned its verdict after a five-day trial and two hours of deliberations. The case involved claims for breach of oral and written contracts against Bantrab stemming from financial advisory services rendered by Quantum. Quantum asserted its claims after Bantrab refused to pay Quantum its success fees stemming from the closing of two transactions totaling $170 million, which Bantrab used to significantly expand its operation and growth. During litigation, Mr. Gonzalez and his team discovered and proved discovery misconduct that resulted in the additional award of monetary sanctions against Bantrab.

Additional representations by Mr. Gonzalez include:

• Successfully defended a large international cruise line company in a penalty wage class action lawsuit following a week-long federal bench trial in connection with certain plaintiff parties, and further obtained a favorable settlement in connection with various other plaintiff parties
• Obtained a multimillion-dollar judgment for client following a one-week bench trial in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding originally commenced as a nondischargeability action, including successfully defending against an interlocutory appeal based in part on a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued during the pendency of the lawsuit; discovered and proved litigation misconduct that resulted in the additional award of significant monetary sanctions to the client
• Successfully defended a large international cruise line in a class action lawsuit by obtaining an order dismissing the case and compelling arbitration on an individual (non-class) basis
• Obtained a multimillion-dollar jury verdict following a two-week Florida state jury trial in a lawsuit premised on claims for breach of contract, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty
• Obtained favorable settlement for client in lawsuit involving a dispute over ownership of a major money remittance company in Latin America, including claims for breach of contract, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty
• Obtained a judgment worth approximately $80 million on behalf of one of the largest banks in the Dominican Republic following a month-long bench trial in a lawsuit based on claims for fraud and embezzlement
• Successfully defended a large international cruise line company in a penalty wage class action lawsuit brought in federal court