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Judge Joseph P. Farina is a retired Chief Judge of Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit who now serves as a full-time mediator and arbitrator at JAMS in Miami.
Over more than 30 years on the bench, he presided over complex commercial, mass-tort, employment, real-property, and personal-injury matters, including the nation’s first Chinese drywall jury trial.
Businesses and individuals evaluating a neutral for a complex dispute can review Judge Farina’s case history and request a consultation to discuss fit for their matter.
Joseph P. Farina served as a Circuit and County Judge in the Civil Divisions of Miami-Dade County’s 11th Judicial Circuit from 1981 to 2012.
The 11th Judicial Circuit is Florida’s largest, with 123 Circuit and County Court judges serving a population of more than two million, so his 14 years as Chief Judge from 1995 to 2009 involved supervising one of the country’s largest court systems.
Judge Farina now works full-time as a mediator, arbitrator, special magistrate, neutral evaluator, and neutral umpire at JAMS in Miami.
He holds the Florida Supreme Court’s Circuit Civil Mediator Certification and is a Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator, credentials earned through his judicial service and continued ADR practice.
Florida law, under Florida Statutes Section 44.405, protects the confidentiality of mediation communications, so most matters below are described with identifying details generalized and specific outcomes withheld, consistent with standard JAMS mediation practice.
The Chinese drywall trial is the exception: as a litigated case decided by a public jury, its outcome is part of the public record.
Since joining JAMS in 2012, Judge Farina has mediated complex commercial disputes spanning breach of contract, corporate governance, shareholder, and partnership matters.
His representative matters in this category include mediating a breach of a joint venture agreement involving claims of unjust enrichment and an equitable lien on real estate, and mediating a dispute between a computer technology company and a non-profit corporation over unpaid service fees.
He also mediated the return of a $250,000 security deposit tied to a voided condominium sale involving a Bahamian company and a Turkish national, and a matter involving the improper seizure of a private jet through the fraudulent use of a domesticated out-of-state judgment.
This cross-border and asset-recovery experience extends into his commercial arbitration practice, relevant for businesses evaluating a neutral for international or asset-recovery disputes involving contract disputes between business entities.
During his tenure on the 11th Judicial Circuit, Judge Farina presided over the nation’s first Chinese drywall jury trial, a case independently reported by national news outlets as a bellwether trial expected to influence the outcome of thousands of subsequent Chinese drywall claims nationwide.
While handling the asbestos and Chinese drywall calendars as a sitting judge, he presided over 3,500 cases, including class actions, product liability claims, and significant personal injury and wrongful death claims.
His mass tort docket also included class certification proceedings, constitutional challenges, Frye evidentiary hearings, fairness hearings, and mesothelioma claims, so his experience spans both the procedural and substantive dimensions of large-scale litigation.
This background gives him direct familiarity with the case-management demands that complex, multi-party construction and property disputes can present in mediation.
Since joining JAMS, Judge Farina’s real property matters have included residential and commercial foreclosures, landlord-tenant disputes, condemnation proceedings, and land use issues.
Representative matters include mediating a bank foreclosure on a strip mall involving personal guarantees and collections against individual owners, and a commercial landlord’s suit against an international franchisor tenant for breach of lease covenants restricting use of the property.
His insurance coverage experience includes mediating a first-party property insurance claim after a commercial building flooded during a storm, an insurance coverage dispute over a multiple sclerosis patient’s prescription drug benefits, and a case in which an insurer disputed the extent of water damage from an adjoining business’s leak.
He also arbitrated a residential mortgage foreclosure involving a negotiated short sale, private investor financing, and a deficiency waiver, so property owners and lenders facing a foreclosure-related dispute can evaluate a neutral experienced with the resolution structures used in his current HOA and property dispute practice.
Judge Farina’s employment matters as a JAMS neutral include disputes over breach of employment contract and non-compete agreements, which extend into his current employment arbitration practice.
A representative matter includes arbitrating a termination-without-cause claim involving unpaid wages, a minimum guaranteed bonus, accrued unused vacation, and accrued equity interest in the company.
His professional liability matters include business, legal, and medical malpractice claims, as well as loss-of-license hearings.
One representative matter involved a dental malpractice claim against an oral surgeon for failing to diagnose a tumor, resulting in delayed treatment and facial deformity, so his docket reflects both financial and catastrophic personal injury dimensions of professional liability disputes.
During his time on the bench, Judge Farina presided over wrongful death actions, including litigation arising from the Arrow Air plane crash, along with motor vehicle negligence, premises liability, and product liability claims.
Since joining JAMS, his representative matters include mediating a wrongful death claim after a fatal shooting at a condominium property, involving criminal trespassing and adequate security issues, and a case involving a pedestrian injured by an uncovered water meter box requiring surgery.
He also mediated insurance coverage actions tied to catastrophic automobile accidents involving significant injuries and death, and a claim against a school district after a teacher was physically assaulted and robbed by a student, involving sovereign immunity and punitive damages issues.
This range of catastrophic injury experience carries directly into his current mediation of serious personal injury and property claims.
Parties in a high-value or catastrophic injury dispute can review this case history and schedule a consultation with Judge Farina before selecting a neutral.
Judge Farina’s mass-tort case management experience, including presiding over 3,500 asbestos and Chinese drywall cases, gives him direct familiarity with the scheduling and evidentiary demands that multi-party construction and insurance disputes pose in mediation.
His years overseeing the 11th Judicial Circuit’s foreclosure and eviction docket similarly inform his approach to the real property and lending disputes he now mediates at JAMS.
His employment arbitration matters draw on the same contract-interpretation experience he applied on the bench to breach-of-contract and business-governance cases, so parties get a neutral who has ruled on similar issues from the bench, not just facilitated settlement discussions around them.
This combination of judicial experience and current ADR practice is what parties are typically evaluating when comparing mediators or arbitrators for a complex commercial, mass-tort, or personal-injury dispute.
How many years has Judge Farina served as a judge or neutral? Judge Farina served for over 30 years in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit, from 1981 to 2012, including 14 years as Chief Judge, supervising the Miami-Dade court system. He has continued as a full-time mediator and arbitrator at JAMS since leaving the bench in 2012.
What types of cases has Judge Farina handled? Judge Farina’s case history spans complex commercial litigation, mass tort and class actions, employment disputes, real property and construction matters, professional liability claims, and catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases, spanning both his judicial tenure and his ADR practice at JAMS.
What was Judge Farina’s role in the Chinese drywall litigation? Judge Farina presided over the nation’s first Chinese drywall jury trial, a case that was independently covered by national news outlets as a bellwether. Contemporaneous national news coverage described the case as a bellwether expected to influence the outcome of thousands of subsequent Chinese drywall claims nationwide.
What certifications does Judge Farina hold? Judge Farina holds Florida Supreme Court mediator and arbitrator certifications, earned through his three decades of judicial service and continued ADR practice. He also trained as a Title IX external hearing officer and adjudicator for college sexual assault and harassment cases.
Does Judge Farina handle insurance coverage disputes? Judge Farina’s representative matters include multiple insurance coverage disputes, including property flood claims, prescription drug benefit disputes, and catastrophic automobile accident coverage cases. His docket also includes insurer-contested water-damage claims between adjoining commercial properties, spanning both first-party and liability coverage.
Can Judge Farina arbitrate employment disputes? Judge Farina arbitrates employment disputes, including a representative matter involving a termination-without-cause claim covering unpaid wages, a guaranteed bonus, and accrued equity interest. His employment case history includes breach-of-contract and non-compete-agreement disputes handled both on the bench and as a JAMS neutral.
What was Judge Farina’s role as Chief Judge? As Chief Judge from 1995 to 2009, Judge Farina supervised the full operations of the Miami-Dade court system, one of the largest in the country, with 123 judges, 15 general magistrates, and more than 500 administrative staff across 10 courthouses.
Does Judge Farina handle cross-border or international matters? Judge Farina’s representative matters include a mediation between a Bahamian company and a Turkish national over a voided condominium sale. His case history also includes matters involving international franchise tenants and cross-border asset disputes, including a private jet seizure case.
Businesses, property owners, and individuals with a complex dispute can review Judge Farina’s case history and request a consultation to discuss whether his background fits their matter.
