David S. Schnitzer, Esq.

David Schnitzer is a civil litigation attorney at Lawhon Goggin with nearly three decades of experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants. His background combines complex personal injury litigation against major railroads with a broad Florida civil practice spanning business, real estate, construction, and community association disputes. He has tried cases, handled appeals, and litigated in multiple jurisdictions.

His experience also includes family law and mediation. He founded Healthy Family Mediation Center in Naples and formerly served as a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator. Working as plaintiff’s counsel, defense counsel, and a neutral mediator taught him to evaluate disputes from more than one perspective and to look beyond the pleadings to what actually drives a case.

David is direct and candid with clients about where a case is strong or vulnerable, what it may cost, and what outcome is realistically achievable. He focuses on the arguments and evidence most likely to move the matter rather than every point that could conceivably be raised. What he enjoys most is finding the organizing logic in a complicated dispute and making it understandable to the client and persuasive to the court.

  • - Civil Litigation

    - Railroad and FELA Claims

    - Landlord Tenant Disputes

    ‍ ‍ - Business and Commercial Disputes

    - Real Estate and Community Association Litigation

    - Appeals

  • David was born in Southern California and raised in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Illinois. His family has deep roots in Virginia’s Tidewater region, where he began his legal career, and he has spent much of his professional and personal life in Naples. Outside the office, David enjoys cooking, music, inline skating, spending time outdoors, and being with his family. He also enjoys reading philosophy and sharing his home with two cats.

  • Education

    •   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.S., Finance, 1992

    •   University of Illinois College of Law, J.D., 1996

    Admissions‍ ‍

    •   Florida, 2008

    •   Virginia, 1997

    •   West Virginia, 2003

    •   U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania

    •   U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia

    •   U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia

    •   U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia

     

    Memberships

    •   Collier County Bar Association

  • Awards and Honors

     

    •   AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rating, Martindale-Hubbell

    •   Former Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator

     

    Notable Cases

     

    Haischer v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 381 Md. 119, 848 A.2d 620 (2004) — Personally handled all trial and appellate work in a federal railroad injury case, obtaining a jury verdict for an injured locomotive engineer. After the intermediate appellate court affirmed liability but ordered a new trial on damages based on an evidentiary issue involving the plaintiff’s disability benefits, Maryland’s highest court reversed and reinstated the trial court’s judgment. The decision remains frequently cited for its analysis of when evidence of benefits received from independent sources may be admitted in a personal injury trial.