Angel Castillo, Jr.

ABOUT

Angel Castillo, Jr. has significant experience during more than 30 years of practice in employment and other civil litigation and in domestic and international arbitrations. He is AV^® Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by both the South Florida Legal Guide and Florida Super Lawyers as one of the top Labor and Employment lawyers in South Florida.

Angel’s legal practice currently focuses on workplace legal issues. He represents employers in state and federal court litigation and appeals, and before the EEOC and other agencies. He defends claims alleging employment discrimination on the basis of:

• Physical and mental disabilities (Americans with Disabilities Act)
• Age (Age Discrimination in Employment Act)
• Gender (including sexual harassment)
• Pregnancy
• Religious beliefs
• Race
• National origin (Title VII and the Florida Civil Rights Act)

Angel also defends claims alleging violations of federal laws:

• Family and Medical Leave Act
• Fair Labor Standards Act (minimum wage and overtime
• Equal Pay Act (gender-based wage discrimination)
• Employment-related common law and statutory tort claims such as retaliation (including whistleblower and Workers’ Compensation wrongful termination claims), battery, defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

When the owner of a public building or facility (including online web sites) receives a claim alleging that it does not provide proper access to disabled visitors in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Angel is experienced in providing a strong defense.

The scope of Angel’s legal work also includes representing condominium and homeowners’ associations in disputes involving claims of statutory violations, breach of contract, and housing discrimination based on protected categories such as race and religion.

Angel has worked on Latin American legal issues throughout his years of practice, supervising local lawyers in and visit Mexico and many countries in the Caribbean and Central and South America, including Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia, and Argentina.

Both before and after being admitted to the practice of law, Angel had significant work experience in journalism, including working for the New York Times as legal affairs reporter, and as an assistant managing editor of The Miami Herald and editor-in-chief of its Spanish language edition, now known as El Nuevo Herald, which he helped redesign.

A native of Havana, Cuba, who has lived in the United States since his high school years, Angel is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of French, Portuguese, and Italian.

Angel received his bachelor’s degree from Stetson University, where he was student body president, and his J.D. degree with high honors from the University of Florida, where he graduated first in his class and was Executive Editor of the Law Review and a member of Phi Delta Phi. Angel also received his LL.M. degree from Yale Law School. Mr. Castillo serves as a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board for his alma mater, Stetson University, in DeLand, Florida.

Education

L.L.M., Yale Law School, 1980
J.D., University of Florida, 1978
B.A., Stetson University, 1967

Areas of practice

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Bar Admissions

Florida, 1978
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, 1979
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, 1979
U.S. District Court, District of Puerto Rico
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1999
Supreme Court of the United States

Associations

The Florida Bar, Member

Representative Cases

Humana, Inc. v. Giselle Cushing, Case No. 20-cv-61379-Singhal/Valle (S.D. Fla. July 30, 2020)

Sierra Luciano v. Congar International Corporation, et al., 2018 WL 1725770, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59325, Civil No. 16-2008 (ADC) (D. Puerto Rico, Mar. 30, 2018)

Otero v. Almod Diamonds Ltd., Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91523 (S.D. Fla. June 13, 2017)

Doe v. Lynn Univ., Inc., Case No. 16–CV–80850, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7529, 2017 WL 237631, 27 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D123b (S.D. Fla. 2017)

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
Selected to Florida Super Lawyers, 2006, 2014 – 2016
Selected to South Florida Legal Guide, Labor & Employment

PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

“Gay Rights Advocates Score an Important win in a Federal Appeals Court,” The Dade County Bar Association Bulletin (June 2018)

“Employee Handbooks Can Constitute Unfair Labor Practices,” The Dade County Bar Association Bulletin (June 2015)

LANGUAGES

Spanish