Big Law litigators for Florida Power & Light Co. suffered a rare defeat at the Third District Court of Appeal after they failed to stop class certification of millions of their client’s customers, who are demanding billions of dollars in damages.

John H. Ruiz, a partner at the MSP Recovery Law Firm in Coral Gables, is the lead attorney for the plaintiffs’ state class who initially sued the defendant, FPL, for breach of contract and gross negligence stemming from power outages during Hurricane Irma.