Ryan Benninger was born in Morgantown, West Virginia. Before joining Vernis & Bowling, he worked for a maritime defense firm located in Miami, Florida, where he focused much of his practice assisting in the defense of cruise lines in crewmember personal injury claims before the ICDR. Mr. Benninger also assisted in the defense of maritime-related personal injury, wrongful death, and limitation of liability civil actions in Florida state and federal courts.

Previously, Mr. Benninger had served as an Assistant District Attorney under Richard E. Bower at the Fayette County District Attorney’s Office located in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He successfully prosecuted felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile criminal matters in one of the most active county-level district attorney’s offices in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Mr. Benninger also has considerable appellate experience litigating matters in the Pennsylvania Superior and Supreme Courts. Prior to working as an ADA, Mr. Benninger served as judicial law clerk to the Honorable Judge Joseph M. George, Jr., in the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He also served as a court-appointed member of the Fayette County Compulsory Arbitration Panel. He also spent time working alongside his lawyer-parents who operate a personal injury/medical malpractice Plaintiff’s firm in Morgantown, West Virginia.  Mr. Benninger utilizes his broad range of experience, skills, and experience to effectively represent his clients’ interests.  He is compassionate and cares about his client’s outcome and performs his due diligence in researching to offer them solutions.

Mr. Benninger began his academic studies at West Virginia University, located in Morgantown, West Virginia, where he obtained his B.S. in Biology. He worked for a year as an Orvis-Endorsed fly-fishing guide for an outfitter and lodge located in Western Maryland. He returned to WVU to complete his M.S. in Agriculture Resource Economics. During his tenure in graduate school, Mr. Benninger was asked to participate in research projects funded by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy, which required that he undertake extensive legal research and perform lobbying activities, leading to his interest in pursuing a law degree. Mr. Benninger later completed law school at WVU College of Law in 2015, graduating in the top third of his class and excelling in the areas, of trial litigation, trial advocacy, and alternative dispute resolution. During law school, Mr. Benninger served as a Magistrate Court-appointed mediator and received Pro Bono recognition at graduation. He then graduated from the University of Miami School of Law, located in Coral Gables, Florida, with an L.L.M. focused in Admiralty and Maritime law.

At Vernis & Bowling, Mr. Benninger’s multi-discipline practice focuses on insurance defense, admiralty and maritime matters, personal injury and wrongful death, premises liability, recreational dive/snorkeling accidents, municipal code enforcement, and school board litigation.  He utilizes his broad range of experience and skills to effectively represent his client’s interests.  He is compassionate and cares about the case outcome and performs his due diligence in researching to offer them solutions.

Mr. Benninger enjoys spending time with his wife and raising their two sons and can frequently be found chasing tarpon, sharks, and bonefish in the backcountry waters of the Florida Keys when he is not working to assist his clients.

Philip Fairman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Phil obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master’s Degree in Labor and Industrial Relations from the University of Cincinnati. Phil obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Phil began his legal career as a prosecutor with the State Attorney’s office in Ft Myers. Phil then worked as a corporate attorney for Carnival Cruise Lines and then again as a prosecutor with the State Attorney’s office in Sarasota.

Phil joined the Ft. Myers office of Vernis & Bowling of Southwest Florida nearly 20 years ago. Phil worked as an in-house liability trial attorney with St Paul-Travelers Insurance Company. Phil then worked for over a decade as an Assistant County Attorney for Charlotte County where he defended public entity liability claims. Phil returned to Vernis & Bowling of Southwest Florida where he continues to practice in the areas of property and casualty insurance, automobile liability, premises liability, and Director and Officers litigation. He represents insurance companies, insureds and self-insureds in trial and appellate litigation. Phil has represented clients in successful jury trials in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough and Highlands counties.

Phil is a member of the Florida Bar, Oklahoma Bar, Federal District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, and Federal District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

In his free time, Phil enjoys lap swimming, cruising with wife and his adult children, and cooking on his Big Green Egg. He is Tampa Bay Rays fan but still closely follows his hometown Cincinnati Reds.

Skyler Trettis is a civil litigation attorney in the St. Petersburg office of Vernis and Bowling. He graduated cum laude from Stetson Law school and graduated cum laude from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance.

Skyler has a concentration in handling legal disputes involving commercial liability, products liability, automobile liability, premises liability (including negligent security), and a variety of professional negligence actions throughout Florida.

Prior to joining Vernis & Bowling in 2017, Skyler was a judicial intern for circuit court Judge Jack Day, where he researched complex civil litigation issues.

Jennifer Whitworth is an experienced insurance defense attorney representing insurers, insureds, and businesses in complex civil litigation. Licensed since 2011, her practice focuses on personal injury, personal and commercial auto and trucking liability, wrongful death, industrial accidents, products liability, strict liability, premises liability, construction defect, accounting malpractice, FLSA disputes, and first-party claims involving bad faith, UIM, and breach of contract. Jennifer also provides coverage opinions, drafts reservation of rights and denial letters for insurers, and handles declaratory judgment actions on behalf of insurers disputing coverage. 

Jennifer delivers strategic, cost-effective legal representation with an emphasis on early evaluation, coverage analysis, strategic motion practice, and litigation efficiency. She has a strong record of securing favorable jury verdicts and summary judgments in high-exposure cases. Known for her responsiveness and practical insight, Jennifer is a valued partner to claims professionals across the insurance industry.

Outside of work, Jennifer enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking, and spending time with her husband, Bryan, their three sons—Logan, Ben, and Jake—and their pets, Annie and Whiskey.

Jeff Gill was born in Suffern, New York in 1962. He grew up in Waldwick, New Jersey and graduated from Waldwick High School in 1980. He graduated from Haverford College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1984. Following his graduation from college, Jeff coached high school basketball for a year. He then enrolled in the Vanderbilt University School of Law from which he graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 1988. Upon graduation from law school, Jeff began his legal career in the Pensacola office of Carlton, Fields, et al. He founded the firm of Bridgers, Gill & Holman in 1991 and acted as managing partner there until joining Vernis & Bowling in 2002.

Jeff has tried more than 150 civil jury trials. He has tried and won cases in most Florida jurisdictions including Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Washington, Gadsden, Lee, Jefferson, Taylor, Madison, Suwannee, Dixie, Columbia, Alachua, Nassau, Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Flagler, Putnam, Marion, Volusia, Lake, Seminole, Orange, Pasco, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Broward, Dade and Collier counties as well as in the Federal Courts of the Northern and Southern Districts of Florida.

Jeff has served as national trial counsel for several large corporations in defense of their Mass Tort Litigation. He has also served as statewide trial counsel in Florida for several fortune five hundred companies. He has obtained defense verdicts for his clients in wrongful death cases in both State and Federal Courts and has prevailed in trials against some of the most high-profile lawyers in Florida including, but not limited to, Fred Levin, Bob Montgomery, Chris Searcy, Mike Papantonio and Joel Wolpe.

Jeff has been the head basketball coach at Pensacola Catholic High School since 2015 and lead the Crusaders to the final four in 2018.