Matthew Mayne Donaldson, 50, is a lawyer with Carlson, Meissner Hart & Hayslett, serving as lead attorney in the firm’s Spring Hill office.
On Oct. 29, 2016, Donaldson was returning from his son’s football game when a Pasco County deputy purportedly saw the attorney’s 2007 Toyota Tundra cross lanes and nearly collide with four or five oncoming vehicles — including a U.S. Postal Service vehicle — before swerving off the road.
After failing sobriety exercises and declining a breath-alcohol test, Donaldson was arrested near 5399 Starkey Blvd. in New Port Richey. The arrest triggered an automatic 18-month driver’s license suspension.
A suit was filed In Pinellas County Dec. 30 by Matthew W. Kindel, one of the Carlson & Meissner law partners, Donaldson claims the suspension should be reversed due to procedural errors made by police and by a hearing officer for the Florida Department of Highway Safety’s hearing officer.
According to his Carlson & Meissner bio, Donaldson, born in Ney York and raised in New Port Richey, graduated with honors from the University of Miami Law School, was is rated among the nation’s top 1 percent of attorneys in 2015 by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel. It says Martindale.com calls him “AV Rated,” the highest ranking for ability and ethics.
However, Donaldson’s Martindale page does not include the AV rating, but does show a client rating of five out of five.
Donaldson is married to Elizabeth Maxcy Donaldson; they have five children.
This is not Donaldson’s first DUI arrest. He was arrested in Pinellas County in 1995 for DUI, reckless driving and unlawful speed. Records also show he attended DUI school in Palm Beach County in 1994, possibly indicating another DUI incident.
