During the evening hours of February 26, 2017, Denis Duddy was inside his condo in a Boca Raton Florida high-rise condominium complex when someone broke in an attacked him. Through the litigation of this negligent security case, trial lawyers Pedro Echarte and Michael Haggard of The Haggard Law Firm, and co-counsel Michael J. Brevda learned that if proper security steps been taken at the complex, the attack could have been prevented.
The attacker was a young naked man, who was under the influence of LSD, who gained access to the condominium, proceeded to walk through the parking areas, lobby, and other common areas, until he gained access to Duddy’s unit. The assailant proceeded to bang on the door until he broke it down and attacked the Plaintiff. Duddy and assailant (who were previously unknown to each other) continued to fight until the assailant eventually calmed down. The assailant was arrested shortly thereafter by responding law enforcement personnel. Duddy suffered injuries to his neck and lower back resulting in two surgeries (including one fusion).
Image of the assailant from condominium (Defendant’s) security video
The primary defense in this matter was that there was no prior crime at the condominium and that the area in which it was located (South Boca Raton) was safe. However, the Haggard Law attorneys and co-counselor Brevda argued that the security guard on duty at the time of the incident (who was employed by Defendant D & D Professional Security) failed to timely detect the assailant and failed to properly respond to his presence at the condominium, which led to the Plaintiff’s attack. The case against D&D Professional Security settled for $825,000.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Christopher Marlowe have obtained a $1.75 Million settlement in a case where a father of two was killed by a county bus.
Eric Tenner was happily married to his wife Maria, with whom he had two young boys. On the morning of October 8, 2014, he headed out before work to get in his daily exercise on his bicycle. He was an avid and competitive cyclist, who was wearing all of the recommended safety equipment. Just south of the intersection of SW 124th Street and the US1 Busway in southwest Miami-Dade County, Mr. Tenner was struck from behind by a County bus driven by a Mr. Jose Sequeira. Mr. Tenner died several days later at Kendall Regional Hospital.
“He was an avid and competitive cyclist, who was wearing all of the recommended safety equipment.”
Mr. Sequeira, the bus driver, was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury. The criminal charges were later dropped, as the State of Florida was unable to prove that Mr. Sequeira was aware he had struck a bicyclist.
Tenner with his young sons
Miguel Mora, the driver of the second bus that was behind Mr. Sequeira, pulled over and stopped to assist Mr. Tenner after the accident. He has been driving this particular route for years, and testified that bicyclists and pedestrians are a constant presence there. He acknowledged that bus drivers are specifically trained to expect the unexpected and that when he is driving, it is on “pins and needles” because as professional bus drivers, they are held to a higher standard. He further opined that “they’re constantly getting hit. There’s a lot of accidents on the Busway.”
Throughout the discovery phase, the county correctly identified signage indicating that the Busway was for use of emergency and transit vehicles only. At trial, the main contested issue would have been whether Mr. Sequeira should have reasonably anticipated, seen and reacted to a bicyclist such as Mr. Tenner on the busway at that time of the morning when the sun had not yet risen.
Though the parties were initially excused from the mediation requirement because the Estate would not have accepted the sovereign immunity limits voluntarily, as the case progressed, both sides began discussing whether a negotiated settlement reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of both sides could be obtained. Dr. Fred Raffa, an economist and expert witness on economic damages, gave his deposition on May 16, 2017. He had voluminous materials to review in order to render his opinion regarding the total economic loss of the Tenner Estate.
His review included tax returns from Mr. Tenner’s longstanding employment with one company, as well as the Tenner’s side work in the insurance field. Ultimately, it was determined that the Estate had suffered past and future economic losses in excess of $3,500,000. This number was not contested by a defense expert, and these damages do not include the pain and suffering claims of Maria or of either of their two surviving sons.
If a jury were to have agreed with the two eyewitnesses on board the buses, that Mr. Sequeira should have seen Mr. Tenner, as they did, from a great distance prior to the accident, a verdict would have greatly exceeded the negotiated settlement achieved at the voluntary mediation on June 14, 2017.
Miami Dade County agreed to a claims bill in the amount of $1,450,000 above the $300,000 cap payable pursuant to the sovereign immunity statute, and Governor Ron DeSantis ultimately signed H.B. 6513 into law on May 23, 2019.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla – Following a four-day trial, that included only two hours of deliberation, a Broward County jury has awarded $24.5 million to the family of a mother of four children who died due to avoidable complications during childbirth caused by a condition the medical team was aware of before the surgery.
Litigation and trial team including Haggard Law’s Todd Michaels on the left standing with Rodolfo Torres to his right.
On July 21, 2015 Lilia Torres arrived at Premiere Perinatal Associates for a scheduled C-section which was delayed until the 22nd. During the procedure, she suffered massive blood loss due to a condition, placenta previa, which had been diagnosed months earlier and was managed throughout the pregnancy. A hysterectomy was performed due to the massive blood loss.
The baby was delivered on July 22, but Lilia went into cardiac and pulmonary shock with severe hypoxia due to the blood loss. She was placed on a vent and began receiving blood cells and plasma. She returned to the operating room for exploratory surgery and passed away on July 22nd, 2015 resulting from the hemorrhagic shock and multi-organ failure.
Lilia Torres
She left behind her husband Rodolfo and four minor children, three girls and one boy. Lilia was the caretaker of her entire family.
The defendants in the case included: Adolfo Gonzalez-Garcia, M.D., Jerry Gilles, M.D., Jorge Gallo, M.D., Julio Coello, M.D., Kei Nakanishi, M.D., Phoenix Obstetrics Gynecology, Llc, Emcare, Inc., Premiere Perinatal Associates, P.A. and Envision Healthcare Corporation.
Mother of a 12 Year Old Murdered By a Convicted Sex Offender Says Owners/Managers of an Apartment Complex Could Have Prevented the Tragedy
Pensacola, FL – Shantara Hurry, the mother of 12-year-old Naomi Jones, who police say was murdered by convicted sex offender Robert Howard in 2017, is filing a negligent security lawsuit against those responsible for the apartment complex where her daughter was kidnapped.
Jones went missing from her apartment located at 1460 E. Johnson Avenue in Pensacola, Florida on May 31, 2017. The disappearance captivated and mobilized the community to find Naomi. Her remains were eventually found in an Escambia County creek on June 5. Two days later, Howard was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder. The 39-year-old convicted sex offender lived in the same complex as the 12-year-old girl and her family.
The lawsuit against the owners of that apartment complex, Aspen Village Acquisition, and the management company, Progressive Management of America, highlights that the two companies should have known or knew that they were allowing a convicted sex offender, Howard, to live in the complex. The lawsuit adds that apartment ownership and management “breached its duty of reasonable care by permitting an unregistered sex offender to reside upon the Premises, thus allowing the offender continual, unfettered access to young children and others upon whom persons with his predilections are known to prey.”
The Haggard Law Firm is representing Jones’ mother in the case. Trial lawyer Christopher Marlowe (email CLM@HaggardLawFirm.com) says for the family the press conference and lawsuit is about holding everyone accountable for this tragic loss and preventing it from happening again.
“Ms. Hurry wants to bring attention to this civil action (lawsuit) in hopes that it will motivate all apartment complex owners and managers to exercise actionable, logical and moral care by never allowing offenders to live in their property, giving them access to children,” says Marlowe.
Press/Media Conference Details
11 AM on Tuesday, December 18th, 2018
820 North 12th Avenue Pensacola FL 32501 (Law Office of Samuel Bearman)
Speaking: Shantara Hurry, Naomi Jones’ mother, Christopher Marlowe, The Haggard Law Firm, Trial Lawyer
On May 30, 2018, 23 year old Juvon Simon was shot twice through the closed door of a neighbor’s apartment by Florida City Police Officer Frantz Hardy. Simon died as a result of his injuries. The Haggard Law Firm has joined with the Law Firm of Asnis, Srebnick & Kaufman to represent the Simon family. We have jointly filed, on behalf of Simon’s mother, a lawsuit against the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s office and The City of Florida City.
The intention of the legal filing (a pure bill of discovery) is to make sure the family has access to all evidence that materializes as part of the criminal investigation into the shooting. The family also wants to ensure that the investigation is conducted in a timely manner.
On Wednesday October 31, 2018 at 11 AM, the Simon family will hold a press conference outside of Florida City Hall to discuss the legal filing.
During the press conference family members will be joined by The Haggard Law Firm’s Christopher Marlowe and Dan Kaufman of Asnis, Srebnick & Kaufman to discuss a variety of topics including:
Contrary to published reports, their son DID NOT have a weapon on his person when he was killed
Multiple witnesses report seeing officer Hardy enter the active crime scene with a duffel bag.
Officer Hardy shot Simon through a door.
Florida City Police refuse to share with the family the officer’s file or details of any internal affairs investigation.
On August 16th, 2018 The Haggard Law Firm will present Winning Case Strategies in Premises Liability, FREE CLE Credit Seminar. The event will take place from 1 to 5pm at the Doubletree Jacksonville Riverfront. To RSVP for the seminar, email of call Stacy at slaffere@haggardlawfirm.com 305.446.5700
Among the topics to be discussed, road construction cases. That portion of the seminar will be lead by Haggard Law Trial Lawyer Douglas McCarron, who wrote the following article on the topic which was originally published in the Daily Business Review.
In today’s day and age, road construction is everywhere. It causes frustration and traffic jams throughout South Florida. More importantly, the road construction causes confusion for motorists on how they are to traverse a construction zone.
When analyzing an auto case, it is extremely important to determine if road construction played a hand in the accident. Investigating and taking photographs and video of the scene is crucial. Road construction projects change on a daily basis, so it is imperative to get photographs/video of the scene as soon as practicable.
Depending on the severity of the accident and the injuries involved, the police may document the scene. Many times, even in smaller accidents, construction personnel take photographs or otherwise document the scene. Nevertheless, it is critical that no stone go unturned in trying to locate photographs and video of the accident site. Look for red-light cameras and business surveillance equipment in the area of an accident and make sure to send subpoenas or spoliation letters.
Generally, road construction projects are funded by either the state or county government. As such, the project plans and documentation are public records. Within the plans, you will find a plethora of information such as the identity of the general contractor, the subcontractors, the construction engineering and inspection firm and the daily progress reports. Most importantly, the documents will enable you to identify the entity that was responsible for the maintenance of traffic , or MOTs, for the project.
A duck boat with 31 people on board capsized and sank to the bottom of Table Rock Lake in Missouri during a severe thunderstorm on Thursday, resulting in one of the deadliest boat accidents in American history. There were official weather warnings before the operators of this boat took it onto the lake with the lives they were responsible for. The Associated Press reports that “a private inspector said ….that he warned the company operating duck boats…about design flaws putting the watercraft at greater risk of sinking, less than a year before the accident.”
Tia Coleman lost 10 of her loved ones in that tragedy, including three children, her husband and five other members of her family.
Michael Haggard, the Managing Partner of the Haggard Law Firm says his law firm prays for the families that have suffered so much from the tragedy.
He added, “It is unfathomable that a maritime commercial operator can claim that severe thunderstorms, extremely high winds, and unsafe water conditions can come out of nowhere. With today’s GPS and Radar technology, this is simply not the case. This vessel should have never been allowed to go on this trip.” The Duck Boat operators, like any business owners, are responosible for the safety of their customers/guests. The Haggard Law FIrm has an extensive history of successfully litigating cases where business owners do not take every needed step to keep customer safe as well as maritime and drowning cases.
“This is was an absolutely preventable tragedy that one can only hope changes the standards, oversite and design of this or any other type of similar vessel.
to read full article from Associated Press, click here
Deep into the summer months, swimming pools offer a well-earned respite from the sauna intensity of the sun, and the steambath that follows a warm summer rain. We eagerly jump into swimming pools at hotels, resorts, friends’ houses and on cruise ships. Those who own pools usually don’t think about pool safety all that much, apart from supervising any children who may be using it. We assume, subconsciously, that other peoples’ pools, and especially those operated by businesses, are at least as safe as the one we have at our own house, and that the rules at home will be followed as strictly in a public pool as they would be anywhere else.
These are dangerous assumptions. If you think that checking the safety of a swimming pool before using it is unnecessary or smacks of paranoia, consider this: drowning is the leading cause of injury death among children ages 1–4 in Florida. Too many children (of all ages) have drowned without a capable supervisor watching the area, and others have drowned while those nearby confused horseplay with a deadly drowning underway. Our team at Haggard Law Firm has litigated cases time and time again of drownings or near drownings that could have been prevented by those responsible for a pool taking the proper measures to make it the safest environment possible. And yes, many of these cases have been again apartment complexes and hotels.
Here are easy steps to take to ensure safety around pools during your summer vacation:
Every trial lawyer understands the significance of creating and developing a strong, clear theme for their case at trial. The theme of your case initiates a tone towards your Case-in-Chief and if powerful enough, it will dictate which fork in the road, favorable or unfavorable to your client, the jury takes.
Opening Statements
Opening statement is the second opportunity the trial lawyer has to begin planting the seed of bias in favor of his or her client—seasoned and skilled trial lawyers understand voir dire is really the first opportunity. It is critical to communicate to the jury and ingrain within each member of the jury a persuasive and powerful theme. Why? Once your theme is etched into the minds of the jury, each juror will begin to look for evidence that supports that theme. If a particular piece of evidence contradicts that theme they will likely discard that piece of evidence or they may not associate as much credence with it as they would have had it fit with your theme. This is vital to the outcome of your case. The theme essentially summarizes your case for the jury. Whether it is a short phrase or one word, the theme should capture the case theory, tone and the area of focus for the jury. The theme should be simple and easy to understand. I can share with you a case example in a recent trial of The Haggard Law Firm—the case of Trinard Snell.
Our firm tried the negligent security case against a gas station owner and operator, which resulted in a $5.7 million dollar verdict on behalf of the deceased Plaintiff and his survivors. Understanding the importance of a clear theory and a memorable, persuasive theme, we began opening statement with our theme— inadequate security on a crime-ridden property.
The case theme was presented to the jury at the very beginning of opening statement, repeated throughout the entire opening statement and reiterated at the end. Why? A concept in psychology—primacy, and recency—tells us that order is important! The primacy effect is described as the ability of an individual to recall information better that was presented earlier rather than later. The recency effect is described as the ability of an individual to remember information presented most recently to them better than information that was presented earlier. When you combine the two, optimal information recollection is achieved. Therefore, at minimum, the jury must here your theme at the beginning and at the end of your presentation.
Haggard Law Firm trial lawyer and Managing Partner, Michael Haggard email MAH@HaggardLawFirm.com
Testimony and Evidence Presented
After your jury has been indoctrinated with the theme of your case through voir dire and opening statement, you must keep the jury on that same track during the presentation of the oral testimony and physical evidence. Depending on the length of the trial, the jury will hear days to weeks of testimony. It is their job to sort through the evidence presented and make a just decision at the end of the trial. After weeks of testimony, jurors often become overwhelmed with the volume of information and evidence presented. It is the trial lawyer’s job to organize this testimony and evidence presented to the jury in a manner that diminishes this information overload. I use the analogy of a train on a train track to best describe this concept. The theme is the locomotive. Your jury represents the passengers on the train. The trial lawyer must keep his or her passengers onboard throughout the entire trial until arriving at destination “Favorable Verdict.”
One way to ensure your train passengers are not disembarking is to reiterate your theme and theory of your case throughout each segment of the trial. Your theme should be clear, concise and easy to recognize. The theme is the lens through which your jury will view the case. It is imperative that the lens you provide to the jury is the correct diopter—representing a powerful and persuasive theme. An incorrect diopter will result in a hazy, unclear view of your case and perhaps an unfavorable verdict. Mock trials and jury focus groups are a great way to gauge the lens diopter your jury will need.
WE INVITE REFERRAL ATTORNEYS AND CO-COUNSEL TO CONTACT US AT INFO@HAGGARDLAWFIRM.COM or 305.446.5700
As simple as this may sound, many lawyers have a difficult time successfully implementing these techniques. Through our years of law school and demanding casework at our prosperous law firms, our legal minds are trained to analyze the complexities and minutiae of the law, creating sophisticated legal arguments for opposing counsel and the court. The basic techniques of persuasive communication are often neglected due to the lawyer’s engrossment with the complexities of the legal issues of their case and their own familiarity with legal terms and attitude of simplicity. For example, the trial attorney that uses the theme of “Negligent Actions” will be rudely surprised by the jurors’ varying definitions of negligence. Despite the lawyer’s familiarity with the term “negligence” and its rudimentary elements, it is not so easily nor correctly defined by the jury. Through juror focus groups and mock trials, the lawyer can clear out the fog and rework the case theme prior to trial. During the deliberations at mock trials, I often hear jurors begin an explanation with “Personally, I feel that…” or “To me, this means…” These phrases are indicative of “information gap-filling.” Jurors will pull from their personal experiences to fill in the gaps. Those gaps are either areas where the jury is confused or has simply forgotten the information presented. Regardless of the reason for the existence of the gap, the juror will instinctively try to fill that gap in order to make sense of the legal questions they are tasked with answering. This illustrates why trial lawyers cannot forget the basics and cannot neglect the importance of simplifying and effectively communicating those complex issues to the members of the jury. The skilled trial lawyer will be mindful of this. The skilled trial lawyer will have an engaging theme.
