Each Haggard Law Firm attorney was named to the 2017 Super Lawyer list.
“Andy” Haggard, Michael Haggard, Douglas McCarron, Todd Michaels and Christopher Marlowe were named Super Lawyers in the Personal Injury General: Plaintiff category. Attorney James Blecke was recognized in the Appellate category. While, attorneys Pedro Echarte and Jason Brenner were selected as 2017 Super Lawyers Rising Stars in the Personal Injury General: Plaintiff category.
This distinction is an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Only 5% of attorneys in Florida receive this recognition and only 2.5% are named Rising Stars. Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with independent research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.
To learn more about each Haggard Law Attorney, visit our bio page here
Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start, nationally, to the summer swim season. The Haggard Law Firm is committed to sharing any and all information we can to help keep everyone safe in and around bodies of water.
A new report by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shows the number of reported fatal child drownings in swimming pools involving children younger than 5—the most vulnerable population—has decreased 17 percent nationwide since 2010. Despite the decrease, fatal and non-fatal child drownings in pools and spas continue to pose a public health challenge across the United States.
Drowning remains the number 1 cause of death among children under the age of 5 in Florida. Parents and caregivers are reminded to follow
Michael Haggard, the Managing Partner of The Haggard Law Firm, was the featured expert in a recent story aired by WINK-TV (CBS station) which covers southwestern Florida. The story was a follow-up to the tragic drowning of a 1 and 3-year-old in an apartment complex pool that had no pool safety gate.
Haggard is on the National Drowning Prevention Board and has worked with former Secretary of State James Baker on VIRGINIA GRAEME BAKER POOL AND SPA SAFETY ACT which was a law passed in the United States Congress (in 2008) to set new pool pump safety standards.
May is National Swim Safety Month. The Haggard Law Firm wants to take this opportunity to share swimming safety tips, including those we have unfortunately have become experts on because of catastrophic injury cases we have litigated over the years. One example is the 2001 case of Loren Hinton. A 2-year old that suffered a significant brain injury when she fell into a residential complex pool after pushing over a broken safety gate.
This video details that case and includes safety factors to consider to make sure a tragedy like this does not happen again.
Police in Jupiter Florida have arrested Uber driver Gary Kitchings, 57, and charged him with kidnapping, sexual battery and burglary. He is accused of picking up an Uber fare at SunFest early Sunday and sexually assaulting her at her Jupiter home
According to a police affidavit, the woman told investigators she’d arrived in the West Palm Beach area Saturday to attend SunFest and accessed Uber through its smartphone app at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
(Gary Kitchings, arrested Monday by Jupiter Police)
She said Kitchings told her he had a gun under the seat and would kill her if she didn’t do what he wanted. He then forced the woman into a sex act, according to the affidavit.
The agenda has been released for the April 27th Premises Liability Seminar hosted by The Haggard Law Firm.
This interactive and highly demonstrative FREE half-day legal seminar will show attorneys the latest trends and cutting edge strategies involved in litigating various premises liability cases. Case
genres will include negligent security, drowning and entrapment and road construction accidents. Attendees will also hear from a leading Jury Consultant on Jury Selection.
This is a CLE Credit Seminar. Space is limited. Please RSVP with Susie Acosta, sacosta@haggadlawfirm.com or call 305.446.5700
A lot has changed in a year!!! As most of you know, I have Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and have been diagnosed since my early 30’s. It always came as a surprise to someone when I told them I had a genetic, life-threatening and incurable disease because I was fortunate and did not suffer debilitating effects. My only symptom was inevitable and total renal failure!!! So a couple of years ago, I went on the over 100,000 person national kidney waiting list…..I had no chance of getting a kidney before going on dialysis!
Due to God’s grace, my prayers were answered and my brother-in-law, Major Allen Buckhalt (US Army Blackhawk Pilot and Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran) was a match!! Exactly six months ago today, Allen saved my life with the gift of life. I am 100% back to normal and my kidney function is better than most people…..It is a miracle and really should not be because living donation should be much more common!! In fact, Allen is not only back to 100%, but unfortunately, he is so healthy, the army is deploying him again to Kuwait in August. He is my hero and should be yours on so many levels!!!
That brings us to this year’s 7TH ANNUAL PKD KIDNEY CASINO FOR A CURE!!!! This is going to be the best event ever!!! This year our event will be held on May 5, 2016, from 7:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. This year will be a Cinco de Mayo celebration in celebration of not only my successful transplant but several other special guests who have been given the GIFT OF LIFE!!!! We are back at the Coral Gables Museum, once again taking over the beautiful Loggia and Terrace spaces. It is going to be a great celebration and fundraiser for a Cure for PKD!! Bekki and I have funded several PKD research grants over the years, but with your help over the past decade, we have raised an additional $400,000 which has funded multiple PKD research projects!!! We will find a cure for PKD in my lifetime!!! I have been given a Second Chance at Life and I will not waste it……I know you will help us with our goal. Many of you have donated in the past and we desperately need your help again!!! Please do what you did last year or if you possibly can—-DO EVEN MORE!!! We want all of you to come to the event, but if you cannot please look at the sponsorship levels and consider being there in spirit with us!!!
As most of you also know the curse of this disease is also the blessing!! It is genetic…….Both Maddie and Carson each have a 50% chance of inheriting this disease……and as you can imagine that “haunts” me each night! But even if you told me tomorrow Maddie and Carson were in the clear, we would never stop fighting this fight. All you have to do is see the devastating effects of PKD on families. I have lost my maternal grandmother, uncle, and mother to this disease and I intend on beating it out of existence! Because it is genetic we have made advances that have never been accomplished in other disease research—-because we can isolate the Gene!!!!
This year’s event will also center around Living Donation!!! While we will find a cure at some point soon, each person with PKD that has gone too far down the road deserves a healthy life via kidney transplant. Bekki and I have funded a Living Donor Coordinator position at Tampa General Hospital where I had my kidney transplant operation. We intend on spreading the word and increasing living donations throughout this Country!!! Please help us with your attendance at the event and thru financial donations to make this a reality!!!
I cannot thank each of you enough for your past support and hope that you will continue to support our efforts this year. If you cannot join us on Friday, May, 5, you can still donate to our cause. NO donation is too small. Checks should be made payable to the PKD Foundation and can be mailed directly to The Haggard Law Firm, 330 Alhambra Circle, Coral Gables, FL 33134. ATTN: Susie Acosta. The attached document also allows you to RSVP, sponsor a table, purchase tickets or donate directly to the PKD Foundation. The Kidney Casino Night is live on the PKD Foundation’s website so you can RSVP and register online using a credit card!!
We are very proud to share that The Haggard Law Firm was awarded the “Justice For All” Award during today’s National Crime Victims’ Awareness Luncheon in Coral Gables. The event was hosted by the City of Coral Gables, the Coral Gables Police Department, and the National Crime Victims’ Rights Event Committee.
The Haggard Law Firm has the honor to represent the family of conservationist and award-winning filmmaker Rob Stewart in an effort to seek justice in his death. We hope the wrongful death lawsuit against several parties responsible will help send a message to bad operating dive instructors, boat captains, and dive equipment sales and manufacturing outlets out there to follow the rules and standards or close your business.
MEDIA CONFERENCE: Documentary Filmmaker Rob Stewart’s Death was a ‘Preventable Tragedy,’ Family Filing Lawsuit Tuesday
Family Set To Speak During Media Conference Tuesday Morning
Coral Gables, Florida – The family of Canadian conservationist and documentary film producer Rob Stewart, whose body was found off the coast of Islamorada on February 3, is filing a lawsuit against several businesses and people involved in his fatal dive. The Stewart family hopes the legal action will push out and/or change the ways of all irresponsibly operating diving businesses and help keep attention on Stewart’s mission of ocean conservation. The family is set to speak at a media conference, to be held Tuesday, March 28 at 10:45 AM at The Haggard Law Firm, 330 Alhambra Circle, Coral Gables, FL 33134.
Among the defendants in the case is the company Add Helium, which is owned by Peter Sotis, who is also named in the lawsuit. The Ft. Lauderdale-based company was in charge of the dive and sold the equipment utilized by the divers. Sotis has a checkered past. He is a convicted felon, is under investigation for utilizing unapproved Chinese air tanks as detailed in a Miami Herald article (click to readHerald article), and has been accused of selling military-grade scuba equipment to a Libyan militant.
“Andy” Haggard, Michael Haggard, Douglas McCarron, Todd Michaels and Christopher Marlowe were named Super Lawyers in the Personal Injury General: Plaintiff category. Attorney James Blecke was recognized in the Appellate category. While, attorneys Pedro Echarte and Jason Brenner were selected as 2017 Super Lawyers Rising Stars in the Personal Injury General: Plaintiff category.
(Gary Kitchings, arrested Monday by Jupiter Police)
