The Haggard Law Firm, led by attorneys Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel, and with Osbourne & Francis as co-counsel, secured a significant victory in a negligent security wrongful death case that underscores the importance of proper security measures in residential properties. The firm obtained an $8 million settlement for the family of a 19-year-old who was gunned down due to negligent security at Highgate Apartments in Orange County, Florida.

The Incident

On the evening of June 1, 2022, the teen was visiting friends at the apartment complex.  While sitting in her car and listening to music, her vehicle was shot at nearly 50 times by intruders. She had no reason to suspect danger in the otherwise routine visit to the apartment complex. Unfortunately, Highgate Apartments had a notorious history of crime, including a previous murder, making it an unsafe environment for residents and guests alike.

Legal Action: Holding Negligent Parties Accountable 

Following this devastating incident, the law firm Osbourne & Francis filed a lawsuit against the owners and operators of Highgate Apartments, specifically Silver Oaks and Blue Magma, as well as the security provider, Critical Protective Service. Haggard and Finkel were brought in as co-counsel to pursue justice for the victim’s family. During the discovery phase, it was revealed that no security personnel were present on the night of Raniyah’s murder, and the front security gates were found broken and wide open. While the property owners claimed the security company was responsible for the lapse in security, the security company stated their contract was terminated days before the incident.

The Evidence of Negligence

Through diligent investigation, Haggard and Finkel uncovered uncover critical evidence, including testimony from a former property manager who provided insight into the negligence displayed by the management company. Their findings highlighted that Blue Magma neglected the property as they focused on a potential sale, putting residents and visitors at risk.

Settlement

As the trial approached, Haggard and Finkel emphasized the negligent actions of the property owners and their lack of oversight in maintaining a safe environment. Recognizing the overwhelming evidence, the case settled for $8 million, a significant sum that reflects the severity of the negligence and the impact of her murder on her family.

Conclusion: The Importance of Secure Apartment Complexes

This case serves as a poignant reminder of the responsibility property owners have to ensure the safety of their residents and guests. Negligent security can lead to catastrophic consequences, and it is crucial for individuals to be aware of their rights in situations where security measures fail.  If you or a loved one has been affected by a similar situation, The Haggard Law Firm has litigated hundreds of negligent security cases across the country obtaining more than $1 BIllion in verdicts and settlements in those cases along. Contacting a knowledgeable personal injury attorney can help you navigate the complexities of the law and seek the justice you deserve. For more information on personal injury law and negligent security cases, click here.

The post $8 Million Negligent Security Wrongful Death Settlement in Central Florida Shooting appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

Pedro Echarte of The Haggard Law Firm and Mark B. Stanley of The Stanley Law Group, have successfully resolved an $11 million settlement in a wrongful death case centered on negligent security. This case arose from a tragic shooting incident at an apartment complex in Duval County, Florida, in 2020. The victim was fatally shot while visiting the complex, leaving behind two grieving parents and a child who was born posthumously.

Echarte and Stanley argued that the apartment complex failed to provide adequate security, especially given its extensive history of criminal activity. In contrast, the defendants contended that the existing security measures were sufficient and that the victim bore responsibility for the incident.

 The case was resolved shortly before trial, resulting in a settlement of $11 million. The identities of the parties involved and the specific date of the incident remain confidential as stipulated by the settlement agreement. 

The Haggard Law Firm has a proven track record, having litigated hundreds of negligent security cases involving wrongful death and catastrophic injury. Recently, Echarte secured a $7 million settlement in a similar case involving a preventable homicide at an apartment complex. Over the past two decades, The Haggard Law Firm has secured over $1 Billion in verdicts and settlements in cases related to negligent or inadequate security.

The post $11 Million Negligent Security Wrongful Death Case Settlement appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm’s Douglas McCarron along with co-counsel Mark Brumer, has secured a $2 Million policy limit settlement in a fatal drowning case against the City of Miami Beach.

Peniel Janvier drowned while visiting the Scott Rakow Youth Center.  Surveillance footage from the pool clearly shows that the City of Miami Beach failed in its responsibility of protecting its bathers on the day of the incident.

 Lifeguards have a vitally important function – to prevent dangerous incidents from occurring and to save someone that gets into trouble.  Guards must be well trained, supervised and must constantly scan and “watch the water”.   On the day of the incident, the Scott Rakow Pool was understaffed.  No lifeguard supervisors were present.  The Summer Camp was having its end of the year celebration, and the pool was extremely busy.  As seen in the surveillance footage, there were countless campers that could never be described as “strong swimmers”.  Despite this knowledge, only 2 of the 4 lifeguard chairs were utilized.

Additionally, the guards were not assigned “Zones of Responsibility” for their pool surveillance.  Instead, each guard was responsible for scanning the entire pool.  A well run and effectively managed pool requires that the guards understand exactly what area of the pool he or she must surveil.  Lifeguards should be assigned a specific zone of responsibility for surveillance and these zones should be clearly defined as well.  The City’s policy violates every published lifeguard standard. 

The City’s “cell phone” usage policy could not be clearer.  Lifeguards at the City pools were strictly prohibited from using their cell phone while on the stand.  Moreover, lifeguards were prohibited from even having their cell phone on their person when on the stand.  Despite this clear policy, an on-duty lifeguard was on his phone for the majority of his rotation.  More importantly, the lifeguard was on his phone when Peniel was pushed into the pool.   While he was drowning, the lifeguard was looking down at his phone.  The lifeguard saw nothing and did nothing.  While the children tried to help Peniel, the lifeguard played on his phone.  Had the lifeguard simply done his job, Peniel would have been identified as a distressed swimmer and pulled from the pull within seconds.

“While the lifeguard’s actions were egregious, the management of the pool must also be scrutinized.   The simple fact that the lifeguard was confident enough to brazenly play on his phone speaks volumes about the mismanagement of the pool.  Not once did any supervisor or other City employee ever confront the lifeguard. ” says McCarron.

Policies that are not followed or enforced are useless.  Had the “no cell phone” policy been followed and enforced Peniel would not have drowned.  There was no argument to the contrary.   Peniel was an extraordinary young man from an extremely close-knit family.  His loss has been devastating to his mother, father and the rest of the family. 

The City of Miami Beach agreed to a the $2 Million settlement($300,000 is payable pursuant to the sovereign immunity statute). The Haggard Law Firm will file a claims bill for approval by the Florida Legislature and the Governor to approve the balance of the settlement ($1.7 Million).

The post $2 Million Fatal Drowning Case Settlement Reached with City of Miami Beach appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm is very proud to announce the promotion of trial attorneys Kimberly Wald and Adam Finkel to partner.

“Since each of their first moments with our law firm, Kim and Adam have individually shown their commitment, skill, and passion to fight for clients to the dominant standard The Haggard Law Firm expects. They have both delivered impressive results in a variety of case types while also assuming important leadership positions within the legal community locally and nationally.”

– Michael Haggard, Managing Partner, The Haggard Law Firm

Wald joined The Haggard Law Firm in March of 2022. Since then she has been fighting for clients for cases in a variety of areas of practice, including drowning, product liability, sexual assault, and negligent security. Some of Wald’s powerful case results include:

Trial lawyer Adam Finkel joined The Haggard Law Firm in November of 2019. Finkel is a dedicated attorney who successfully litigated some of the most complex cases the Firm took on. Some of Finkel’s cases include:

• $21 Million settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case involving the murder of a father of two.
• $11 Million settlement in a catastrophic injury case involving a young boy who fell from an apartment window.
• $11.95 Million drowning case settlement.
• $10 Million total settlement involving two negligent security cases involving shooting deaths at sister apartment complexes.
• $8 Million settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case, for a single surviving parent.
• $5.7 Million settlement for the family of a young boy that was struck by a car driven by an employee of a car dealership.

Finkel is currently the Secretary of the Miami-Dade Bar Association. He is a co-chair of the American Association for Justice’s litigation group on drowning cases, as well as on the executive board of AAJ’s admiralty law section. Finkel is also a member of the International Cruise Victims Association.

“My entire legal career has centered on giving a voice to victims. From the hard work and success stemming from Andy Haggard, to Mike, and now throughout the entire firm, joining The Haggard Law Firm has given me the platform to try and impart change and make our community safer. Now as a partner, I look forward to continuing to help as many people as I can, and am immensely proud to know that the rest of my legal career will be spent right here.”

– Adam Finkel, Partner, The Haggard Law Firm

The post The Haggard Law Firm Announces Two New Partners appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm’s Pedro Echarte has secured a $7 Million settlement in negligent security wrongful death case where the victim was tragically killed during an attempted armed robbery and carjacking. 

On September 8, 2021, Luis Calles Cruz was shot and killed at an apartment complex in south Miami-Dade County. That evening he was staying with his girlfriend and the mother of his youngest child, who lived at the apartment complex. Early in that morning, he went to his car to retrieve something. The assailants, who had been on a crime spree in the area, approached him in the parking lot. They shot Calles Cruz while attempting to rob him as he was sitting in his car. He tried to get away but crashed into a nearby dumpster and died from the gunshot wound. 

The case was brought against the companies that owned and managed the complex for failing to provide adequate security in light of the existing crime risk. The apartment complex was a new development and had only been operational for approximately 2 years leading up to the Calles Cruz’ murder.

Despite the fact the apartment complex was relatively new, it had been the location of a prior home invasion, an armed robbery, and some car burglaries. Echarte was able to demonstrate the neighborhood surrounding the apartment complex, including other apartment complexes in the area, had high rates of crime that the Defendants knew or should have known about when developing and operating the subject apartment complex. In light of the existing risk, the Plaintiff’s expert opined that the complex should have had access control, surveillance cameras and a roving security patrol during the evening hours in light of the risk.    

       The case settled just weeks before the special set trial date.

The post $7 Million Settlement in Negligent Security Wrongful Death Case appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel secured a $21 Million total settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case involving the murder of a father of two.

On the morning of August 18, 2022, Dimithry Remarais mailed two stuffed animals to his daughters living in Kentucky. That evening, at around 10:30 p.m., while walking to his car parked within the Windward Vista Apartments in Lauderhill, Florida (Broward County), to go to work, he was confronted by armed men who carjacked him. They shot and killed him. Dimithry’s daughters received those stuffed animals after their father was murdered.

 A property with a history of crime in the parking lots and noting that private security personnel never responded to the shooting, nor ever spoke with law enforcement, Mike Haggard and Adam Finkel of The Haggard Law Firm served a pre-suit demand for Excel Security Inc’s $6 Million policy limits. The trial lawyers argued that Excel shirked its duty as the retained private security company for the apartment complex. Haggard and Finkel said the security company’s failure to properly advise the property owners and managers regarding the breadth of security needed to reasonably protect residents from foreseeable crime, and the failure to be present at the time of the shooting and deter the criminals, contributed to this preventable tragedy. Excel agreed to pay its policy limits to settle the Estate’s claims against the security company.

After a pre-discovery settlement demand for $12 Million Dollars was not accepted by the apartment complex’s property owners, Haggard and Finkel dove into litigation. Receiving a treasure trove of emails detailing ownership and management’s knowledge that the security company did not adequately carry out their duties and crime was increasing in number and severity. A deposition of the property manager from the time of the incident solidified that Windward Vista failed to have reasonable security in place, and failed to reasonably secure the property from an ownership and management standpoint. As the property manager no longer worked for the defendants, The Haggard Law Firm was able to locate and speak with her. During her deposition she all but admitted that the security company should have been fired, but was not. In the months to follow, and using this key deposition, The Haggard Law Firm was able to begin building the foundation for trial and to pit the defendants against one another, all the while continuing to collect more discovery and engage with more present and former residents and guests that would serve as witnesses at trial.

The defense, on the other hand, maintained that the entire criminal incident was too quick to be deterrable, and even suggested that a syringe found on the evidence list suggested that Dimithry was either using or selling drugs. Appreciating the tremendous value of this case, and steadfast in its belief that Dimithry was an innocent man, The Haggard Law Firm served proposals for settlement to each property owner and manager, and made clear that the case would either be tried or settled in vast excess of these proposals. The defendants nevertheless rejected the proposals for settlement and continued into litigation.

Without the need for mediation, and with discovery, demands, and depositions continuing forward, the matter ultimately settled against the property owners and managers for $15 Million, equating to a total settlement of $21 Million Dollars.Three men have since been arrested for Dimithry’s murder due to the hard work of the Lauderhill Police Department.

The post $21 Million Settlement in Broward County Parking Lot Murder Case appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel secured an $8.6 Million settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case in the Orlando area. 

On November 2022, 33 year-old Phillip McCrimmon Martin was staying with a friend  at the Vista Haven Apartments in Sanford, Florida. Watching over the apartment while the resident was out on a short trip, Phillip and his friend largely kept to themselves. On November 22^nd, Phillip was shot in the parking lot of the complex. As he struggled up the stairs towards the apartment, the shooter continued firing at him. Phillip died in the apartment. 

A single mother lived across the hall from the apartment where Phillip was staying, and her children’s father, Kadeem Fisher, was arrested for Phillip’s murder. While the reason for the shooting was not immediately known, the shooter had mental health issues. It is believed Fisher either shot Phillip because he was flirtatious with his children’s mother or because Phillip was found sitting outside their apartments on the stairs and did not want to move. Fisher has since been convicted in criminal court for killing Phillip.

While Fisher awaited trial in criminal court, Haggard and Finkel filed suit against the property owners and managers of the complex for their negligence. At the time of the shooting, the Vista Haven Apartments were managed by Highmark Residential. While the complex once employed the use of private security patrols, Highmark previously terminated the security guard contract. Despite stating the guards would be replaced with a third-party company charged with actively monitoring surveillance cameras in real time that was never done. Further, the front security gates were broken, as were many of the surveillance cameras.

With all that said, as Fisher was given access to the complex by the mother of his children, this was not a typical negligent security case addressing a criminal trespasser. Here, a resident gave the shooter permission to enter to complex. The Haggard Law Firm’s investigation revealed that the shooter stayed in the complex for the better part of 1 year, but did so without letting management know. Had he told management, there was no way he would have been allowed to reside at the complex given his violent criminal history, including an arrest for attempted murder. Haggard and Finkel, therefore, focused their litigation on traditional negligent security issues, as well as how Highmark Residential failed to reasonably monitor the property for persons improperly living on the property on the lease, like the shooter.

The Haggard Law Firm was able to deftly utilize depositions in other cases in order to secure sworn testimony supporting their arguments. In one case, they deposed a former property manager for the complex who was not working for a different management company, and Haggard and Finkel secured testimony that she firmly believed Vista Haven Apartments needed security personnel, and that it would be unreasonable for a management company to cancel a security contract. In another case, Finkel and Haggard deposed another property manager presently working at a different Highmark-managed apartment complex, and was able to secure testimony regarding basic, necessary measures that all Highmark properties should have in place in order to monitor if persons are illegally living on the property. These measures were, of course, not implemented at Vista Haven. As Highmark’s own property manager acknowledged that all properties should have those measures in place, it became exceedingly difficult for Highmark to argue that they had reasonable measures in place, when they didn’t even have their own necessary policies effectively in place.

Ultimately, with so many witnesses gathered by The Haggard Law Firm throughout their investigation, an $8,600,000.00 settlement was secured for the surviving mother and father of Phillip McCrimmon Martin.

The post $8.6 Million Negligent Security Wrongful Death Settlement appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm’s Kimberly Wald and Michael Haggard have secured a $1.3 Million policy limit settlement in a drowning case against short-term vacation rental giant Airbnb.

The case involved the death of Cameron Brown, who was only 16 years old. Brown was with his mother and grandmother on spring break from high school staying at an Airbnb in Jacksonville, Florida.  When the family got to the Airbnb, Cameron went into the shallow end of the swimming pool. As Cameron waded into the pool, he suddenly lost his footing and was unable to swim back to the shallow end of the pool.  His mother jumped into the pool but was unable to save Cameron. 

Trial lawyers Wald and Haggard filed suit against Airbnb, Inc., as well as the hosts of the property.  The Haggard Law Firm attorneys alleged that Airbnb, Inc. and the other defendants owed a duty to Cameron to maintain the pool in a reasonably safe manner and warn of known dangers.  They further alleged that this pool was subjected to both the heightened commercial pool requirements in Florida since this pool was used for commercial purposes. Airbnb, Inc., challenged both liability and damages in this matter.

It argued that the pool was built before the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act which was enacted in 2000 and thus it claimed that it did not violate any codes, regulations, or standards.  Airbnb, Inc. further alleged that it owed no duty to Cameron because it was merely an online internet platform and did not have any control over the subject premises. Wald and Haggard successfully obtained a policy limits settlement against both Airbnb, Inc. and the hosts of the property. 

The Haggard Law Firm has represented the victims, across the country, of near drownings and families who have lost loved ones due to drowning for more than 30 years. 

To learn more click here

The post $1.3 Settlement in Drowning Case Against Airbnb appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.

The Haggard Law Firm’s Adam Finkel and Michael Haggard, co-counsel Kevin Edwards of Edwards Injury Law secured a $2 Million policy limit settlement for the family of a toddler who nearly drowned and a good samaritan who saved him.

On May 17, 2023, after returning from a day of hard-work, juggling the kids, and life as a single a mother, Emerald Henderson finally found a minute to rest on the couch. Exhausted from the never-ending task that is being a parent to young children, and with her 3-year-old playing on top of her, Emerald’s eyes closed. She simply needed rest after work and before it’s time to begin the bedtime routine for her 4 kids.

While the apartment door was locked, ultimately Emerald’s 12-year-old son left the apartment, not realizing that Noah, 18 months, followed behind. Living near the pool of the Lake Jennie Apartments in Sanford, Florida, Noah was able to gain access to the pool through the complex’s broken pool gate. Losing oxygen to his brain and unable to breath, Noah stopped struggling and inched closer to death. No one from Lake Jennie was watching the pool, and not only were the cameras not monitored, but they were broken. Luckily, a child in the community grabbed an adult resident, and showed him Noah floating face down in the pool.

While pulling Noah from the pool, another resident, Rosemarie, soon followed and helped perform life saving measures until paramedics arrived. If not for these good Samaritan neighbors, Noah would have died. Instead, he survived and is making a remarkable recovery. Doctors believe he will not suffer any long-term consequences of this near drowning.

In response to the near-drowning, and in an effort to firmly encourage the property to correct the pool, Haggard, Finkel, and Edwards, brought suit against Leland Enterprises its failure to properly secure the pool. Arguing the condition of the pool violated necessary codes and suggested industry standards, and contrasting the condition of this pool against Leland’s other pools in more affluent neighborhoods, Leland ultimately tendered its $2 Million policy limits to settle the minor’s family’s claims, as well as a negligent infliction of emotional distress claim by the good Samaritan, Rosemarie.

The post $2 Million Policy Limit Settlement in Near Drowning Case Involving Toddler appeared first on The Haggard Law Firm.