News & Events

Elliott Tubbs, a partner in the firm’s Fort Myers office, recently obtained Final Summary Judgment in a first-party property insurance case in Lee County, Florida. The insured signed an assignment agreement with the Plaintiff water mitigation company shortly after Hurricane Ian.  In dispute of the payment made to Plaintiff, the Plaintiff filed suit against the insurer.  The insurer filed its Motion For Final Summary Judgment in the matter as it contended that the assignment agreement did not comply with Florida law.  The Court granted the insurer’s Motion For Final Summary Judgment because it agreed that the assignment agreement did not comply with Florida law and that this rendered the Plaintiff without standing to maintain the lawsuit.  The insurer is currently in the process of seeking attorneys’ fees and taxable costs from the Plaintiff.

Elliott Tubbs and Jesse Dyer recently obtained summary judgment in a first-party property insurance case in Lee County, Florida. The insurer invoked appraisal to resolve a dispute regarding the amount of a covered loss caused by Hurricane Ian and the insured filed suit before the appraisal process was completed. 

Aaron B. Zeilberger, an associate in the firm’s Orlando office, recently secured summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case against a prominent national plaintiff’s firm, representing a family-owned supermarket. The Court found that there was no evidence of actual or constructive notice on the part of our client. Plaintiff never negotiated off of their demand of $1,000,000.00. We filed a Proposal for Settlement and will be entitled to our fees and costs.

Seth Goldberg and Jesse Dyer recently secured summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case. The Court granted summary judgment because there was no record evidence that the store owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the water on the floor before the accident occurred. The plaintiff attempted to create an issue of fact with an affidavit stating that the water appeared brown in color which, she argued, suggested the water had been on the floor for a long period of time. The Court agreed the affidavit could not create a genuine issue of fact because it directly contradicted the plaintiff’s prior deposition testimony that she never saw the water and could not describe it.

On November 6, 2024, Joshua Canton, Managing Partner of the firm’s Tallahassee office, and Mattie Birster, an associate in the firm’s Tallahassee office, obtained a defense verdict in trucking case in the U.S District Court for Northern Florida that involved claims of tortious interference with a business relationship and defamation following a two-day jury trial. Plaintiff, a trucker, claimed that the defendant, a common carrier, falsely reported to the DOT that plaintiff refused to submit to a random drug test and asked for $700,000 and punitive damages. Defendant argued that Plaintiff had in fact refused to submit to a drug test under the applicable regulations and that the report to the DOT was truthful. The case turned on how various regulations of the FMCSA applied to the facts of the case.  The jury returned a defense verdict in an hour and a half.