The Haggard Law Firm’s Adam Finkel and Michael Haggard obtained a $2.85 Million settlement in a wrongful death negligent security case involving a young father killed and dismembered in front of his son.
Per terms of the settlement, the names of the parties involved and the specific location of the incident are confidential.
The violent crime occurred in Collier County, Florida in February 2019. The father of two was shot, killed, and dismembered in a commercial parking lot. His estate filed suit against the property owner and manager of the commercial property, as well as two other parties. The father worked for a painting company, subcontracted by a larger contractor to work within a newly finished outlet store.
For convenience, and to save money, the company arranged for the young father and another painter to live in a mobile home, on the commercial property. One evening, a person suffering from severe mental health issues entered the mobile unit, shot the young father, and proceeded to dismember his body. Arrested later that evening, the murderer was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Unthinkably, the father’s adult son was in the mobile home, hidden behind a curtain. He heard everything and even saw his father’s dismembered body. The estate filed a wrongful death suit against the property owner and manager, the construction company, and the owner of the mobile home. While this area of Collier County was affluent and did not have a history of crime, the estate’s attorneys, The Haggard Law Firm, maintained that the property owner and manager did not reasonably consider the possible risk in allowing a mobile home unit to reside on the commercial property.
While counsel for the property owner and manager emphasized the complete lack of crime in the area and argued the shooting was unforeseeable, the estate’s discovery focused on the defendants’ employees’ lack of training and knowledge regarding securing a residential versus commercial property.
Ultimately, the estate settled with the property owner and manager for $2.8 Million Dollars, and with the contracting company and owner of the mobile home, each for $25,000.00. The father was survived by his two children.
