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
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.
Managing Partner Michael HaggardTrial lawyer Adam Finkel
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.
On October 16, 2021, 24-year-old Jamal Drummond was visiting the Holiday Inn Express along Metrocentre Boulevard attending a party, when he was shot and killed. Drummond was a father of two.
Drummond with one of his minor children
That evening, a trespasser arrived at the hotel and walked around the property looking for a woman.
He had a photo of the woman on his phone, asking guests if they saw her. This man remained on the property without any lawful purpose. He was never approached by staff. The trespasser spent time within the hotel making loud noises near the front desk. The hotel staff still ignored him.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel, along with local co-counsel Alicia Sieben of Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben and Abinasir Abdulahi of AMA Law Group, secured a $4.25 Million settlement in a drowning case.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel obtained a $5.25 Million settlement in a negligent security wrongful death and negligent security injury case. Per terms of the settlement, the names of the parties involved must remain confidential.
With the pandemic shutting businesses down, on March 22, 2020, a restaurant employee left his home in Atlanta to visit his family in Miami. Spending the weekend catching up with his older brother, the two of them were hanging out with a friend in an apartment complex they used to live. Listening to music, having a few drinks and laughs, the men stayed in the hallway in front of a friend’s apartment, when unknown men appeared out of nowhere and opened fire. Ultimately, the older brother from Miami was killed. The younger sibling from Atlanta was struck in the leg, and seriously injured.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel obtained a $4.55 Million settlement in a wrongful death negligent security case involving the murder of a father of three.
Trial lawyer Adam FinkelManaging Partner Michael Haggard
On October 26, 2019, Rodney Hinds, Jr. picked up snacks from a gas station in Miami Gardens, while On October 26, 2019, Rodney Hinds, Jr. picked up snacks from a gas station in Miami Gardens, while other friends filled the car with gas. After purchasing snacks and returning to the car, an unknown person approached the car and opened fire. Rodney was struck and died. He was only 17 years old. He is survived by his mother, Tina, and his father, Rodney Sr.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel obtained a $2.35 Million settlement in a case involving an infant child who drowned in a pond. Specific details of the case are confidential.
The infant child was under his mother’s care when he walked out of the opened front door of his apartment and walked to the back of the property towards a retention pond. Eventually, the infant boy entered the pond and drowned.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel, along with co-counsel Julie Hager, have obtained a nearly $12 Million settlement in a drowning case involving a child who made his way through a broken pool gate and into a community pool.
During the morning of August 24, 2019, Mohamed Salim, a resident of the Arbor Keys Condominiums in Tamarac, Florida, dropped off his minivan with a neighbor, so that it could be washed. Later that afternoon, Mohammed, along with his four and six-year-old sons, walked across the parking lot to check on the status of the van. As the van was not ready, Mohamed sent his sons to the nearby playground, while he waited for his van to be finished. At least 13 minutes later, Mohamed heard screams, as it had turned out that his boys left the playground and made entered the community pool. They did this without Mohamed’s knowledge, and while he was monitoring his van.
