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.
On the morning of January 8, 2022, Mathew Jousett was playing inside the bedroom of his father’s apartment in the Greenwich Condominiums (1470 NE 123 Street, North Miami, Florida). At some point, one of his father’s girlfriend’s kids saw a window screen fall and immediately told his mother’s boyfriend, Thomas. It was then that Thomas, Mathew’s father, looked outside and saw the unthinkable: his son’s lifeless body on the concrete sidewalk.
The child fell 7 stories. He was rushed to the hospital.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Kimberly Wald, along with co-counsel Joe Slama and Justin Bailey of Krupnick Campbell Malone, and attorney John Mooney, have obtained a $2 Million settlement in a personal injurynegligent security case involving an injured pizza delivery driver.
On May 15th, 2019 David Orcutt, a delivery driver for Pizza Hut, was delivering an order to the Tallman Pines apartment complex (700 NE 41st St, Lighthouse Point, FL) in Broward County, Florida. While simply doing his job to help support his young daughter, he was shot in the leg by a group of juveniles loitering inside the complex. The bullet partially severed a nerve in Mr. Orcutt’s left leg.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel have obtained a $1 Million pre-suit settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case against a gas station operator.
On July 15, 2020, just before midnight 20-year-old Zion Lamar was shot and killed at a Solo gas station in Pompano Beach. Zion lived nearby with his girlfriend and was sent to purchase snacks but never returned home.
Precisely what transpired is unknown as the owner of the gas station did not install functioning surveillance cameras, nor did the clerk respond to audible commotion occurring on the property. Although there is a cell phone video of Zion writhing on the ground, he died shortly thereafter and there is no known eyewitness testimony. It is believed that an altercation occurred outside involving several people, during which Zion was shot.
This settlement was reached after The Haggard Law Firm presented its position regarding the clear liability in this case and the damages associated with the death of a young man. While the defense could not contest the staggering history of daily drug dealing, public intoxication, and violence at the gas station, the defense contested the Plaintiff’s description of the damages in the case.
On Thursday, October 8th a press conference will be held to discuss new findings in the shooting deaths of Frank Ordonez, Rick Cutshaw, and the injuries suffered by Carlos Lara during the December 2019 police shootout on the Miramar Parkway following a two county high-speed chase.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel will discuss a new witness who says the police shot first. The lawyers will also announce the intention to file a lawsuit on behalf of victim Rick Cutshaw’s family
Background
On December 15, 2019 UPS driver Frank Ordonez, 27, was taken hostage by two men, who stole his truck after robbing a Coral Gables jewelry store. A high-speed, two-county chase with multiple police departments ensued.
It ended when the UPS truck encountered stopped traffic at an intersection of the Miramar Parkway just west of Flamingo Road. Law enforcement boxed-in the delivery truck and officers exited their vehicles.
As officers approached the truck with their weapons drawn, using bystanders’ vehicles as cover, they opened fire on the robbers and Mr. Ordonez. Through the course of the shootout the kidnappers, Ordonez, and 70-year-old bystander Rick Cutshaw were killed. Bystander Carlos Lara suffered significant injuries.
A lawsuit on behalf of Ordonez and Lara was filed against six law enforcement agencies on September 16, 2020.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Douglas McCarron has secured a $10 Million settlement in a negligent security case. Several details of the case are confidential per terms of the settlement.
The Haggard Law Firm’s client was driving through the apartment complex on his way to meet a friend. As John Doe drove he heard shots, a bullet pierced through the trunk of his car and struck him in his lower back. Doe immediately lost sensation in his lower extremities, and he was unable to control or stop his vehicle before it crashed into parked cars in the parking lot.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Christopher Marlowe have obtained a $1.75 Million settlement in a case where a father of two was killed by a county bus.
Eric Tenner was happily married to his wife Maria, with whom he had two young boys. On the morning of October 8, 2014, he headed out before work to get in his daily exercise on his bicycle. He was an avid and competitive cyclist, who was wearing all of the recommended safety equipment. Just south of the intersection of SW 124th Street and the US1 Busway in southwest Miami-Dade County, Mr. Tenner was struck from behind by a County bus driven by a Mr. Jose Sequeira. Mr. Tenner died several days later at Kendall Regional Hospital.
“He was an avid and competitive cyclist, who was wearing all of the recommended safety equipment.”
Mr. Sequeira, the bus driver, was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury. The criminal charges were later dropped, as the State of Florida was unable to prove that Mr. Sequeira was aware he had struck a bicyclist.
Tenner with his young sons
Miguel Mora, the driver of the second bus that was behind Mr. Sequeira, pulled over and stopped to assist Mr. Tenner after the accident. He has been driving this particular route for years, and testified that bicyclists and pedestrians are a constant presence there. He acknowledged that bus drivers are specifically trained to expect the unexpected and that when he is driving, it is on “pins and needles” because as professional bus drivers, they are held to a higher standard. He further opined that “they’re constantly getting hit. There’s a lot of accidents on the Busway.”
Throughout the discovery phase, the county correctly identified signage indicating that the Busway was for use of emergency and transit vehicles only. At trial, the main contested issue would have been whether Mr. Sequeira should have reasonably anticipated, seen and reacted to a bicyclist such as Mr. Tenner on the busway at that time of the morning when the sun had not yet risen.
Though the parties were initially excused from the mediation requirement because the Estate would not have accepted the sovereign immunity limits voluntarily, as the case progressed, both sides began discussing whether a negotiated settlement reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of both sides could be obtained. Dr. Fred Raffa, an economist and expert witness on economic damages, gave his deposition on May 16, 2017. He had voluminous materials to review in order to render his opinion regarding the total economic loss of the Tenner Estate.
His review included tax returns from Mr. Tenner’s longstanding employment with one company, as well as the Tenner’s side work in the insurance field. Ultimately, it was determined that the Estate had suffered past and future economic losses in excess of $3,500,000. This number was not contested by a defense expert, and these damages do not include the pain and suffering claims of Maria or of either of their two surviving sons.
If a jury were to have agreed with the two eyewitnesses on board the buses, that Mr. Sequeira should have seen Mr. Tenner, as they did, from a great distance prior to the accident, a verdict would have greatly exceeded the negotiated settlement achieved at the voluntary mediation on June 14, 2017.
Miami Dade County agreed to a claims bill in the amount of $1,450,000 above the $300,000 cap payable pursuant to the sovereign immunity statute, and Governor Ron DeSantis ultimately signed H.B. 6513 into law on May 23, 2019.
