The Haggard Law Firm is currently litigating four cases against the Eureka Gardens Apartments in Jacksonville. The negligent security cases involve two victims of a 2016 mass shooting, the 2014 murder of a 15-year-old and a 2014 murder of a 22-year-old father.
Yesterday, The Haggard Law Firm’s Douglas McCarron and Jason Brenner were joined for a press conference in Jacksonville by the mass shooting victims and the families of the young men killed. The focus of the message was to plead for change at Eureka Gardens to help stop the continued violence while reminding all property owners they have a responsibility to invest in the proper security of the residents and guests that visit a property, no matter where it is.
Haggard Law Firm attorney Pedro Echarte was interviewed for a story detailing the recent settlement in the case of a young father who died in a mobile home fire. As the article describes, an inadequate number of smoke detectors was at the heart of the eventual $2.3 million settlement.
Haggard Law Firm attorney Todd Michaels was named a Most Effective Lawyer of South Florida, in the Personal Injury category, by the Daily Business Review.
Haggard Law Firm Attorney Todd Michaels
Today, the periodical published its article detailing the case cited in the announcement of the honor Michaels, a $3.1 million settlement to the family of 21-year-old Charles Lucas, who was shot to death outside a Miami nightclub in 2011 while he tried to diffuse an altercation.
The Daily Business Review has just released its list of 2016 Most Effective Lawyers.
We are proud to report that Haggard Law Firm attorneys Todd Michaels and Pedro Echarte were the only two lawyers in Miami-Dade County recognized in the Personal Injury category. Michaels was named the Most Effective Lawyer, while Echarte was the only other finalist listed.
Jacksonville, FL – The lack of required smoke detectors in a mobile home was the primary reason 5 year old Caydon Anderson will never see his beloved father Jemarr again. On May 18, 2015, 26-year-old Jemarr Anderson was asleep in a mobile home at 7582 Sonia Drive in Jacksonville when a fire broke out. The young father died of smoke inhalation in the fire that scorched the home.
The Daily Business Review recently published a guest article written by The Haggard Law Firm’s Christopher Marlowe on mediation. Marlowe’s article, Reassess Expectations: Finding Value in Mediation was included as part of DBR’s special section on arbitration and mediation published November 16th, 2016.
The full article: Reassess Expectations: Finding Value in Mediation By Christopher Marlowe
The Haggard Law Firm is thrilled to support Generation Nexxt with a second season of our Haggard Helping Hands segment. These segments will appear throughout the youth football season on NBC 6 in South Florida during the Generation Nexxt program which airs at noon.
Today’s issue of the Daily Business Review takes an in-depth look at the recent $10.1 million settlement result in a negligent security case litigated by our Pedro Echarte.
Here is the full text of the article authored by Celia Ampel:
Bryan Perez was just 22 when he was shot and paralyzed while trying to protect his sister, mother and pregnant girlfriend from home invaders.
The 2014 shooting left him in a wheelchair, making it difficult for him to work and to go out alone with his baby.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Managing Partner Michael Haggard has been selected as a Lifetime Achievement honoree among America’s Top 100 Attorneys®.
Selection to America’s Top 100 Attorneys® is by invitation only and is comprised of the nation’s most exceptional attorneys whose accomplishments merit a lifetime achievement recognition. Lifetime Achievement recognition among America’s Top 100 Attorneys® is meant to identify and promote the most outstanding and impactful legal talent currently serving throughout the nation. Only 100 attorneys in each state* will receive this honor and be selected for Lifetime Achievement Membership among America’s Top 100 Attorneys®. Selection is not achieved based on a single accomplishment or a single great year of success, but rather on a lifetime of hard work, ethical standards, and community enriching accomplishments that are inspiring among the legal profession. This honor is not given every year, or every 10 years; it is given but once-in-a-lifetime. To help ensure that all attorneys selected for membership meet the very high standards expected for selection, candidates for lifetime membership are carefully screened through third-party research and statistical analysis based on a broad array of criteria, including the candidate’s professional experience, lifetime achievements, significant case results, peer reputation, and community impact . While selection for any award, honor, or exclusive membership organization is always subjective in nature, we developed our comprehensive multi-phase selection process in an effort to help ensure that only the attorneys whose lifetime achievements extol the legal profession are chosen. With these extremely high standards for selection to America’s Top 100 Attorneys®, less than one-half percent (0.5%) of active attorneys in the United States will receive this honor — truly the most exclusive and elite level of attorneys in the community.
$10.1 Million Settlement in Negligent Security Case Brought by 22 year old Father Paralyzed in Shooting
Miami, FL – The homeowners association, property manager, and other related entities at a Miami townhome community have agreed to pay more than $10 million dollars to 22-year-old Bryan Perez and his infant son to settle a negligent security lawsuit.
On August 18th 2014, in an attempted armed home invasion robbery, Perez was shot 6 times in his family’s rental unit at the Carmel Lakes townhome community, which is located at 20761 NE 4th Place Miami, Florida 33179. As a result of the crime, Perez was rendered an incomplete paraplegic. Perez had recently moved to the complex with his family and was unaware of its history of crime, which consisted of numerous burglaries and armed robberies. The Haggard Law Firm’s Pedro Echarte who litigated the case says “the community’s security measures were entirely inadequate to protect its residents and tenants.”
On the night of the incident, Perez was on his porch with a friend when three gunmen approached and asked for a safe that was in the home. Perez and his family were the victims of a burglary at the same unit a few months before the subject shooting, had purchased a safe to store their valuables as a result, and the box for that safe was on the porch at the time of the shooting. While demanding Perez and his guest enter the home, Perez attempted to close a sliding glass door in an effort to protect his family, including his then-pregnant girlfriend, mother, and little sister who were all inside the home at the time of the incident. The gunmen proceeded to start shooting through the glass door, hitting Perez multiple times.
Echarte says the evidence against those responsible for needed security at Carmel Lakes was overwhelming, including:
