29-Year-Old Kemoze Chambers was killed at an Orlando-area apartment complex
The Haggard Law Firm’s Adam Finkel and Michael Haggard have obtained a $ 2 Million policy limit settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case in central Florida.
Late in the evening of August 23, 2019, 29-year-old Kemoze Chambers was inside his apartment, in Orlando, Florida when an unknown person(s) broke inside and murdered him.
The Defendant in this case Asset Overwatch Services, was contracted to provide private security services to the apartment complex where Kemoze lived. Boasting as a premier private security firm in Florida, Asset Overwatch provided vehicle patrols during its nightly security duties and provided the property owners and managers with nightly shift reports detailing their observations and actions taken.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Pedro Echarte and Michael Haggard have obtained a $3.85 Million settlement in a negligent security wrongful death case. The victim in this case was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting while entering an apartment complex.
The name of the Plaintiff, Haggard Law’s client, is confidential. The Plaintiff was the Personal Representative of the victim’s estate, who brought the case on behalf of the victim’s two surviving parents.
This was a difficult liability case as the shooting was a drive-by and occurred on a public road. Although the victim was entering the property where he lived when he was shot, the defendants were going to argue, inter alia, that the shooting was not preventable as it did not occur on the property.
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.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Todd Michaels and Michael Haggard have earned a $1 Million policy limit settlement in wrongful death negligent security case of 30-year-old Omarie Stephens was shot and killed at the Lauderhill Mall on Easter Day of 2018.
After spending Easter morning with his family, he went to a car show in a park with his brother and friends. After the show, he went to a restaurant located in Lauderhill Mall to eat. When Omarie and his group arrived at the mall there was a large party going on in the parking lot. The car show had relocated to the mall, which was closed (except for a few tenants including the restaurant).
Video surveillance showed thousands of cars and people in the mall parking lot. Evidence also showed that people were drinking alcohol and doing drugs. The mall’s parking lot had basically turned into an open-air unsupervised night club.
Screen Shot from security video of the Lauderhill Mall Parking lot the night Mr. Stephens was shot and killed
The Mall had retained State Security to provide security. After the mall closed (other than the few late-night tenants) security was supposed to perform constant patrols in the lot and remove trespassers immediately. The evidence clearly showed that over a period of hours, revelers descended on the property, and security was nowhere to be found. They made no attempt to remove people from the property or to contact the police as they were ordered.
In a deposition, the security guard claimed that he encountered a police officer on the property and asked him for help as justification for why he decided not to call police. Police records and the surveillance video disapprove this. After being confronted with the evidence, the security guard admitted he had not come to the front of the mall during the three hour period that people were gathering at the property.
During the gathering, two men got into a fight leading to gunshots. Mr. Stevens, and innocent bystander, was shot and killed. Stephens survived by two minor daughters.
Michael Haggard says he wanted to become a trial lawyer thanks to the example set by his father Andy Haggard and what he watched his father do to help clients effected by tragedy.
Haggard has established himself as a powerful force in the South Florida Legal Community as the Managing Partner for The Haggard Law Firm. After spending time as a Public Defender and working with a small personal injury firm before joining The Haggard Law Firm, Haggard was named a partner in 2001, secure in the belief that every case holds equal importance and could mean the opportunity to award a family resolution to a devastating incident.
He soon captured national headlines as the only plaintiff’s personal injury attorney to secure three separate $100 million dollar verdicts on behalf of individual clients. Haggard secured two consecutive $100 million verdicts on behalf of children involved in pool accidents. Several years later, a third $100 million verdict was awarded by a jury in a negligent security case, deemed the largest of its kind for that genre of case law.
Our Michael Haggard will be one of the featured presenters during the upcoming 2018 National Drowning Prevention Alliance Educational Conference’s Aquatic Law Symposium. The objective of the symposium is to provide plaintiff and defense attorneys with information about principles and practices of aquatic law. The event will be held April 2nd to the 7th at the Marriott Waterside in Tampa. Haggard’s seminar “Developing Theories of Negligence Citing Important Litigation Cases by Firm” is scheduled for the morning session which begins at 8:50am on Saturday, April 7th.
The legal symposiums are certified by the Florida Bar and in every state via reciprocity agreement for CLE credits (8 Credits Available)
Michael Haggard’s Aquatic Law Experience
Michael Haggard and The Haggard Law Firm has a long history of successfully litigating cases involving drownings and near-drownings…
The Haggard Law Firm recognizes National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month throughout January. The Department of Defense defines Human Trafficking as” a crime in which force, fraud or coercion is used to compel a person to perform labor, services or commercial sex. It affects all populations: adults, children, men, women, foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, and all economic classes.”
Studies show that a large percentage of locations where sex trafficking takes place are commercial businesses like hotels, truck stops and massage parlors.. One survey found hotels and motels are the single-most common venue for sex trafficking in Florida during the first half of 2017. Experts say it is because the traffickers want to remain transient to avoid suspicion and arrest.”
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard has been invited to once again speak at the Florida Justice Association’s Workhorse Seminar. Set to be held at the Orlando World Center Marriott, this Seminar is one of FJA’s most popular learning events among attorneys throughout the state.
Haggard is scheduled to speak on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 between 8:30 am – 9:00 am. His topic for his Seminar is “Escaping Defense-created Liability Traps in the Handling of Negligent Security Injury and Death Cases.”
Haggard is a longtime member of the FJA and has served in multiple leadership positions over the years. Several months ago, he was recognized with the FJA’s most prestigious honor, the Perry Nichols Award.
About the Workhorse Seminar
The Workhorse Seminar ensures attorneys receive the strategies and techniques needed to enhance the work done every day in civil litigation cases. The FJA guarantees attendees will take away valuable information and innovative ideas that can immediately aid personal injury attorneys’ efforts to assist clients in their cases.
About the Florida Justice Association
The Florida Justice Association (FJA), formerly the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (AFTL), is dedicated to strengthening and upholding Florida’s civil justice system and protecting the rights of Florida’s citizens and consumers.
We passionately believe that all Floridians benefit when deserving individuals have a fair chance to seek justice in our state’s courts and that Florida’s consumers are made safer when large corporations and industries are held to a high ethical standard and accept fair responsibility for their actions.
FJA works in the legislative, political and public arenas to ensure that Floridians know and understand the importance of their rights to justice and to make certain that these rights, which are at the very core of what it means to be American, are safeguarded and protected.
It was just announced that The Haggard Law Firm’s Managing Partner, Michael Haggard, will be the Keynote Speaker at the Miami Dade Trial Lawyers Association’s Judge Manny Crespo Award Luncheon tomorrow (Thursday, October 12). Judge Marcia Cooke is the recipient of this year’s Judge Manny Crespo Award which is honors a champion of the legal profession and selfless mentor.
The MDTLA released a statement saying about Haggard’s role as keynote speaker that read in part, “Among the many accolades that Mike has received from the community, clients and peers, he was recently honored by the Florida Justice Association with the Perry Nichols Award for his perseverance, commitment, and unmatched dedication to the civil justice system. Michael truly sets the standard for the rest of his colleagues and many others to aspire AND achieve. The buzz is that he is a great and inspiring orator; that he is! We are grateful that he will be our Keynote speaker at tomorrow’s event.”
