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 secured two settlements totaling $10 Million in two negligent security wrongful death cases against the same defendants. The cases addressed the murders of two young men in Pensacola, Florida. While killed in different apartment complexes, both were owned and operated by The Marquis Group.
The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel have obtained a $12 Million settlement in a high-profile catastrophic negligent security case.
On Memorial Day 2021, Marcus Williams arrived at Prime 112 for dinner. After exiting his vehicle within Prime 112’s valet, he immediately noticed that other members of his party were being yelled at by a group of unknown individuals. As the yelling became louder, and the unknown people used racial slurs and threatening language, Marcus looked towards the Prime 112 employees outside for action.
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 Adam Finkel and Michael Haggard obtained a $6 Million policy limit, pre-suit settlement in a negligent security wrongful death and personal injury case, involving a shooting near a boat dock in the Florida Keys.
On Monday, June 15, 2020, Jose “Pepe” Clemente returned from a hard day’s work at sea onboard a fishing boat that docked in Safe Harbor – a property owned by the Bernstein Trust and operated by Fishbusterz, a local retail fish merchant. As was the custom, Pepe hung around after work to share a few drinks with friends and play dominoes.
That Monday, between 4 and 5:00 p.m., Pepe was hanging out near some lobster traps in the middle of the property, drinking vodka and socializing with other fishermen, including Iliecer “Amarillo” Noa. At one point, two unknown men (not fishermen) approached and yelled towards Amarillo about the whereabouts of another local fisherman. After Amarillo stated that he was unaware of the person’s whereabouts, an argument ensued. Gunshots followed, and Pepe was killed. Amarillo suffered severe injuries, as well, and was represented by The Mustell Law Firm as co-counsel.
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 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 together with Michael Davis of Boone & Davis, obtained a $2 Million total settlement in a dram shop case that involved the death of a police officer.
On February 16, 2019, Curtis Woolwine went out drinking in Broward County. He began the evening at Billy’s Tavern (Happy Hour, LLC) a bar that his wife’s family-owned. After leaving Billy’s, at around 11:40 p.m., Woolwine stumbled into Round Up Country, continued drinking, and was ultimately thrown out for acting inappropriately towards women. It is believed that Woolwine was trying to drive home when he ended up traveling in the wrong direction on Interstate 75. Tragically, he crashed his car into Steven Greco a Miccosukee police officer on his way home from work. They both died. Steven is survived by his wife, Phoebe, and their daughter, Gianna.
