Wrongful death case involving the deaths of four persons, including two minors, caused by a horrendous and tragic multi-vehicular crash on a road in an unincorporated area of Osceola County. The company’s employee drove its pick-up truck into the rear of a minivan which was occupied by the Plaintiffs’ families.

$10 million (present value) confidential settlement. Senior partner Scott Sheftall represented personal representative in wrongful death action stemming from husband/father’s death in single vehicle accident while on business in Haiti. Sheftall established that jurisdiction and venue were proper in Miami. Also proved that foreign law of Haiti established a sufficient basis for liability and that American law governed survivors’ claims for wrongful death damages.

International Wrongful Death action / Aviation disaster. Scott Sheftall won verdict for surviving children of parents who were killed in crash of commercial flight from Managua, Nicaragua to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Wrongful death case in which decedent overdosed on prescription medications while under the care and supervision of a sober living home (a/k/a recovery residence) in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The defendant had induced the young woman to stay at defendant’s facility after suffering from a traumatic brain injury. The defendant misrepresented that the facility was certified by the Florida Association of Recovery Residence (FARR). The defendant failed to confiscate the decedent’s prescription medications and failed to provide the promised supervision and care to the young woman. Settlement against the defendant was one of the highest settlements against a sober living home/recovery residence in Florida’s history.

Scott Sheftall brought a Federal Tort Claims/Wrongful death action for Japanese family who lost their son in mid-air collision. Judgment for Plaintiff rendered by district judge in non-jury trial in amount of $637,407 (limited to recovery of the estate’s loss of net accumulations and funeral expenses) District judge’s imposition of 30% comparative negligence for violation of “see and avoid” rule reversed by US Court of Appeals. Scott Sheftall successfully argued the appeal before the Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, which reversed the trial court’s imposition of 30% comparative negligence and reinstated full amount of judgment.

Scott Sheftall represented a minor child (age 5) who suffered a severe injury to his forearm when he fell from the rooftop of a commercial office building. Suit filed against the building’s property manager for maintenance of a dangerous condition (rooftop parapet not in compliance with building code) and for negligence (unimproved office space left open to common hallway and windows to rooftop left unlocked). Real estate manager’s insurer denied coverage under its policy with limits of $1 million. Plaintiff gave a covenant not to sue to property manager in exchange for its consent judgment and assignment of his claim for coverage against his insurer. Trial court granted summary judgment establishing coverage was wrongfully denied, affirmed on appeal.

Our client, a mentally handicapped young man, was tragically struck by the defendant’s van while walking across a busy highway near Disney in Orlando, Florida. As a result of the crash, the plaintiff suffered severe injuries including traumatic brain injuries which necessitated extensive rehabilitative medical care for the rest of his life. The case settled for the full policy limits ($1 million primary coverage; $1 million excess liability coverage) for a total of $2,000,000.

60-year-old client suffered exacerbations to her pre-existing degenerative spinal conditions. A truck struck the left rear passenger side of her compact car. Before the crash, the client’s neck and low back had been pain-free. The trauma sustained in the impact caused irritating nerve pain in her neck and low back which required extensive medical treatment including nerve root injections, an ablation procedure, and finally a decompression surgery to repair the instability in her lumbar spine. The Defendant denied liability. The case was settled shortly after mediation.

Negligent security case/sexual assault. Defense verdict. The firm won a reversal on appeal.

Two 23-year-old plaintiffs experienced severe emotional distress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), after the coordinator at a sober living home (a/k/a “recovery residence”) commanded them to enter the locked bedroom of their roommate, wherein they discovered roommate’s corpse following her suicide. The incident caused the two plaintiffs, suffering from drug addiction and bipolar disorder, to relapse due to the psychological trauma. We proved that the defendant took advantage of the vulnerable young women on account of an unequal power dynamic, while simultaneously knowing they were particularly susceptible to emotional distress. Consequently, the plaintiffs were able to recover for their purely psychological injuries without any showing of physical injury. Following the resolution of the claims, special needs trusts were set up to ensure that that the plaintiffs could obtain a second chance at recovery under the supervision and care of qualified professionals.

The client, a former professional athlete, tripped and fell on uneven steps inside an unlit movie theater and fractured his leg. During discovery, the plaintiff adduced evidence not only that the theater was in violation of numerous fire, municipal, and building codes, but had knowingly engaged an unlicensed contractor to perform unlawful renovations to the very area which caused the plaintiff’s fall.

Obtained $490,000 settlement for client after she slipped and fell inside a bathtub at a hotel. Our investigation uncovered that the hotel management knew that its bathtubs were unreasonably dangerous but chose not to replace them as a cost-cutting measure. Instead, the hotel chose to cover up the slippery tubs with an adhesive mat, causing a slippery film to form around the mat’s perimeter after continual use. The case settled shortly before trial was set to begin. Recovery reflected our client’s claim for loss of earning capacity, even though she was unemployed at the time of the fall.

Our client, a woman, was sexually assaulted by a male nurse during a routine medical appointment at a local urgent care clinic. The healthcare clinic initially denied the client’s claim, but our client prevailed upon our firm’s discovery of a pattern of sexually charged and indecent behavior by the male nurse.

The client slipped and fell in the cruise ship buffet line, breaking his hip.

The client suffered a fractured wrist in a slip and fall aboard a cruise ship.

The client slipped and fell aboard a cruise ship in the dining area and fractured her arm.

Slip and fall in the hospital waiting room. The defense offered $10,000 to settle at trial.

The client slipped and fell suffering a fractured wrist.

Sexual assault and abuse of a minor by a karate instructor.

Premises liability case in which our client and his wife were shopping inside the garden center of a home improvement store. While focused on another item for sale, the client fell backward after tripping over a large, heavy clay pot left towards the middle of the aisle. The client suffered a fractured wrist. The home improvement store denied liability by asserting that the store had no notice that the pot had been left in the customer’s walking path. However, our firm located independent witnesses who testified that they had observed store employees leaving the pot in the aisle where customers were walking, which was in violation of the store’s policies.

Jury verdict in auto negligence case for $201,896.00.

Premises liability case in which our client, a retiree, attended a matinee movie with his son. On the way up to their stadium seats, our client fell down an unlit aisle in between two rows and suffered extensive damage to his custom dental implants. After the fall, our client was unable to eat solid foods for months due to the implanted screws in his jaw becoming dislodged. The movie theater denied liability and asserted that the condition inside the auditorium was open and obvious. However, an intensive period of discovery revealed that the movie theater did not follow applicable building codes and municipal ordinances during a preceding renovation of the auditorium. As a consequence of the code violations and lack of adequate lighting, our client fell into a dangerous unmarked area between two rows which was imperceptible inside the darkened theater.

Our client was minding her business in her car while on the way to work one morning. Suddenly, while lawfully stopped at a red light, she became the victim of a secondary auto collision when two cars in front of her collided during a turn. As a result of the crash, our client suffered an exacerbation of her spondylolisthesis, which was non-symptomatic before the crash.

Auto negligence case in which client suffered a broken nose, left orbital fracture, and tinnitus of both ears after being sideswiped by the defendant’s van on Immokalee Road in Naples, Florida.

The elderly client tripped and fell over a bollard in a Publix parking lot and suffered a fractured hip, facial bruising, and lacerations.

Breach of distributorship agreement.

Claim in international arbitration against a French citizen to enforce terms of Guaranty & Lease in default.

Class action arbitration concerning PIP claims. Arbitrability of class action claims was established for the first time in Florida jurisprudence.

Scott Sheftall alleged that group boycott, or joint refusal to deal violated Section1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and drove fledgling insurance companies out of business.

Proceedings were supplementary against debtor successor corp./alter ego of the judgment debtor.

The client, a solo insurance agent, was induced to sell her book of business to larger insurance company, who then failed to compensate the client for her commissions earned under the purchase agreement. After retaining our firm, the client recovered all amounts owed for the large insurance company’s breach of contract, including all litigation costs and attorney’s fees.

Medical malpractice action in which a physician’s substandard medical care caused our 22-year-old client’s right testicle to become necrotic. It had to be surgically removed. Despite presenting at the emergency room with all the classic signs and symptoms of testicular torsion, the physician sent his patient home without ordering a Doppler ultrasound, which is the standard of care for ruling out the condition of acute testicular torsion.

Legal malpractice action arising from federal district court action in which client’s previous law firm missed crucial expert disclosure deadline resulting in dismissal of the underlying action. Case settled for a confidential sum in seven figures.

Medical malpractice action in which client, a 15-year-old, experienced unrelenting severe pain in both lower extremities and other symptoms of compartment syndrome, commencing immediately after surgery for an unrelated condition. The patient’s bilateral compartment syndrome went undiagnosed and untreated. Unfortunately, it was too late at that time, and irreversible muscle damage had already occurred necessitating surgical debridement of all the muscles in the anterior compartments of both of the teenager’s lower extremities.

Our client, an elderly man with dementia, alleged that while inside a local assisted living facility he was shoved in the back by his nurse caretaker causing him to trip and fall inside a shower stall. As a result of the fall, our client suffered a fractured hip and other injuries which the treating doctor concluded were inoperable due to the client’s advanced age. The Defendants, the assisted living facility, denied responsibility. However, during our investigation, we uncovered facts that supported our client’s allegations that his nurse had, in fact, maliciously shoved him.

Immigration law malpractice.

Miami law firm whose actions caused the dismissal of its client’s federal court case.

Confidential settlement against national media corporation concerning the defamation of a local television personality. The defendant media corporation misidentified our client as being responsible for a heinous criminal act. The media defendant then published the false allegations in an Internet news article to tens of thousands of people with reckless disregard for the truth and even knowledge of falsity. Once on the Internet, the defendant’s news article quickly went viral across social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit). The media defendant asserted numerous privileges under the First Amendment.

Defamation of a private figure plaintiff by non-media defendant. Case tried over eight days via Zoom. Circuit judge as trier of fact found willful and wanton defamation per se. Also, common law conditional privilege did not apply, but even if applicable, primary purpose malice would have destroyed privilege. Judgment for damage greatly exceeded the proposal for settlement and the plaintiff was awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

The firm achieved settlements exceeding seven figures against major media corporations in lawsuits involving the defamation of a local private figure medical professional. Our client was falsely accused by a local TV station of deviant behavior on a local news broadcast and Internet news article. The false story then took on a life of its own when other major media outlets rushed to republish the salacious allegations without fact-checking. The false story was discussed coast-to-coast on radio broadcasts and podcasts and went viral on Facebook and Twitter, where our client was mocked and pilloried by countless persons worldwide. Our client suffered extreme anxiety, PTSD, and humiliation, as well as reputational damage and lost earnings. After successfully achieving a pre-suit settlement against the media defendant responsible for the initial publication of the story, this firm pursued (and won) additional settlements against the media defendants who republished the story without doing any due diligence as to whether the allegations were true or not.

Public official client defamed by poem depicting her as a prostitute and drug user.

Sports figure client who was defamed when the newspaper published a fake interview falsely depicting him as a racist.

The private company whose exclusive Jewish cemetery was falsely depicted as catering to gentiles by a rival’s letter which was disseminated to prospective customers.