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Coral Gables attorneys obtained an $8.6 million settlement in a case that is part of a larger trend in the affordability crisis in Florida.
Michael Haggard and Adam Finkel of the Haggard Law Firm—who represented the plaintiff, the estate of Fred McCrimmon Martin, an Orlando tenant of Vista Haven Apartments, owned by the defendants, SREIT Vista Haven LLC and Highmark Residential LLC—stressed the importance of background checks and similar actions.
Michael Haggard of the Haggard Law Firm. (Courtesy photo)
“The state gave a billion dollars to all these developers to build a million new apartments,” Haggard said. “What’s going to happen with affordable housing is that people are going to be living under the radar, trying to get under the leases and do not live there, and apartment owners need to be aware of that because they could be liable for that.”
Daniel Knuth, a partner at Wood Smith Henning & Berman in Tampa who represented the defendants, did not respond to a request for comment.
The case dates to November 2022, when Martin, who was walking to his vehicle in the complex parking lot, was shot by Kadeem Fisher, a man whose children’s mother lived in an apartment, across from where Martin was staying, and provided him access, court records show. Martin struggled up the stairs as Fisher continued firing upon him, ending his life.
While Fisher awaited trial in the criminal court, Haggard and Finkel filed a negligent-security wrongful-death lawsuit in March 2023 in the Seminole Circuit Court against the property owners and manager of the complex, Highmark Residential, who once had arranged for private security patrols, only to terminate them and allegedly failed to replace them, court records show.
Instead, Highmark stated they would replace them with security cameras and a third party charged with monitoring them, which never happened, court records show. Haggard and Finkel learned through their investigation that Fisher—who had a violent criminal history, including an arrest for murder—stayed in the complex for more than a year but did not inform management.
“We made sure the investigation started immediately,” Finkel said. “We spoke with all of the neighbors who lived there at the time. They all said this guy gave them the creeps; they understood that he wasn’t a member of the community, and they wished he wasn’t there.”
In addition, Haggard and Finkel utilized depositions in previous litigation their law firm filed against Vista Haven Apartments and the property managers, who testified to basic, necessary measures that all Highmark properties should implement to monitor if persons are illegally living on the property. Notably, they were not implemented at Vista Haven.
Haggard and Finkel’s efforts resulted in a recovery of a $8.6 million settlement for the estate, for the benefit of the surviving mother and father of Martin, in the action before Seminole Circuit Judge Susan Stacy.
“Attorneys should not operate in a vacuum,” Haggard said. “Commercial real estate residential housing is a huge business, and these people know they are having these problems. You need to dig deep in discovery and talk with lawyers who handle these types of cases because you will find treasure troves of information.”
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This article was originally published by a www.law.com . Read the Original article here. .