Insurance lawyer Tressie George III joins Darfoor Law Firm as of-counsel.
Mr. George will be handling residential & commercial insurance claims for the firm. If you think your homeowners insurance claim has improperly denied, please contact us at 754-812-8444 or toll free at 1-833-DARFOOR. If you prefer email, reach us at info@darfoorlaw.com.
Tressie George III is an insurance litigation attorney committed to helping people and businesses throughout Florida with their denied or underpaid residential and commercial property insurance claims.
Prior to joining Darfoor Law Firm as of-counsel, Tressie gained extensive experience as manager of the litigation department of a first party property insurance law firm, where he was responsible for developing the litigation strategies for all his cases, preparing pleadings and motions, and attending hundreds of hearings and depositions.
Tressie also has experience with estate planning law and administration of trusts and estates, including charitable giving, and formation and administration of charitable organizations. He previously served as Associate General Counsel to Palm Beach Atlantic University. While in law school, Tressie served as a certified legal intern at the Gadsden County State Attorney’s Office and tried non-jury and jury trials.
Tressie received his Juris Doctorate from Florida State University College of Law in 2009. He is admitted to practice law in all Florida State courts.
Kweku A. Darfoor is the managing shareholder at Darfoor Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale, where he represents plaintiffs in a wide variety of personal injury, consumer protection and wrongful death cases. Prior to founding the firm in 2014, Darfoor had a successful career advising business clients, working in a state government agency, a private law firm, an alternative financing company, a specialty finance/factoring company and a commercial real estate company. He is engaged in numerous professional and community organizations, including the Broward County Bar Association and Urban Philanthropies—a non-profit community development organization serving underserved communities in South Florida. Darfoor also serves on the Florida Atlantic University Alumni Association Board of Directors.
“The practice of personal injury law has instilled in me a burning sense of seeking justice for my clients; something that I wake up excited to attack every day. I turn to my connections and network established while attending FSU College of Law often to speed up the learning curve when I’m faced with issues I’ve yet to encounter.”
For some attorneys, the call to become a lawyer drives them beyond simply winning. It inspires them to disrupt the legal profession and make it better. Below are the top 15 attorneys disrupting the legal industry right now.
1. Bob and Brad Simon
Twin brothers Brad and Robert (Bob) Simon, of The Simon Law Group, pride themselves on being disruptive to the legal industry. Their movement started in 2020, through Justice HQ, where, along with co-founder Teresa Diep, they built up an exclusive, membership-based community with a network of resources to help consumer advocate attorneys grow their solo practices while receiving elite mentorship — and all while giving these attorneys their power back and inspiring them to invest in their cases and lives. As the Simons say, “Disrupters unite!”
2. Arash Homampour
Arash Homampour has always been a disrupter, an outlier. He is a first-generation American, and is constantly making waves in the legal world. He routinely takes on cases deemed impossible and wins record-setting verdicts. He connects powerfully as a human rather than just as a lawyer, often fights to make new laws, and strives to make a difference in the practice of law by teaching others.
3. Kelley Flanagan
Kelley Flanagan is a young lawyer who is working to update data and technology in an antiquated legal industry that has a great need for it. With four other family members, she runs a Chicago-based property tax law firm. Flanagan is a pioneer in the legal world, who also has a level of fame as a reality television star and uses social media to grow her firm’s reach.
4. Pratik Shah
Pratik H. Shah founded a successful law firm in Southern California and made a pronounced career out of going up against the billion-dollar bullies known as insurance companies. Noticing a definite need in the law-firm work day, Shah launched EsquireTek, groundbreaking software that automates the discovery process in minutes and gives lawyers back what they need most — time.
5. Brett Sachs
Brett Sachs is a front-runner in today’s California, Nevada and Texas personal injury markets. His approach is based on the client experience while still winning millions of dollars in verdicts. His firm has achieved notable settlements on cases that would look tough to most firms. Even with Sachs’ success and growth, he still maintains the boutique law-firm feel, which he believes his clients deserve.
6. Richard Corey
Richard Corey gives a strategic and calculated approach to every client matter. He strives to be the most prepared in every case, giving clients a personal approach and using a vetted nationwide network of professionals. Corey treats every case with the same level of intense care and outside-of-the-box thinking.
7. Lem Garcia
Lem Garcia is a disrupter in the legal space who is willing to do whatever it takes to connect with and provide value to the public while expecting nothing in return. Through TikTok and Instagram, Garcia produces fun videos with easy-to-understand information that help people know and exercise their rights.
8. Ali Salimi
Ali Salimi manages a multi-jurisdictional law firm dedicated to helping auto accident victims. Salimi also is focused on raising awareness for car seat safety. Salimi implemented a free car seat replacement program for those who have had a child car seat involved in an accident — a program that has helped many parents immediately get a replacement car seat for their child without any administrative delays from insurance companies. As a parent himself, Salimi knows the importance of peace of mind when it comes to children. He takes that same understanding to help all of his clients as his law firm stands by its motto, “We take care of you.”
9. Jeff Fayngor
Jeff Fayngor was running a virtual practice before COVID-19 and operates a completely paperless law office. Everyone on his team has a desktop and laptop and can work for clients anywhere. They represent the underserved communities of Los Angeles. While Fayngor’s staff works virtually, he has a brick-and-mortar location he uses to meet clients personally. These are typically individuals who aren’t able to use the internet due to age or socioeconomic limitations.
10. Chaz Roberts
Chaz Roberts made the decision early in his career to disregard a lot of the conventional ideals of what a law firm and attorney “should” look and behave like. He uses unconventional methods to compete with the top names in the field. Roberts has built a respected personal injury practice on client referrals and is known for the VIP experience he provides.
11. Jack Litwak
Jack Litwak established his firm in 2019 with the goal of disrupting what is often an archaic and unjust “justice” system by exploring new and innovative ways to challenge criminal charges. He is a passionate advocate against police misconduct and has litigated as many constitutional violations as he’s been able to uncover. Litwak disrupts the system by preparing cases for trial as early as possible and establishing connections with his clients, leading him to obtain numerous dismissals and not guilty verdicts.
12. Kweku Darfoor
Kweku Darfoor moved to the United States with his parents when he was 6 and watched them give up their comfortable lifestyle in exchange for menial, low-paying jobs. That experience cultivated the way he approaches everything, especially work for clients and his community. He has extensive experience in high-profile cases and a passion for justice and equality.
13. Forrest Miller
The Law Office of Forrest R. Miller is utilizing new laws to fight social-economic biases in the courtroom. Miller’s focus is on humanizing defendants and finding the flaws in the system. Miller has been fighting for the rights of the underserved his whole career, striving to keep the system in check, and getting the very best results for clients.
14. Kyle Newman
New York City trial attorney Kyle Newman uses trial tech wizardry to consistently engage juries for his Bronx, New York personal injury and medical malpractice clients. Kyle continues to set the standard for trial technology methods and education for future elite advocates and aspiring trial attorneys of the future.
15. Tim Hennessy
Tim Hennessy is the founder of Hennessy Law Group. His mantra is that being a public defender is a mindset, not simply employment — and this led to the creation of his firm’s client-first approach, which puts people over money. Not just an idealist, but a skilled trial advocate, Hennessy has spent most of 2021 engaged in trial. Some of his most notable results are two high-profile murder trials resulting in a full acquittal and hung jury.
This year Florida legislation passed bills HB 719 and SB 54, known as PIP (personal injury protection) repeal bills. These bills would eliminate that Florida’s current law requiring a mandatory $10,000 in PIP coverage for motorists. It would also set minimum bodily injury coverage at $25,000 for the injury or death of one person and $50,000 for injuries or deaths of two or more people. These bills would also require auto insurers to offer at least $5,000 in what is known as medical payments coverage; however, motorists would not have to buy it. The passing of these bills means that if no court overturns the law, these changes will go into effect on January 1, 2022.
The overall aim of this bill was to attempt to fix Florida’s no-fault system because Florida leads in auto fraud and the highest auto insurance premiums. Another objective was to try to limit the litigation by no longer allowing lawsuits for soft tissue injuries. However, the bill does come without consequences, such as Floridians opting to go uninsured. There is also concern that the legislation could result in lower-income residents being forced to pay more for insurance. There is also a chance that those who already have more coverage may see decreases in premiums.
There is currently a bill in the Florida House, HB 719, that would eliminate no-fault and its requirement that motorists carry personal-injury protection, or PIP, coverage, and mandate bodily injury coverage. If passed, the bill would eliminate the requirement of having 10,000 dollars in PIP coverage and set minimum bodily injury coverage at $25,000 for the injury or death of one person and $50,000 for injuries or deaths of two or more people. The bill would also require auto insurers to provide an offer of at least $5,000 in what is known as medical payments coverage; however, motorists would not have to buy it. However, there is a concern, namely from insurance providers, that this new bill could lead to an increase in lawsuits and an increase in health and automobile insurance.
In February, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a similar bill, SB54. This bill aims to eliminate PIP, raise required coverage limits on policies, offer lower limits for students and low-income drivers, and more difficult for people to sue insurance companies for bad faith. This bill would also get rid of the current limit a plaintiff can seek for compensation due to pain and suffering under PIP and allow liability for uninsured motorists to include pain and suffering and other injuries.
The most notable difference between SB54 and HB719 is that the Senate bill’s bad faith clause. Under this premise, the plaintiff would have to prove that the insurance provider failed to act in good faith to the plaintiff and failed to settle a claim to pursue a bad-faith lawsuit. This clause aims to ensure that insurance providers are working in the best interest of their clients. However, some are opposed as they think it will hurt small businesses by leaving them open to liability due to excess judgments.
The purpose of an airbag is to decrease injuries and the likelihood of death due to a crash, but when a defective airbag fails to deploy, the severity of a car accident can drastically increase. A faulty airbag is defined as one that fails to inflate completely upon impact, does not deploy on impact, or deploys when there was no impact. There are many possible placements for airbags, such as a head side-impact airbag to shield the head in a side-impact or a seat-mounted curtain airbag to protect passengers in the front and rear seats. This means many different types of injuries can occur. Possible injuries caused by faulty airbags include broken bones, asthma attacks, blindness, hearing loss, or damage to the skull and brain, which can lead to paralysis or death. Another common injury is airbag burn caused by the chemicals that cause the airbags to inflate or the gases that vented after the airbag inflates.
When filling an airbag lawsuit, there is not always a clear-cut answer as to who would be held liable; instead, it would be determined through a series of questions such as Was the defect a result of a flawed design? Did the defect occur while the airbag was being manufactured? Were there insufficient consumer safety warnings? In terms of damages, a lawsuit can include the cost of medical bills, the cost of lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering. Another possible factor could be punitive damages; it would be separate compensation meant to be used as punishment for extreme negligence.
From 2002 to 2015, over 30 million vehicle recalls were due to defective airbags, specifically those that deploy without cause. Manufacturers who recalled during this period include:
Wrongful death claims are lawsuits brought against a defendant when death is the direct result of either an intentional act or negligence. This type of claim is brought by the estate of the deceased and or by family or close friends; it is filed against any party or parties that are legally liable. The laws of wrongful death vary in every state; however, in every state, the plaintiff must be able to that the victim would not have died had it not been for the defendant’s actions or negligence.
A wrongful death claim can be brought for many reasons; however, the main three are: when a victim is intentionally killed when a victim dies as a result of medical malpractice, and car accident fatalities involving negligence. In cases where a victim is intentionally killed, it is a civil case, separate from the criminal charges brought against the defendant. In lawsuits involving the death of a patient due to medical malpractice, the defendant is often the practicing physician, but the facility where treatment, as well as any other party, found to be accountable in the death can be sued as well. These cases are often defined by a doctor failing to diagnosis a medical illness or by a level of carelessness during patient care. An example of a car accident that led to death due to negligence would be if the defendant drove under the influence, caused an accident, and someone died as a result.
If the lawsuit is won, the plaintiff may be eligible for compensation for the following:
Medical treatment costs that were incurred by the deceased.
In some states, Personal Injury Protection is only required for vehicles that have four or more wheels, leaving motorcyclists without coverage. Even in cases where motorcyclists have a car with Personal Injury Protection, it does not extend to accidents that involve their motorcycle. The lack of insurance can lead to people struggling to pay their bills, especially if their injuries prevent them from working. In most car accidents, where divers have Personal Injury Protection, there is an injury threshold the injured party must exceed before that can sue. However, since motorcyclists do not have Personal Injury Protection, they do not have to exceed or meet the threshold. If it is found that the motorcyclist is not at fault for the accident, they could still sue for compensation of medical bills and other losses, including pain and suffering.
The three factors that affect an injured motorcyclist’s settlement are pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical bills. Pain and suffering are most difficult to determine in a financial because there is no fixed number attached to suffering. Lost wages and medical bills, on the other hand, are the easiest to factor into the settlement because they have set prices, the cost of your medical treatment along with time missed from work, etc. the average settlement in cases where the motorcyclist was found no to be at fault is approximately $74,000. However, the severity of injuries can cause the number to change drastically. For example, the difference between a hurt sprained ankle and herniated disc can vary by approximately $85,000.
Some of the most common injuries sustained by motorcyclists include:
Misdiagnosis occurs when a doctor incorrectly diagnoses one’s injury or illness; this can be caused by misreading scans or results; it can also be described as the failure to produce a diagnosis at all. Misdiagnosis can lead to several things, including the worsening of one’s current condition, delayed correct diagnosis, or death, also known as wrongful death. In misdiagnosis cases, the doctor, hospital, pharmacy, or combination of the three can be sued for violation of “medical standard of care,” which is a reasonable level of skill and consideration that should be given to a patient. In order to file the suit, the injury or death must have occurred due to the misdiagnosis.
When suing for misdiagnosis or negligence, the four elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages must be met. Duty is describing as the responsibility to act as a reasonable and competent doctor would; did the doctor have the duty care for their patient? Breach, is this case defined as the failure to make the proper diagnosis where a reasonable and competent doctor would have; did they breach their duty to care for their patient adequately? For causation, one must show that the injury or death was directly caused by the misdiagnosis. Finally, to prove damages, one must be able to show they suffered because of the misdiagnosis.
Only 1 in every 20 patients is misdiagnosed. The top five most frequently misdiagnosed illnesses are 1) Lupus is misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or rheumatoid arthritis. 2)Parkinson’s disease is misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease, essential tremor, stroke, or stress. 3)Fibromyalgia is misdiagnosed as Rheumatoid arthritis or chronic fatigue syndrome. 4) Lyme disease is misdiagnosed as the flu, meningitis, depression, or mononucleosis. 5) Multiple sclerosis is misdiagnosed as a viral infection, lupus, Alzheimer’s, or bipolar disorder.
As an owner of land or property, there is a certain security level that is expected to ensure that third parties are not at risk when on their property. If a criminal or violent act occurs, the victim can sue the landowner or manager if it is found that they failed to provide adequate security that could have prevented or reduced the crime’s severity. For example, suppose a parking garage fails to provide sufficient lighting or security. In that case, if someone is robbed, the owner could be sued for negligent security. This type of lawsuit is most commonly brought against shopping mall owners, schools, garages, retail stores, and hospitals.
In order to successfully sue, there are certain things the victim must be able to prove. The first is that they were on the property where the crime occurred legally. The plaintiff must also be able to prove that the owner failed to provide or maintain a level of security against “foreseeable criminal activity” at the property and that they suffered directly as a result. Foreseeable criminal activity is essential in negligent security cases; it references whether similar crimes have happened in the area around the property.
An example of negligent security is if the locks on many doors in an apartment building are not functional. Although several tenants have complained, the landlord made no effort to repair or replace the locks. An armed assailant broke into the building and attacked a tenant in his apartment. Or, if a bar is known to routinely become overly crowded or have patrons that regularly become rowdy and fight and the bar’s owners have never employed security guards, and employees are not trained on security procedures. During one altercation, a patron sustained a major head wound and several broken bones.
