News

McConnaughhay, Coonrod, Pope, Weaver, Stern & Thomas P.A. is proud to announce John Trawick received an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell. John is located in our Pensacola Office. John was given an AV rating from his peers, which means that he was deemed to...

Furthering our representation of businesses and employers, Jim McConnaughhay and David McCranie submitted an Amicus Brief to the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of a number of business and employer organizations in defense of Florida's Workers' Compensation law. In Stahl v. Hialeah Hospital et al.,...

As tort liability has combined with the digital age, a party's cell phone, and its Electronically Stored Information (ESI), may operate as a goldmine of information in discovery.  A person's smart phone can create a map to the owner's thoughts and actions.  A cell phone may reveal relevant...

Businesses such as hotels, motels, restaurants, and bars have long owed heightened duties to their customers. The basic rule is that the owner or operator of a hotel or restaurant has a duty to exercise reasonable care for the protection of its patrons. Courts have noted, however, that the business...

Litigants have long recognized the need for "expert witnesses" in the presentation of their claims at trial. The term "expert witness" has been defined as a person duly and regularly engaged in the practice of a profession who holds a professional degree from a university or college and has had...

Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has concluded that Uber drivers are contractors and not employees when addressing the issue of entitlement to unemployment benefits. The decision was a result of two Uber drivers who sought unemployment compensation from the company. At the...

Sometimes it is easy to neglect cases involving claimants who have been receiving permanent total disability benefits for long periods of time. The claims are placed on automatic pay status and forgotten. However, they should be evaluated at least on an annual basis. The worst-case scenario would be...

Partner Brian Duffy recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to be closer to his family. Brian practiced at our firm for more than 20 years, providing excellent legal guidance to so many people and organizations and achieving great results. He came to the firm from the Florida State Attorney’s...

In our practice, we have observed that employees are not always forthright in describing prior injuries to prospective or current employers. Fortunately, Florida statutory and case law provides a defense to employers in such situations. The statutory support for this defense is found in Florida...

Partner Jason Taylor in the firm’s Tallahassee office obtained an order granting final summary judgment in favor of a national corporate client in a case involving alleged violations of Florida’s Private and Public Whistleblower Acts. Plaintiff alleged her former employer terminated her 2.5...