Richard Ruhl (Rick) grew up in Charlotte County and was admitted to practice in Florida in 2002, and has been in private practice in southwest Florida since 2003. He attended elementary, junior high, and high school in Englewood and college in Fort Myers, graduating from International College, with a Bachelor's degree, summa cum laude. After this, he finished his Juris Doctorate at St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami in 2001. After admission to the bar, Rick accepted a job with the Public Defender's Office, and from there, accepted a job offer from the Law Office of Robert Distefano in Fort Lauderdale. After spending a year with Robert Distefano, he moved back to Charlotte County to open his own practice. In 2011, Rick joined the firm of Ruhl Law. Contact Rick at Rick@ruhllaw.com or by phone at (855) RUHL-LAW.

Scott Mitchell Fischer joined the law offices of Gordon & Partners in 2005 after having spent a number of prior years working as a defense lawyer. Scott is a competitor by nature who is well known for passionately and aggressively advocating for the rights of his clients, including victims of nursing home abuse and neglect, assisted living facility abuse and neglect, hospital negligence, and victims of serious motor vehicle accidents. Scott has an established track record of success. The defense industry is well aware of his abilities and they often settle to avoid facing him in Court. When cases do not settle out of Court before trial, Scott is always well prepared to obtain justice in trial and he has obtained jury verdicts totaling many millions of dollars. In 2019, Scott conducted a three-week jury trial on behalf of a 97-year-old woman who died after suffering a heat stroke at an Assisted Living Facility. The trial resulted in a verdict of $6,000,000 for Scott's client. Below is a video of a news release regarding the $6,000,000 verdict. Scott also recently won a trial against a hospital in a case where Scott's client fell out of the hospital bed and suffered a broken hip. The jury awarded over $900,000 to Scott's client. That trial was televised on the Courtroom View Network and below is a video of Scott's closing argument from that trial. Scott has handled many high-profile cases. Below are videos of recent investigative news reports from Scott’s cases where nursing homes failed to be prepared to handle the coronavirus crisis and failed to properly provide backup power to their facilities after hurricanes hit and shut off the power.

Michael D. Sechrest is widely recognized by both his clients and the legal profession as a highly-skilled and successful expert litigator. Focused on complex, high-value, multi-party lawsuits, Mr. Sechrest has recovered tens of millions of dollars in damages for his clients. He has a solid record of excellence and applies his dedication, experience, and superior legal skills to every case he pursues. Mr. Sechrest graduated with honors from the University of Florida in 1995 with a difficult dual major in Pre-law and Criminology. He received a J.D. from the University of Florida, Frederic G. Levin College of Law in 1998. Since graduating, he has returned to the University of Florida as a guest lecturer on legal issues in construction. He also serves as an arbitrator on a multi-arbitrator panel for complex business disputes. Mr. Sechrest has represented clients in the areas of business/construction litigation, personal injury, products liability, wrongful death, and medical malpractice. His clients include injured plaintiffs, contractors, subcontractors, architects, business owners, engineers, suppliers, sureties, and lenders. He has litigated against various cities and counties within Florida, the State of Florida, and the U.S. Federal Government. In addition, he has battled against numerous insurance companies including Allstate, Nationwide, MetLife, Geico, Hartford Insurance, Berkshire Hathaway Insurance, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, CNA Insurance, Cincinnati Insurance, Travelers, USAA Group, and Zurich Insurance. He has also taken on large corporations and institutions including Wal-Mart, BP Oil, Goldman Sachs, CVS, Publix Supermarkets, Target, Shands Hospitals, and the University of Florida. In addition, he handles OSHA proceedings, bid protests, and federal and bankruptcy claims involving construction. Mr. Sechrest clearly is not afraid to take on large and powerful defendants. His professional successes and commendations speak for themselves. Call Michael Sechrest and the firm of Warner, Sechrest, & Butts, P.A. today for a confidential consultation. We look forward to providing you with superior legal representation.

Kyle Bagen is an associate attorney with the Bagen Law Firm. As with all the attorneys in the firm, his practice area is limited exclusively to Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, with heavy emphasis on all types of motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, and truck accidents. Kyle was born and raised in north central Florida and is a graduate of Buchholz High School in Gainesville. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and graduated from Barry University School of Law in Orlando. Prior to graduating from law school, Kyle spent several summers working as a law clerk for our firm. He also enjoyed a semester abroad in Spain, studying International Law and traveling throughout Europe. Kyle is an avid motorcycle rider and has also had a lifelong interest in athletics, including basketball, football, and golf. He’s a past winner of the 8th Judicial Bar Association Golf Tournament.

Kyle Bagen is an associate attorney with the Bagen Law Firm. As with all the attorneys in the firm, his practice area is limited exclusively to Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, with heavy emphasis on all types of motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, and truck accidents. Kyle was born and raised in north central Florida and is a graduate of Buchholz High School in Gainesville. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and graduated from Barry University School of Law in Orlando. Prior to graduating from law school, Kyle spent several summers working as a law clerk for our firm. He also enjoyed a semester abroad in Spain, studying International Law and traveling throughout Europe. Kyle is an avid motorcycle rider and has also had a lifelong interest in athletics, including basketball, football, and golf. He’s a past winner of the 8th Judicial Bar Association Golf Tournament.

Attorney Michael “Mike” Ziegler represents consumers and business owners in resolving their difficult debts using bankruptcy, defending collection lawsuits, foreclosure defense, and suing lenders and debt collectors for illegal activities. Mike’s focus is to understand his client’s situation to find the right remedy for them – seeking a solution that is aimed to take the least amount of time, cost, and impact to resolve the problem in front of them

Attorney David A. Haenel is one of the most celebrated criminal defense, DUI and traffic ticket attorneys in Florida. Since 2000, Mr. Haenel has been working to ensure the best possible results in each case he tries. After graduating in the top third of his law school class at the Widener University School of Law, Mr. Haenel went on to earn a Master of Law degree in criminal law from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Mr. Haenel’s career began in the State Attorney’s Office. He was named the State of Florida DUI Prosecutor of the Year while he was in this role. His experience as a prosecutor is now put to work on behalf of clients who are accused of various criminal, DUI and traffic offenses. Mr. Haenel has earned a stellar reputation among his clients and peers. Mr. Haenel is admitted to practice law before the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the State Courts of Florida and the State Courts of New Jersey. He is a member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Sarasota County Bar Association.

Whittel & Melton, LLC is a full service central Florida law practice with an emphasis on representing clients from The Villages in all Personal Injury cases, Wrongful Death tragedies, and serious State and Federal Criminal matters. The firm was formed when Gainesville and Ocala Attorney Robert G. Whittel and Hernando and Sumter County Lawyer Jason M. Melton joined their respective practices to better accommodate their clients in The Villages. The two founding members of the firm are former State Prosecutors and nominees for State and Federal office. Our lawyers and staff are committed to meeting and exceeding our clients' needs. The Villages is a unique and growing area of Florida. No place in Florida is quite like it. We work very hard to accommodate all of our Villages clients. Whittel & Melton's success and reputation has always been based on high quality legal work, performed by well-prepared lawyers who are devoted to their clients. The firm's growth is due in large part to the wide range of services and varied interests of our clients. Our attorneys are proud to deliver a personalized and focused counsel to our many clients in Florida. Whittel & Melton remains dedicated to developing and maintaining long-term relationships in the different communities where we practice. Our firm routinely represents clients from The Villages in the courthouses of Ocala, Bushnell, Tavares, Gainesville, Inverness, Brooksville, New Port Richey, Dade City, Tampa, Orlando and throughout the State of Florida.

Practice Areas: Insurance Litigation, Bad Faith, Products Liability, Ciguatera Poisoning, Establishing Insurance Coverage As one of the few Triple Board Certified attorneys, Mr. Stewart’s practice involves complex litigation in both Federal and State Courts, including helping individuals and businesses who’s insurance companies have abandon them. Mr. Stewart also assists individuals who have been poisoned with a fish borne toxin known as Ciguatera. In addition to receiving dozens of multi-million dollar awards, he received the largest collectible punitive damage verdict in State history, the largest Ciguatera settlement in the Country, what was reported as the largest Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy verdict in Florida, and the largest personal injury verdict ever in Okeechobee County. He also took on the automobile insurance industry for its practice of under-reimbursing health care providers. Mr. Stewart was the first attorney in many years to defeat GEICO in a Powell type Insurance Bad Faith case. Mr. Stewart has been recognized with awards by many organizations for the work he has done, including as a Florida Super Lawyer (given to the top 5% of attorneys) since 2007, Top 100 Trial Lawyer by National Trial Lawyers since 2013, Top Lawyer in Florida by The Legal Network since 2013, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 1996 and he and his firm have attained the highest rating possible, AV, with the Martindale-Hubbell legal directory of exemplary lawyers. He has published and frequently speaks to lawyers, paralegals and law students across the Country. He has taught several courses at Stetson Law School. He also has served as an Adjunct Professor of Constitutional Law at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. Mr. Stewart stays active in his community; including Harmony House, the Miami Project, Habitat for Humanity, The American Cancer Society and public television and radio. However, he has spent most of his time as a member of Palm Beach County Special Olympics’ Steering Committee, where he coordinated the community volunteers for more than ten (10) years. With a proven track record as a trial attorney and multiple a significant victories to his credit, Mr. Stewart’s career has been dedicated to the pursuit of justice. If you have any questions regarding a matter for which you believe Mr. Stewart can assist, he welcomes you to contact him at TStewart@ForTheInjured.com.