Michele Vargas

Full Profile

Michele Vargas devotes the majority of her practice to insurance coverage litigation that often involves million-dollar policies in a variety of areas, including commercial general liability, director and officer liability, and excess liability as well as other personal lines. Michele is involved in all phases of the litigation process, including the drafting of pre-trial pleadings, motions, coverage letters, jury instructions and bench briefs. She has routinely settled contentious multimillion dollar claims.

During law school, Michele clerked for the Honorable Gisella Cardonne, Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.

Admissions

• Florida
• US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• US District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida

Education

• J.D., St. Thomas University School of Law, 2003
• B.A., cum laude, Political Science and Psychology, St. Thomas University, 2000

Memberships

• Hispanic National Bar Association
  • Florida Regional Deputy President of External Affairs
  • Human Trafficking Task Force Director

Experience

• Selective Ins. Co. of Southeast v. William P. White Racing Stables, Inc., 718 Fed. Appx. 864, 11th Cir., 2017
• Kelly v. Maxum Specialty Ins. Group, 868 F.3d 274, 3d Cir., 2017
• OMS Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Turbyfill, 176 F. Supp. 3d 1307, N.D. Fla., 2016
• Twin City Fire Ins. Co. v. CR Tech. Inc., 90 F. Supp. 3d 1320, S.D. Fla., 2015
• Scipione v. Advances Stores Co., Inc., M.D. Fla., 2012
• De Varona v. Discount Auto Parts, LLC, S.D. Fla., 2012
• Jiminez-Carillo v. Autopart Int’l, Inc., et. al., S.D. Fla., 2012
• Bray & Gillespie v. Lexington Ins. Co., M.D. Fla., 2010
• Bailey v. Johnson & Johnson, Inc., et al., 11th Cir., 2008
• Ocean Bank v. Alvarez, Fla. 3d DCA, 2007

Presentations

• Chair and Speaker, Human Trafficking Conference, Hispanic National Bar Association, January 2014 and January 2012
• "Congressional Hispanic Caucus," Ready to Lead Project, Miami, Florida, 2011
• Chair and Speaker, Immigration Symposium on Arizona SB 1090, Hispanic National Bar Association, March 2011
• Guest speaker, NBC 6 South Florida Morning Show

Publications

• Author, "Florida Domestic Partnership Agreements," Florida Equality Project
• Co-author, "Vioxx: Setting the Standard for Future Mass Tort Litigation and Settlements," What's Hot in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation, DRI Products Liability Conference, March 2008