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
Expérience
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
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
