"Ira H. Leesfield"

Published on: December 10, 2024

Walton County Police Find Boater’s Body After Vessel Took On Water

Authorities with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that they found the body of a missing boater after a two-day-long search.

The man, Benjamin Goodman, 35, launched a boat onto the Choctawhatchee Bay in the Florida Panhandle near Destin Tuesday. After his boat began taking on water, submerging the stern, he called his wife for help. During the call, the police say Goodman told his wife he planned to use a bucket to manually bail water from the vessel and stay afloat. She called the authorities who began searching for him and found the boat Tuesday evening, its bow peeking above the water.

“His brother and other family members have spent every moment possible since Tuesday night trying to locate Ben who, they say, grew up on the bay and loved being on the water,” The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said in an announcement via X Thursday afternoon.

Published on: July 3, 2024

Leesfield & Partners Wants You To Stay Safe This Summer. Here Are A Few Summer Safety Tips.

By Leesfield & Partners

In the same way as the popular saying, “April showers bring May Flowers,” summertime liberties can breed several injuries.

Though it might not be as catchy, the latter is no less true. With an increase in outdoor activities, recreation, and travel, the warmer season has a propensity for injury. With the warm and sunny weather outside and school out for anywhere between two and three months for summer vacation, many families take the opportunity to travel, go on cruises, and or try recreational activities they are not accustomed to in their everyday lives such as go-karting, parasailing, or jet skiing.

Cruise Ship Injuries

Published on: July 3, 2024

Major Florida Highway renamed in honor of famous Leesfield & Partners client almost a year after his death

By Leesfield & Partners

Parrotheads can serenade themselves in traffic about lost salt shakers to their hearts’ content as they drive down State Road A1A, now renamed “Jimmy Buffet Memorial Highway,” thanks to one of two bills signed late last week.

Gov. Ron De Santis, R-FL, signed the bills that will now honor the late singer who passed away last September from a type of skin cancer, according to reporting from CBS Miami. The first bill would name State Road A1A after Buffet and the second would create a “Margaritaville” specialty license plate in honor of his most famous song. Proceeds from the specialty license plate will go to the Singing For Change Charitable Foundation founded by Buffet and initially funded by the earnings of his 1995 summer tour. The bills are slated to take effect starting Oct. 1.

Buffet was among some of the most influential clients represented by Leesfield & Partners, a personal injury and wrongful death law firm that opened its doors in 1976. The law firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira H. Leesfield, spoke about his friendship with Buffet and history representing him as an attorney during an interview with the Two Lawyers Walk Into A Bar podcast hosted by Cooper Knowlton and Lee Bergstein, partners at a New York City-based real estate law firm.

Published on: June 14, 2024

Boy hailed as hero after saving parents, siblings from close call with carbon monoxide at their West Virginia home, officials say

By Leesfield & Partners

Parents who chide their kids over playing late-night video games might think differently after hearing the news of Matteo Policano Wednesday in West Virginia.

Matteo, 10, was up late playing video games while his parents and four siblings slept when he heard a strange noise, according to reporting from a local news station. At first, the young gamer told reporters he thought the sound was from his game and ignored it. As the sound persisted, however, he became alarmed and woke up his father. They discovered the sound was coming from a carbon monoxide detector and, thinking it may need a battery change, the father decided to switch them out for new ones. When a second carbon monoxide detector within the home started ringing, the parents knew the situation was serious and rang emergency responders. An investigation discovered that “large amounts” of carbon monoxide was leaching into the basement from the family’s pool heater.

Hazards of Carbon Monoxide

Published on: June 9, 2023

Over $1.2 million secured in back to back Key West settlements

By Leesfield & Partners

In the Courtroom

Partner Justin Shapiro represented a family visiting Key West from California that was involved in a jet ski incident and the firm represented the family of a Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy injured in a motor vehicle accident.

Unparalleled Experience and Success Representing Victims of Jet Ski Incidents

Published on: November 15, 2022

Leesfield & Partners Celebrates 35 Years of Excellence Representing Injured Victims in Key West

By Leesfield & Partners

In 1987, Leesfield & Partners opened their offices in Key West on the heels of a wrongful death case tried to verdict by Ira Leesfield. For the past four decades, the firm’s involvement in Monroe County has continued to grow both in the courts and in the community through educational programs, scholarships and contributions to numerous food banks. Every year the firm is a proud sponsor to the Marques Butler Memorial Softball annual tournament that is held in honor and memory of Marques Butler, a former client. The firm also looks forward to organizing, sponsoring and participating in the Monroe County Bar Association’s Annual Continuing Legal Education luncheon customarily held at Leesfield & Partners’ Key West Offices on Whitehead Street.

It is through its personal injury practice that the firm makes the biggest difference in the community. Most recently, the law firm obtained an 8-figure settlement stemming from a house fire in Ramrod Key. This is the second time the firm has secured such a result for clients. A few years ago Leesfield & Partners tried E.E. vs. XYZ Resort Hotel & Marina and MARK JASON HOLMES to verdict and won $40,580,000 for his client. To this day, this remains the highest personal injury verdict in the history of Monroe County.

Ira Leesfield and his law firm also reached a seven-figure settlement on behalf of an Iowa family that was injured following carbon monoxide exposure at a Key West Hotel. In addition to proving that the hotel’s negligent repair to the boiler roof vent caused carbon monoxide to be forced back down into the boiler room of the hotel and into the adjoining guest rooms where our clients slept, the firm successfully fought for passage of Senate Bill 1822. It was the first law at the time that required public lodging establishments to install one or more carbon monoxide detectors that we all take for granted today.

Published on: May 26, 2022

Fatal Boating Incident in Florida Keys Results in $1.7 Million Settlement

By Leesfield & Partners

On Memorial Day, our client’s young boy who was snorkeling at the time was run over by a family boat operated by a 6-grader while at full speed and on a full plane. The propeller fatally injured him. Despite having a diver’s down flag prominently displayed, the reckless teenager who never should have been trusted with operating the boat alone fled the scene, went home, covered up evidence of his crime and lied to the police. Our investigation found five witnesses who saw him flee at full speed.

A lawsuit was filed against multiple defendants including the parents under counts of negligent entrustment and negligent supervision. Courts look at the following elements of negligent entrustment when the allegation is made against the parents of a young child: whether the parent entrusts an instrumentality to a child who because of his lack of (1) age, (2) judgment or (3) experience, may become a source of danger to others. In this case, our firm was able to satisfy every element by establishing that the recklessness behavior of the 13 year-old child/boat operator

Whether the parents knew or should have known with due care that injury to another was possible because of their child’s past reckless operation of the boat would constitute negligent supervision. We established through witness testimony, including from one neighbor who had previously seen the teen operating his boat in a reckless manner while the neighbor’s family was snorkeling at the docks off his house.

Published on: September 30, 2015

Justin Shapiro made Partner at Leesfield & Partners

By Leesfield & Partners

Leesfield & Partners, a leading Miami-based personal injury law firm recently announced Justin B. Shapiro is being named partner. He joined the firm in 2011 and will help lead the firm’s Recreational and Resort Litigation Section.

“As we enter our 40th year in practice this October, Justin’s promotion is a clear indicator of our continued growth,” said Managing Partner Ira Leesfield.

justin shapiro.jpg Justin received his juris doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, graduating at the top of his class, and was inducted to the Order of the Coif. He holds a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the University of Central Florida. Since graduation, Justin has actively litigated hundreds of cases for the firm’s statewide practice, obtaining outstanding results in complex personal injury matters.

His verdicts and settlements for severely injured clients have been recognized by leading Florida journals and organizations. He will continue to focus his practice in the areas of personal injury/wrongful death, premises liability, auto and motor vehicle accidents, and complex personal injury cases.

He is actively involved in numerous professional organizations, including the Florida Justice Association, an organization dedicated to protect the rights of Florida citizens, the Dade County Bar Association and the Coral Gables Bar Association.

Justin is married to Karina Smuclovisky, who is also a practicing attorney. They reside in Coral Gables, Florida.
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Published on: October 29, 2012

Key West’s Fantasy Fest coming to a close with a rash of traffic accidents

By Leesfield & Partners

Yesterday, the annual Fantasy Fest was drawing to a close, but countless visitors and locals will not forget several terrible accidents which caused Overseas Highway to be shutdown for several hours by police.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy Becky Herrin told the Sun-Sentinel that they “expect heavy traffic, possibly with a bottleneck in Islamorada that sometimes stretches to the Long Key Bridge. Our roads can only hold so many cars. And Fantasy Fest pretty much maxes out our traffic.”

During the last weekend of the festivities in Key West, Florida Highway Patrol and numerous Sheriff’s Deputies responded to more than 21 motor vehicle accidents. One of them involved the collision of a motorcycle with another car at mile marker 29.5 in Big Pine Key. One of the two people on the motorcycle was severely injured and rushed to Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon where he was pronounced dead. The second occupant was flown to Miami by helicopter for further medical treatment.

Several hours earlier, two vehicles collided at mile marker 41 on the seven-mile bridge, which required the emergency rescue and transport to three people to Fishermen’s Hospital.

Over the years, the road to and from Key West has seen thousands of car accidents, with many resulting in fatalities. The causes for these crashes are often times attributed to speeding, alcohol, or texting. A study has revealed that between 2006 and 2010, Monroe County averaged 1,329 car accidents every year. Also, in the last 34 years, ending in 2009, the number of fatal car accidents throughout the county of Monroe was drastically higher than the average for the rest of the state of Florida. In the past ten years, there have been more than 220 fatal accidents in Monroe County.

Leesfield & Partners have established their offices in Key West over three decades ago and have been a staple in the personal injury landscape in Key West and throughout the Florida Keys.
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