Practice AreasIn today's business and legal environment, matching your needs with the correct firm is crucial to the successful outcome of your case. As an informed consumer of legal services, you need to be sure that the firm you select is in fact qualified to handle the matter at hand. To that end, what follows is a brief description of the type of matters our firm handles. We have made a solid commitment to these areas of the law, and we can assure you the best possible legal representation. Smith Hood Bigman Automobile Liability Defense attorneys represent corporations, municipalities, insurance companies, rental car companies, and their insureds, in almost every facet of auto liability law. We provide specialized legal services in liability and damages litigation defense, uninsured and underinsured motorist claims defense, coverage issues, declaratory judgment actions, interpleader actions, low impact and causation defense, and bad faith liability.
Banks and financial institutions collect deposits from individuals and entities and invest those funds in loans, securities, and other assets. Our firm assists depositors, lenders, and borrowers in accordance with intricate state and federal banking statutes and regulations. Our attorneys have experience in lending and secured transactions, loan workouts, mortgages and foreclosures, public finance, state and municipal bonds and financing, venture capital, and international banking matters. The form of business chosen for a business entity potentially affects every aspect of its operations. Our firm assists our clients in formation and business planning in deciding whether they want to operate as a closely held business, limited liability company, partnership, or corporation. We advise our clients about directors’ and officers’ liability, dissolution, franchising, reorganization, trade association membership and activity, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, business successions, and shareholders’ rights. Our firm has extensive experience defending the rights of people arrested and accused of criminal offenses. Our lawyers in this area are all former prosecutors. We handle all types of criminal cases, from the most serious felonies, such as murder, drunk driving, drug possession, narcotics sales, theft and grand larceny, white collar fraud, embezzlement, sex offenses, arson, conspiracy, as well as misdemeanors. Our firm handles a full range of employment matters including discrimination issues, civil rights, wage and hour claims, and other employment disputes and planning matters. Our firm handles a variety of estate planning matters, which involves planning for the distribution of an individual’s property at his or her death, taking into account wills, taxes, insurance, property, and trusts so as to gain the maximum benefit of all laws, while carrying out the person’s wishes. Our firm handles a full range of family law matters including adoption, divorce, separation, premarital agreements, paternity, custody, and support. One of our senior partners is certified by the Florida Bar as an expert in this area of practice, and oversees the firm’s work in this field. Our firm has extensive experience in the large and complex body of health and health care law, which encompasses areas such as disability law, elder law, hospital law, and mental health law and is impacted by Social Security Disability, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Food and Drug Administration. Our firm has extensive experience in the vast field of insurance defense law including, but not limited to, policy analysis and coverage disputes, bad faith and reinsurance matters, and alternative dispute resolution. Additionally, the firm represents insurance companies in various types of commercial litigation unrelated to coverage disputes.
Our firm represents and advises clients who are or might become involved in a lawsuit or appeal as a result of a dispute. We help clients in avoiding litigation and in settlement negotiations where appropriate. Our litigation and appellate work encompasses all of our other areas of practice. The attorneys in our firm who practice in the state, local and municipal law area have expertise and knowledge in the areas of powers and liabilities of state and local government and municipal corporations, including matters such as land use and zoning issues, municipal employment disputes, and injuries to person or property by municipal employees. Our firm aggressively represents individuals injured as a result of another’s negligence or wrongdoing. Personal injury includes more than physical pain and suffering; it can also encompass wrongs to another’s person, rights, reputation, or property resulting from events or activities such as automobile accidents, defective products, intentional misconduct, and negligence. Our attorneys work to get injured people and their families the financial settlements and awards they need to put their lives back together. Smith Hood Bigman has represented products manufacturers including tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies, bathroom fixture manufacturers, amongst others. Products liability defense involves the representation of manufacturers and sellers of allegedly defective products. We defend companies who are sued by plaintiffs allegedly injured due to defects in the design or manufacture of a product. Generally, the injured parties claim that additional safety features should have been included or that a necessary part was improperly manufactured or installed on a product. Our firm represents both commercial clients and individuals in all proceedings and transactions that deal with real property (land and the structures attached to it), including purchase and sale, construction, mortgages and foreclosures, leases, zoning, title examinations, quiet title actions, closings, and management Our firm represents individuals and commercial clients in matters with tax implications to identify and address state and federal tax issues, structure transactions in such a way as to minimize taxes, and avoid inherent tax problems. Smith Hood Bigman is local counsel to Philip Morris, USA, an Altria company which is the nation's leading cigarette manufacturer. In that capacity, we are helping in the defense of hundreds of Engle progeny cases. Our attorneys represent employers, self-insured carriers, and insured companies in claims for lost wages and medical treatment claims under the worker's compensation system. They handle issues dealing with defenses, fraud, subrogation, and appeals. Smith, Hood, Loucks, Stout, Bigman & Brock, P.A. |
Suite 900 | Daytona Beach
Florida, 32118
Phone: 386 - 254 - 6875
Facsimile: 386 - 257 - 1834
