Assuming the trial lawyers are equal in skills, most cases are over once the jury has been picked. Fred Catfish Abbott has successfully challenged 36 people for cause during voir dire in a products liability case against General Motors. The ensuing verdict and final judgment were more than Forty Five times the offer to settle.

Fred Catfish Abbott is the President of Abbott Law Group, P.A., a Plaintiffs Personal Injury Law Firm located in Jacksonville, Florida. With over 42 years of experience and well over 170 jury trials in Plaintiffs personal injury and wrongful death. He is recognized as one of the leading trial attorneys in Florida.

He has vast experience handling a variety of significant injury and wrongful death cases including medical malpractice, automobile and motorcycle accidents, bad faith and product liability. Catfish has successfully collected numerous multi-million dollar verdicts against major corporations including General Motors, RaceTrac Petroleum, NAS Jacksonville, Southland Waste Systems, and others. Catfish has been a board certified civil trial attorney for 30 years.

Brent Barton lives in Portland, Oregon, where he represents people who suffered catastrophic injuries. Brent and his wife experienced a difficult pregnancy with their second child, and he has specialized in birth injury cases ever since.

Brent grew up in a small town in Oregon and later graduated from Stanford University, Cambridge University, and Harvard Law School. He served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives before retiring to focus on law.

Jon Gilbert is a lawyer with the Orlando-based law firm, Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter. Since being admitted to the Florida Bar in April 2009, Jon has focused his practice on representing those who have suffered a personal injury, been a victim of medical malpractice, or lost a loved one due to wrongful death.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Jon attended the University of Florida on an academic scholarship, graduating magna cum laude in three years. From there, he attended Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he was inducted into the Phi Delta Phi Honor Society and graduated cum laude in December 2008.

Fighting for crime victims has been Nicole Gorovsky’s passion for her entire career. She has fought to empower survivors and has stood up to criminals and bullies for over 15 years. First, as a State Prosecutor in Boone County, Missouri, Nicole prosecuted hundreds of sex crimes and crimes against children. She also worked with a group to start the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force to track and prevent the production and sharing of child pornography on the on the internet. Then, as a Federal Prosecutor, Nicole worked on Project Safe Childhood – a Federal initiative to prevent child exploitation.

Nicole then went into private practice to represent survivors of crime and abuse in the civil courts. After, seven years working in law firms, Nicole decided to form her own firm, Gorovsky Law, to empower those who have been victimized, exploited or bullied. As a civil attorney, Nicole continues to seek justice for those who have been harmed by filing lawsuits against criminal perpetrators and the institutions that enable and protect perpetrators.

Nicole has participated in over 50 trials – Federal and State. She has argued in the Missouri Supreme Court, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and in each district of the Missouri Court of Appeals. She is also on the Advisory Board of the National Crime Victim Bar Association.

Nicole is married to a prosecutor and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. She also enjoys reading, playing tennis, and watching her kids play. She further enjoys giving presentations to parents, teachers and anyone who is willing to listen about preventing childhood sexual abuse, child safety on the internet, bullying, and the dynamics of abuse.

Nicole attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for her bachelor’s degree and Washington University in St. Louis for her law degree.

Richard M. Shapiro practices catastrophic medical negligence law throughout the country. He has been trying complex personal injury and medical negligence cases for forty years, focusing primarily on severe injury to the spine and brain.

A leader among trial lawyers, he has served as: President of the Florida Justice Association (2003-2004); President of the Southern Trial Lawyers Association (2003-2004); member of the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice (1998-2002). He also sat on the Florida Bar Trial Lawyers’ Section Executive Committee. He has received numerous accolades including STLA’s most coveted award, the War Horse, and the John E. Krupnick Award for Professionalism.

Richard is licensed to practice in FL, PA, and CT. His work is devoted to championing the rights of those who were decimated at the hands of careless health care providers, helping mostly infants and children.

Dr. Sial completed his residency training in physical medicine & rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine before completing his Interventional Spine Fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

He has over 15 years experience practicing interventional minimally invasive spine procedures for pain control. He is the Founder and Owner of American Spine, Spine Injury Accident Leaders who specialize in injury victims. They have over 15 locations throughout Southern California. During his fellowship, he wrote a book chapter in Waldman’s Pain Management textbook called Cervical Facet Syndrome and he specializes in the proper diagnosis and treatment of the spine, facet pain and the treatment of disc injuries causing sciatic low back pain and neck pain.

He is also one of the few physicians in the country who offer endoscopic spine surgery as the least invasive spine surgical procedure.

CLICK HERE to view Dr. Sial’s CV.

Christa Carpenter, RN, Esq., knew she wanted to be a lawyer at age 15 when she went to court and watched attorneys advocate for an injured client in a courtroom. She knew she also wanted to be a nurse to impact patient lives as her parents had done. In 2006, she graduated from the University of Tampa with a 3.98 GPA and double major in criminology and nursing. She was the salutatorian of the school of nursing. She received the Outstanding Senior of the Year Award at the University of Tampa, and was awarded a scholarship to become a bachelors-trained nurse in the surgical trauma intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital upon graduation. In 2007, while working full time as an ICU nurse at a large hospital, Ms. Carpenter enrolled in law school at Stetson University College of Law. She worked as an ICU nurse throughout law school at multiple hospitals, and began work as a law clerk at a prominent Tampa defense firm in 2008. While in law school and working two jobs, Ms. Carpenter earned top grades in Tort Law and Constitutional Law, became an editor of Stetson’s Law Review, and graduated in the top 10% of her class.

Upon graduation in 2010, she joined a prestigious defense firm where she defended healthcare providers, insurance companies, and major hospitals in the Tampa Bay area. In this capacity as a defense attorney, Ms. Carpenter gained invaluable experience. In 2016, Ms. Carpenter founded the Patient’s Law Firm. She has taken cases from inception through trial, with remarkable results. She has represented clients in cases involving significant bodily injury and death. Ms. Carpenter remains current on both medical and legal practice standards through continuing education, seminars, and exposure to complex medical legal issues in cases. She harnesses this dual expertise for the benefit of her clients in their injury cases.

Ms. Carpenter is an active member in the Clearwater Bar Association, Clearwater Bar Young Lawyers Division, Florida Justice Association, Pinellas Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Florida Association for Women Lawyers, and Tampa Bay Trial Lawyers Association.

Eric Czelusta, Esq., is also a partner at the Patient’s Law Firm, P.A., located in Pinellas County, Florida where he represents patients injured by medical malpractice and nursing home abuse. He attended undergrad at Florida Atlantic University, where he maintained a 4.0 grade point average. In 1995, Mr. Czelusta earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and then proceeded to enroll in law school. As a law student at Florida State University, and with the goal of ultimately becoming a trial lawyer, Mr. Czelusta participated in the State Attorney’s trial externship program where he tried seven jury trials as a law student. After graduating cum laude from The Florida State University College of Law in 1998, Mr. Czelusta continued to work at improving his litigation and trial skills as an Assistant State Attorney in Escambia County and later Palm Beach County. As a prosecutor, Mr. Czelusta tried over 50 jury trials to verdict ranging from misdemeanors to life felonies.

In 2000, Mr. Czelusta joined a prominent medical malpractice defense law firm in Palm Beach County, and for the next 11 years he represented physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers in the defense of medical malpractice lawsuits. In 2011, Mr. Czelusta joined a large and well known Pinellas County law firm where he managed that firm’s medical malpractice department and continued his litigation and trial practice representing people who had been injured by medical negligence. Along the way, Eric Czelusta also earned a Florida Bar Board Certification in Civil Trial Law. He has also earned an AV rating by Martindale Hubble through its peer review process. Mr. Czelusta is licensed to practice law in Florida and in Texas

Mr. Czelusta joined Christa Carpenter, RN, Esq., at the Patient’s Law Firm in 2019 where they continue to represent patients injured and families of those killed by medical and nursing home negligence at every stage of litigation from inception to trial. Over the years, Ms. Carpenter and Mr. Czelusta fought to earn over $70,000,000 in settlements and verdicts for their clients in medical malpractice and nursing home abuse cases.

Armen Deukmedjian, MD is a fellowship-trained neurosurgeon, specializing in minimally invasive solutions for both simple and complex spinal pathologies. His focus is on surgical and non-surgical treatments of debilitating neck and back pain.

Dr. Deukmedjian earned his bachelor’s degree in molecular and cell biology from the University of California San Diego, followed by a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University in physiology. He subsequently attended George Washington University for medical school and earned his MD with the highest distinction, being named to the Alpha Omega Alpha honors society.

After medical school, Dr. Deuk completed a seven-year residency in neurosurgery at the University of South Florida, during which he spent the majority of his time focusing on spine surgery. During a research year, Dr. Deukmedjian authored and co-authored over 15 peer-reviewed articles in top tier neurosurgery journals and 10 book chapters. He also spent that year earning a fellowship in minimally invasive and complex spine surgery sub-specializing in lateral minimally invasive approach to the thoracolumbar spine.

After residency, Dr. Deuk worked as an assistant professor in the department of neurosurgery at the University of South Florida. He greatly enjoyed the variety of spinal pathology seen as well as the opportunity to help in educating neurosurgical residents. Part of his practice included working with the James Haley VA neurosurgeons in assisting with complex spine reconstructions.
Dr. Deukmedjian’s surgical interests include degenerative scoliosis correction, spinal arthritis, and treatment of neck and back pain. However, he also treats spinal trauma, fractures, tumors, and congenital defects.

His personal interests include spending time with his wife and growing family. He also enjoys scuba diving, outdoor running, and the Los Angeles Lakers. But most of all, Dr. Deukmedjian enjoys helping his patients overcome longstanding pain using a multimodal approach, not solely relying on surgery.

David Wolf is a partner with the law firm of Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. based in Jacksonville, Florida. For over 30 years, he has represented injury victims and their families in a variety of cases throughout the State of Florida. He has also co-counseled personal injury cases with other attorneys throughout the United States. He is AV Rated and a Platinum Client Champion per the Martindale Hubbell. David is an Eagle Member with the Florida Justice Association.

He is also named as part of the 2020-2021 Super Lawyers with Thomson Reuters. He is the author of 12 books that focus on personal injury matters and the author of over 4,000 articles posted to the Child Injury Lawyer Blog. Through the years, David Wolf has dedicated himself to the grass roots promotion of his law firm and practice areas by connecting with his current clients, by keeping in contact with former clients, by volunteering in the community, and by networking with other attorneys and professionals.

Over the past 5 years, he has presented seminars to small and mid-sized personal injury law firms and at the Florida Justice Association Workhorse Seminar in Orlando, Florida on the topic of marketing and low costs techniques to promote a practice and brand. David is a lifelong Floridian and Double Gator Graduate of the University of Florida. He resides in St. Johns, Florida with his wife, two children who currently attend the University of Florida, and the family’s three rescue dogs.