Started in 1990, the firm has a varied practice, but the emphasis is on nursing home neglect and medical malpractice. “We have been doing this for 12 years and what we have seen is improvements in the care,” said Frank Ashton, managing partner. “Truly, I credit litigation with forcing the nursing homes to institute needed changes.”
WHAT DOES ASHTON DO?
Ashton is responsible for his own case load and administration of the firm.
WHAT ELSE DO THEY DO?
Medical malpractice, personal injury, business, commercial corporate contract, estate and trust, product liability, probate, real estate, securities and tax law, civil litigation and appellate practice in personal injury and commercial matters in all federal and state courts.
IS THERE A LOT OF NURSING HOME NEGLECT IN FLORIDA?
“Unfortunately there is, and there are a number of reasons why. For awhile, for-profit corporations were coming in and taking over these facilities and operating them. Their eye was to the bottom line and the bottom line for them in many cases meant cutting staff and doing things in what they would call cost efficient ways as possible. That meant many facilities were understaffed, people who were being hired were being paid below average wages and the patients were simply being neglected.”
WHAT TYPE OF NEGLECT HAVE YOU SEEN?
“Eight or nine years ago, we used to see people routinely tied up in wheelchairs and tied into beds. We don’t see that anymore. And it’s because of litigation we don’t see that. They are more sensitive to issues such as bed sores where people who are unable to move were left in bed for extended periods of time without adequate care and would develop massive wounds related to unrelieved pressure. We still see our fair number of them, but we are not seeing as many of them as we used to see.”
DIFFICULT TOPIC
TO TACKLE?
“It can be a difficult topic, but I think what all of us who do this kind of work understand is that we all have parents who may be in nursing homes soon. We all recognize that we each have the possibility of ending up in a nursing home ourselves. You want the facilities that are operating here to be the very best that we can have.”
WHO ELSE IS IN THE FIRM?
James Cobb, Eugene Peek III, David Peek, Thomas Edwards Jr. and Joel Toomey are partners. Eric Ragatz is an associate. They also have five secretaries, three paralegals and two nurse consultants.
LOCATION
In the Riverplace Tower on the Southbank. It has been there since it opened. There’s also an office in Ocala.
ARE YOU PLANNING TO EXPAND THE FIRM?
Yes, as the case load requires. “Right now we are busy, but we are not actively recruiting.”
LATERAL OR NEW ATTORNEYS?
“In most cases, we hired laterally because we look for somebody who has a little bit of experience. Often times they are relatively junior, like first- or second-year attorneys. We have hired out right out of law school, but we tend to go laterally.”
WHAT DO YOU OFFER
YOUR CLIENTS?
“A degree of expertise and sophistication in the areas of our speciality that few other firms can match simply because we’ve done this so long and we have become so well known for it. We’ve tried more cases in the nursing home field than anyone else in this area. We limit our practice to those areas that we have particular expertise.”
WHAT MAKES YOUR
FIRM UNIQUE?
“I don’t know that we are different, except that we have opted to specialize and we are known for our speciality. We receive referrals from a lot of law firms in this area and other areas. We handle cases all over the state particularly as it relates to nursing home work.”
ENCOURAGE PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT?
Yes. One of the partners, Edwards, is a past president of the Jacksonville Bar Association. “I think it is important for every lawyer to have involvement in the legal community, not only to know the other lawyers, but to encourage responsibility in the law. It is just important that we get together and understand the difficulties that other lawyers might be having. We have an opportunity to suggest ways to remedy some of those difficulties and those people have an opportunity to give us some input also. It’s just a sharing of legal ideas that I think is very helpful and something that all lawyers should do.”
CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
“We do a lot of civic things. For instance, I serve as the chairman of the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission.” The firm also does fundraising for various charitable organizations, including the United Way, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF WITH
YOUR FIRM?
“I’m most proud of the work that we have done on behalf of the families and the injured people. We’ve done a good job for them and we are proud of that. You can take situations where people have really suffered some tragic injuries and they are going to be impacted by that for the rest of their lives and you have at least allowed them to receive sufficient compensation so they can lead as close to a normal life as they can. They can get cared for, get the special medical attention that they need or have special devices that they need to help deal with a particular physical disability.”
— by Michele Newbern Gillis