Kelley Uustal Trial Attorneys

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Fort Lauderdale, FL
Kelley Uustal Trial Attorneys

Kelley | Uustal is a nationally recognized and award-winning personal injury law firm. We dig. We work. We do what it takes to get justice for our clients.

Voted 'Best Personal Injury Firm in Florida' five years in a row by the Daily Business Review. Founded by Robert Kelley and John Uustal, we are dedicated to fighting for justice by protecting victims and punishing intentional wrongdoing and negligence. Our track record of success includes fighting against some of the largest corporations in the world and recovering over a quarter of a billion dollars in compensation for the injured. Our unique Forensic Discovery Methodology allows the firm to reverse-engineer the scene of an accident, injury, or product malfunction. The firm’s attorneys, along with engineers, doctors and scientists, trace the root causes of a personal tragedy back to its earliest and truest origin: often all the way back to the manufacturing facility or corporate boardroom. Our work has resulted in safer vehicles, safer products and ultimately, safer consumers. Our attorneys have been named by their peers as Best Lawyers by the World’s Premier Guide, Top 5% of Attorneys in Florida by Florida Super Lawyers®, Most Effective Lawyers in South Florida by the South Florida Daily Business Review. Outside the courtroom, we are dedicated to improving the lives not just of our clients, but of everyone in our community. To that end, we regularly partner with local and national charities and organizations.

10/13/2026

What’s making headlines at K|U? New Law360 coverage of the Tesla fatal crash case, K|U takes the stage at the Regional Conflict Counsel Summit, and two of our attorneys earn recognition. Swipe for these stories and more.

Read them in full in the latest Kelley | Uustal Brief: https://kelleyuustal.com/ku-brief-september-2026/

10/08/2026

Lawyers are trained to have the answers. Asking for help can feel like admitting you don’t.

But as partner Ricky Armand shared with Braulio Rosa on the Broward County Bar Association Podcast: “It takes strength to be vulnerable and transparent with somebody.”

As World Mental Health Day approaches, a reminder to our colleagues: caring for your mental health is part of doing this work well. If you or someone you know needs support, initiatives like Florida Lawyers Helpline (The Florida Bar), 988 Su***de & Crisis Lifeline, and Florida Lawyers Assistance are there to help.

Read Ricky's insights and find more resources at https://kelleyuustal.com/creating-a-healthy-culture-for-lawyers/

10/07/2026

Those in the legal profession often meet people on the worst days of their lives: the death of a loved one, a terminal diagnosis, the threat of losing their freedom, or the damage left by someone else’s violence.

This is righteous work, and it matters. But it comes with long hours, high stakes and the weight of knowing that every case has a human behind it. As partner Ricky Armand explains, that care doesn’t stop when you walk out of the office.

Lawyers are trained to have the answers. Asking for help can feel like admitting you don’t. In his conversation with Braulio Rosa on the Broward County Bar Association podcast, Ricky offered another perspective: “It takes strength to be vulnerable and transparent with somebody.”

As World Mental Health Day approaches, we’re sharing that conversation as a reminder to our colleagues across the profession: your mental health deserves attention, and asking for help is part of doing this work well.

Read our full blog for Ricky’s insights and more resources on World Mental Health Day: kelleyuustal.com/creating-a-healthy-culture-for-lawyers/

10/01/2026

This October 9th, we’re teeing off for a cause.

Kelley | Uustal is joining the Broward County Bar Association and Young Lawyers Section of BCBA in the 2026 Walter G. “Skip” Campbell, Jr. Memorial Charity Golf Tournament, benefiting Guardian Community. Guardian Community supports veterans and first responders as they work through trauma, rebuild relationships, and connect with others who understand their experiences.

We’re proud to take part in an event that honors Skip Campbell’s legacy of mentorship and service while supporting this year’s cause.

Join us at Plantation Preserve. Registration is open for golf, sponsorships, and the lunch and awards ceremony. Details at: https://kelleyuustal.com/bcba-skip-campbell-memorial-golf-tournament-2026/

09/29/2026

Quality and depth of trial preparation can have profound consequences. That's why K|U has built a unique in-house process for jury research into the way we prepare for trial.

Our Managing Partner, Manny Serra-Jovenich, will present on Jury Social Media Research Intelligence at the Regional Conflict Counsel Summit, hosted by Florida's Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel.

Regional Counsel attorneys handle cases where the stakes couldn't be any higher: a person's liberty, constitutional rights and, in capital cases, life itself may be on the line.

Learn more at https://kelleyuustal.com/ku-jury-social-media-research-conflict-counsel-summit/

09/23/2026

$82.6 million in a breach of contract case.

$60 million against General Motors for a deadly fuel tank defect.

$27 million in a product liability case, where the victim suffered catastrophic burns.

That track record just earned John Uustal, founding partner of Kelley | Uustal Trial Attorneys and founder of Impossible Case Institute and Built Different Trial Academy, the 2027 "Lawyer of the Year" award in Mass Tort Litigation and Class Actions for Plaintiffs, Fort Lauderdale.

Uustal built his career on one principle. The hardest cases matter most, and families who cannot afford to lose need lawyers willing to drive all night to win for them, and honor their trust. He founded two trial firms on that principle, and founded Built Different Trial Academy to train more lawyers willing to take on the cases everyone else walks away from.

09/21/2026

Kelley | Uustal attorney Joshua Novak has been selected for the Florida Justice Association Leadership Academy, joining a statewide cohort of attorneys selected for their leadership within Florida’s civil justice community.

The ten-month program brings together attorneys from across Florida for leadership development, professional coaching, and collaboration with peers shaping the future of plaintiff-side advocacy.

For Novak, the selection builds on an established leadership role as Chair-Elect of the FJA Young Lawyers Section, which works to advance FJA’s mission of protecting Florida’s civil justice system.

At Kelley | Uustal, Novak represents individuals and families in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, including product liability, motor vehicle crashes, premises liability, negligent security, and medical malpractice. His selection places him among a cohort of attorneys emerging as leaders in Florida’s plaintiff bar.

Leadership Academy Class of 2026-2027:

Joshua Novak, Kelley Uustal Trial Attorneys
Delton Gunn, Gunn Law Group, P.A.
John Mark Hundhausen, 1800AskDave
Alyssa Lettman, The Tinstman Law Firm
Halley Lewis, Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa
Roberto Lopez, Ralph Sanchez Law
Tucker Norton, Coker Law
Lauren Pozna, Blake Trial Law
Apolonia Santibanez, Emerson Straw Injury & Accident Lawyers
Natalie Shoemaker, Swope, Rodante, Newsome & Steinberg P.A.

Read more at https://kelleyuustal.com/joshua-novak-fja-leadership-academy/

09/14/2026

From new sanctions in our case against Tesla to the latest BCBA Board of Directors appointment: swipe to read more about what's new with Kelley | Uustal within the courtroom and in the Broward legal community.
Read the full latest edition of The Kelley | Uustal Brief: https://mailchi.mp/kulaw.com/the-k-u-brief-verdicts-cases-coverage

09/04/2026

Powerful corporations are used to not being held accountable. For generations, they’ve caused physical and deadly harm to people and their families, then walked away with a fine.
The reality is that, in many of cases, they calculated the risk, ran the numbers on human lives against their profit margin, and decided that harm was worth it. Fining a corporation a small percentage of what it made from conduct that harmed or killed people isn’t justice, it's encouragement.
One of our recent product liability cases was turned down by eight other firms before we turned it in to a $27 million recovery. They almost got away with it. The manufacturer tried to argue that our client was at fault for causing catastrophic burns to a toddler. We didn’t buy it. We investigated, tested, and we found what the manufacturer had known all along: the product was dangerous. They never warned the public, never issued a recall.
Real accountability doesn’t come with a discount. It comes when the people harmed are finally put ahead of corporation's bottom line

09/02/2026

"Accountability” is easy to talk about. Much harder is explaining how it actually happens.

K|U Partner, Cristina Pierson, sees it this way: an individual person is often badly outmatched when the other side has unlimited money and institutional power.

That is where the justice system matters. It can level the playing field. With the right lawyer, one person can use that system to investigate what happened, compel evidence, put facts in front of a jury, and force a powerful defendant to answer for its conduct.

Accountability is not an abstract idea. It is a process. And the justice system is what gives an individual the power to pursue it.

General Motors knew their fuel tank design put customers at risk, and they chose not to fix it. Adding a shield would have cost $4.50 per vehicle. GM decided that wasn't worth it.

That decision cost a young boy, Shane McGee, his life.

John Uustal obtained secret internal documents GM had buried, study results the American public had never seen. At trial, those documents came out and proved this was never a mistake. It was a calculated decision to let people burn alive rather than spend $4.50 to prevent it.

Having a lawyer who fights for you made the difference. The McGee family received $60 million in damages for the wrongful death of their son.

The message was clear: companies that gamble with human lives to increase their own profit can be held accountable.

Address

500 N Federal Highway Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale, FL
33301

Website

http://www.kelleyuustal.com/

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