Healey, Matthew S.

Randy Schimmelpfennig was born October 6, 1956, in Pekin, Illinois. He is a 1974 graduate of Tremont (Ill.) High School and earned his Bachelor's degree from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1978. Mr. Schimmelpfennig attended The University of Tulsa College of Law in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he earned his Juris Doctorate Degree with Honors in 1989. He is a member of the Order of the Curule Chair, which is the highest honor that a University of Tulsa Law School graduate can receive. During law school, he served as the Editor-In-Chief of the Tulsa Law Journal, and his Case Note, "Louisiana's 'Balanced-Treatment' Act and the Establishment Clause: Edwards v. Aguillard," was published at 23 Tulsa Law Journal 235, Winter 1987. During his Third Year of Law School, Mr. Schimmelpfennig was selected as one of three Outstanding Senior Students in the State of Oklahoma by the Oklahoma Bar Association.

Mr. Schimmelpfennig joined the Florida Bar in 1989 and became a member of the bar of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 1991 and the bar of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 1994. During the early years of his practice, he worked as a litigation associate for one of Florida's largest personal injury defense law firms.

In 1997, Mr. Schimmelpfennig left the insurance defense practice and began representing individuals and companies in claims against insurance companies. In 2003, he became Board Certified by the Florida Bar in the field of Civil Trial Law. Established in 1982 by the Florida Supreme Court, board certification provides consumers with assurance in the selection of legal counsel. Certification is the highest level of recognition by The Florida Bar of the competency and experience of attorneys in the areas of law approved for certification by the Supreme Court of Florida. Of the over 80,000 members of The Florida Bar, only approximately 4,200 are Board Certified. Certified lawyers in civil trial law deal with litigation of civil controversies in all areas of substantive law before state and federal courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators. In addition to actual pretrial and trial process, civil trial law includes evaluating, handling and resolving civil controversies prior to the initiation of suit.

Mr. Schimmelpfennig has also been honored with the prestigious AV Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the preeminent national publication in the legal field. According to Martindale-Hubbell, "An AV rating is a significant accomplishment - a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence. A lawyer must be admitted to the bar for 10 years or more to receive an AV rating. This rating is based upon evaluations by other lawyers and is the highest ranking attainable by an attorney for ability and ethics in the practice of law. It is a distinction reserved for a select few in the legal community."

In addition to his trial practice, Mr. Schimmelpfennig has represented a number of clients in their appeals to the District Courts of Appeal in Florida. Among the published decisions in Mr. Schimmelpfennig's cases are Sinfort v. Food Lion, LLC, 908 So.2d 521 (Fla. 5th DCA, 2005) (a case clarifying the standards for recovery in slip and fall cases); Hoenstine v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 736 So.2d 761 (Fla. 5 DCA, 1999) ; Bankers Security Ins. v. Brady, 765 So.2d 870 (Fla. 5th DCA, 2000); and Nationwide v. Holiday, 864 So.2d 1215 (Fla 5th DCA 2004).

Mr. Schimmelpfennig has been married to his wife, Kathy, for over thirty years. They have two children, Elizabeth and Johnathan. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida.