Jacksonville, FL – October 8, 2025 – Renowned national insurance defense firm Tyson & Mendes announced a major appellate victory for the defense related to a car collision case involving a rideshare passenger (Brian Schilling v. Progressive Express Ins. Co., Florida 2d District Court of Appeal, 2D2025-0620), affirming our client does not owe any money. The underlying case was handled by Holland “Holly” Howanitz (Southeast Regional Managing Partner for Tyson & Mendes’ Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Tampa, and Atlanta offices and a Partner in the Nashville office), Robert O’Malley (Ft. Lauderdale Branch Office Managing Partner), and Amaia Sanz de Acedo (Partner in Tyson & Mendes’ Ft. Lauderdale office), while Samantha Epstein (Senior Counsel in Tyson & Mendes’ Jacksonville and Atlanta offices) handled the appeal.

In the underlying case, a rider and rideshare driver sued Progressive Express Insurance Company as the at-fault driver was uninsured/underinsured. After plaintiff obtained a verdict on liability and damages, the Tyson & Mendes team motioned the trial court to reduce the verdict to the available policy limit, which the trial court granted after hearing, reducing the judgment to $0. The policy limit was globally tendered, and the entire policy was accepted for one plaintiff. On appeal, the plaintiff sought to have the court use the policy limit’s face value. The Second District Court of Appeals agreed with Tyson & Mendes’ position, affirming the order reducing judgment to available policy limits.

Senior Counsel Samantha Epstein said, “The Apex was a critical part of our strategy and contributed to this victory on appeal. We accepted responsibility for the liability and extent of damages, which highlighted the reasonableness of our arguments and persuaded the judges to affirm.”

The Apex is a data-driven and trial-backed blueprint for the defense, detailed in the forthcoming book, Nuclear Verdicts®: The Apex – Break the Pattern, authored by Founding Partner and National Managing Partner Cayce Lynch, which is available for preorder on Amazon.

For more information and to view career opportunities, visit www.tysonmendes.com. 

About Tyson & Mendes LLP 

Tyson & Mendes LLP is a nationwide, AV-rated litigation and trial firm specializing in insurance defense and protecting its clients from Nuclear Verdicts®. Founded in 2002 by Robert Tyson and Patrick Mendes, the firm has experienced tremendous growth, with offices across the United States. Tyson & Mendes is known for its expertise in defending corporations, insurance companies, and their clients against Nuclear Verdicts®.

Serving 21 states nationwide, Tyson & Mendes is one of the fastest-growing civil defense firms in the U.S. and is proud to offer one of the fastest and clearest paths to partnership for its attorneys of any mid-sized law firm in the U.S. The firm is honored to be recognized as a 2024 Best Law Firm by Best Lawyers, named a 2024 Best Company to Work For: Law Firms edition by U.S. News & World Report, awarded the 2023 Liberty Mutual Insurance External Law Firm Partner of the Year Award, awarded the No. 1 “Ceiling Smasher” in Law360’s 2022 Glass Ceiling Report for female equity partnership, and shortlisted for Financial Times’ 2022 Innovative Lawyers North America Award.

For more information, visit www.tysonmendes.com.

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