Derek Barba

Derek Barba

Derek B. Barba was born and raised in Miami and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and International & Comparative Studies from the University of Miami in 1994.  Mr. Barba attended St. Thomas University School of Law where he earned a J.D. degree in 1997.

In 1997, Mr. Barba began his career in personal injury defense that over the course of his career included all aspects of cases including Wrongful Death, trucking, automobile accidents, slip and falls, negligent security, medical malpractice, assisted living facility malpractice, insurance coverage issues, “Bad-Faith”, negotiations of Bad Faith claims and catastrophic accident cases whereby “Bad-Faith” was being alleged.

Mr. Barba has tried more than 40 jury trials across Florida.  Mr. Barba is fluent in Spanish and has handled multiple cases with Spanish speaking defendants that have gone to trial.

• Member of Defense Research Institute
• Dade County Bar Association
• Admitted to Federal Bar Southern District
• Member of Florida Bar since 1998

• Miami Dade Jury returned a verdict finding Plaintiff 75% at fault for highway auto accident and awarding $120 in past medical expenses, $0 in future medical expenses and $5,000 in past pain and suffering. After comparative fault and collateral source reductions, the verdict was reduced to $1,250.  The plaintiff claimed Cervical and Thoracic Herniations with anterior cervical discectomy performed and Chiropractic Treatment for a total of $98,000 in medical expenses.  Fees were triggered under a Proposal for Settlement filed on behalf of the defendant whereby nothing was paid by the defendant or her carrier.
• Defended case where 20 year old plaintiff claimed injury to her shoulder and underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery with no prior history of trauma and obtained a defense verdict where the jury found that the claimed injury was not caused by our accident.
• Obtained a defense verdict in a case where the plaintiff was involved in a roll-over motor vehicle accident claiming Cervical and Lumbar Herniations.
• Defended a case on liability for defendant’s failure to warn of overhang where the plaintiff drove a truck into an overhang at a high rate of speed and obtained a defense verdict with a finding of no liability.
• Defended a slip and fall case where the plaintiff had a fracture of his ankle and required an open reduction internal fixation surgery as well as a second surgery to remove the hardware and obtained a verdict of 50% liability and reduced the medical expenses significantly whereby the total verdict was $8,000.
• Vast experience defending all aspects of personal injury cases and resolving them to the satisfaction of the clients during the course of discovery, at mediation or if necessary, obtaining a favorable Verdict at trial.
• Developed strategy and means to defend cases that involve minimally invasive surgical procedures or percutaneous discectomies/disc decompressions by establishing defense strategies to attack the science as well as the medical billing under Letters of Protection as excessive and unreasonable.