News Briefs
74 Wilson Elser Attorneys Named Ones to Watch by Best Lawyers in America 2026
August 21, 2025
Caroline (Claire) Turtle handles a wide array of complex civil litigation matters and has extensive experience in state and federal courts. Claire focuses her practice on commercial litigation and general liability defense of claims involving premises liability, products liability, construction, transportation and insurance coverage. Claire skillfully represents various entities, including hospitals, banks, retail stores and other large corporations.
Claire is an adjunct professor at The University of Tampa’s Sykes College of Business, teaching Business Law.
Prior to joining Wilson Elser, Claire worked at a national law firm where she represented employers in labor and employment matters and handled numerous age, sex and race discrimination lawsuits. She also gained significant experience managing all aspects of wage-and-hour disputes. During law school, Claire was a law clerk at a Syracuse, New York, firm, where she honed her writing and communication skills drafting federal and appellate briefs.
James Kloss (Partner-Orlando, FL), Rachel Walters (Of Counsel-Miami, FL) and Claire Turtle (Associate-Orlando, FL) were brought into a slip/trip-and-fall case on the eve of trial to represent the janitorial services company at a mall. While the court recognized it was unfair to have a trial on such short notice, the case was on the Florida Supreme Court’s list and, as such, the court did not have the freedom to continue the case. The team was unable to retain experts (but did share experts already retained by the co-defendant) or depose the plaintiff due to the limited time frame before trial. The plaintiff’s most recent demand to our client was $1.2 million. The plaintiff alleged he tripped and fell over an outlet in the carpet flooring of the mall premises. The plaintiff claimed our client owed a duty to notify the mall of a dangerous condition, and to reasonably maintain the area. The team filed a motion for summary judgment on lack of duty, arguing our client owed no duty based on its contract language and the scope of janitorial services. Per the limited contractual services, our client was under no duty to reasonably maintain the premises. The motion was heard less than a month before trial, and the judge granted the motion finding “based on the plain language of the contract, [the janitorial service] was under no duty to reasonably maintain the premises.”
James M. Kloss, Rachel C.G. Walters and Caroline Claire Turtle