Nicholas Freeman, deputy managing partner of the Orlando office, has devoted his entire legal career to civil trial practice. Nick has extensive experience defending product liability claims for manufacturers in numerous industries and provides coverage advice to insurers in the areas of professional liability, commercial general liability contingency, directors and officers, product recall, inland marine, and life, health and disability. He also specializes in representing business owners involved in catastrophic premises liability claims. Other areas in which Nick focuses include insurance coverage, professional liability and trucking and transportation litigation. In each of these, he has obtained summary judgments, defense verdicts and appellate victories in state and federal courts.

Nick’s enviable track record at trial is a function of his understanding of each client’s unique business objectives. He is skilled in conducting aggressive investigations required to furnish his clients with early evaluations and to produce cost-effective results. His combination of legal and practical skills has resulted in long-term affiliations with numerous insurance carriers and large self-insured clients.

Areas of Focus

Complex Tort & General Casualty / Hospitality
Nick regularly represents landowners in premises liability claims. He has extensive experience with lawsuits concerning negligent security, liquor liability, crowd control, drowning, electrocution and pedestrian falls. Nick is knowledgeable in all aspects of theme park liability and has defended a wide range of claims occurring on amusements rides and at entertainment venues. Nick routinely provides consultation to his clients concerning operational policies and risk management strategies that improve safety and reduce litigation.

Product Liability
Nick has an active product liability practice and has defended a diverse range of cases. Nick enjoys helping manufacturers prove that their products are safe and beneficial to the public. Products that he has defended include amusement rides, helmets, window blinds, consumer electronics, medical devices, over-the-counter supplements, food products, go-karts, motor vehicle trailers, tow dollies, traffic control devices, windows, all-terrain vehicles and outdoor power equipment.

Insurance Coverage / Property Insurance
Among Nick's areas of concentration are insurance coverage disputes, including policies providing coverage for professional liability, commercial general liability and life, health and disability. He also has extensive experience litigating claims of property loss and has dealt successfully with both the practical and legal issues involved when doing “front line” property insurance claim assessment and handling, coverage analysis and claims resolution. Nick frequently issues coverage opinions, consults on strategy for handling potential bad faith claims and litigates declaratory judgment actions for his insurance clients.

Professional Liability / Lawyers' Liability
Nick has defended legal malpractice claims in a wide spectrum of underlying legal practice areas. He routinely litigates construction claims against architects, engineers and contractors. Nick also represents accountants, insurance carriers, brokers and agents in professional liability claims.

Trucking, Automobile, Transportation and Cargo
In his representation of a nationwide company that rents moving equipment, Nick has defended cases involving motor vehicle trailers and tow dollies. He has litigated cases involving all issues associated with motor vehicle claims, including allegations of negligent maintenance and failure to supervise and train vehicle operators. Nick has represented national automobile leasing companies in claims involving vicarious liability. He has broad experience with lawsuits that attempt to circumvent limitations on vicarious liability created by the Graves Amendment and Florida statutes.

    Education

    • Stetson University College of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1997)
    • Florida State University (B.S., 1993)

    Bar Admissions

    • Florida

    Court Admissions

    • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
    • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
    • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
    • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida

    Professional Affiliations

    • Orange County Bar Association

    Awards & Honors

    • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2023-2026

Events

Nicholas Freeman, deputy managing partner of the Orlando office, has devoted his entire legal career to civil trial practice. Nick has extensive experience defending product liability claims for manufacturers in numerous industries and provides coverage advice to insurers in the areas of professional liability, commercial general liability contingency, directors and officers, product recall, inland marine, and life, health and disability. He also specializes in representing business owners involved in catastrophic premises liability claims. Other areas in which Nick focuses include insurance coverage, professional liability and trucking and transportation litigation. In each of these, he has obtained summary judgments, defense verdicts and appellate victories in state and federal courts.

Nick’s enviable track record at trial is a function of his understanding of each client’s unique business objectives. He is skilled in conducting aggressive investigations required to furnish his clients with early evaluations and to produce cost-effective results. His combination of legal and practical skills has resulted in long-term affiliations with numerous insurance carriers and large self-insured clients.

Nicholas D. Freeman

Freeman, Greco & Krusbe Prevail on Motion to Dismiss Product Liability Case

Nicholas D. Freeman (Partner-Orlando, FL), J. Peter Greco (Of Counsel-Orlando, FL), and Donna Krusbe (Of Counsel-West Palm Beach, FL) obtained a full dismissal with prejudice in a federal product liability case arising from a fatal vehicle crash. The firm represented a component parts manufacturer accused of designing and supplying a defective trailer axle alleged to have contributed to the incident. The plaintiff alleged that a defective trailer axle required the decedent to stop on the highway, and that resulted in the decedent being struck by another motorist.  Nick, Peter, and Donna successfully argued that there was an unrelated motor vehicle collision that was the true proximate cause of the collision with the decedent, and it was unforeseeable that an alleged axle failure could result in a death under those circumstances. The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida agreed and dismissed all claims with prejudice. 

Nicholas D. Freeman, J. Peter Greco and Donna M. Krusbe

Freeman and Dobuler Prevail in Coverage Matter for Underlying Traffic Accident Fatality

Nicholas D. Freeman (Partner-Orlando, FL) and Dale S. Dobuler (Of Counsel-Orlando, FL) obtained summary judgment in favor of our client insurance company in a declaratory action on the lack of coverage for two severe underlying bodily injury claims and lawsuits brought by two different pedestrians who were injured during a traffic accident involving the client’s insured. While we defended the underlying claims and suits, it was the client’s position that the operative policy did not provide responsive liability coverage for the accident. After filing suit, Nick and Dale quickly moved for summary judgment on the lack of coverage under the policy for the two claims and prevailed in full on that issue. After the successful summary judgment ruling, they sought a final default judgment with respect to certain defendants who had been defaulted in the coverage action. During the subsequent hearing on that issue, Nick and Dale successfully defended against a motion to vacate the default brought by one of the defaulted defendants, and then were successful in obtaining final default judgment on the lack of coverage for our client and the remaining defaulted defendants, bringing the matter to a close and allowing the client to withdraw its defense of the underlying bodily injury suits.

Nicholas D. Freeman and Dale S. Dobuler

Freeman and Taglianetti Prevail for Lloyd’s in Coverage Claim for Hurricane Ian Damages

Nicholas D. Freeman (Partner-Orlando, FL) and Teresa C. Taglianetti (Associate-West Palm Beach, FL) obtained summary judgment in favor of Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London (Underwriters). The lawsuit involved an insurance coverage claim pending in Florida state court that alleged Hurricane Ian caused damages to the plaintiff’s property. In response, Underwriters denied coverage based on the insurance policy’s endorsement, which excluded any coverage for damages to the roof. The insured filed suit to challenge the denial, and Nick and Teresa filed a motion for summary judgment that argued the policy clearly excluded all alleged damages. The court agreed with our arguments and granted summary judgment for Underwriters.  

Nicholas D. Freeman

Benford and Freeman Obtain Favorable Verdict for Distributor of Firearm Parts in False Advertising, Breach of Warranty & Defamation Case

Orlando partners John Benford and Nick Freeman obtained a favorable verdict for less than 2 percent of the amount demanded by the plaintiff after a two-week trial in the Southern District of Florida. Wilson Elser was retained to defend a national distributor of firearm parts in a lawsuit brought by a gun manufacturer that asserted a total of 12 claims based on false advertising, breach of contract, breach of warranty and various defamation counts. The court awarded our client partial summary judgment on 9 of the 12 claims one week prior to trial. The case then proceeded to a 10-day jury trial on two of the breach of warranty claims and one defamation claim. The plaintiff demanded $40 million prior to trial. During the course of the trial, John obtained numerous favorable rulings in limine from the court excluding key portions of the plaintiff’s evidence. During closings, the plaintiff requested an award of $8.5 million from the jury. The jury found for our client on both breach of warranty claims, and for the plaintiff on the defamation claim, awarding plaintiff $500,000 in damages, which represented less than 10 percent of the amount the plaintiff requested from the jury at the conclusion of the trial.

John Y. Benford and Nicholas D. Freeman

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