Michael Elsberry has maintained a varied practice of law since beginning in 1975. Early in his career, he was involved in the representation of major insurance companies, often in the role of defense counsel in an “insurance defense” case. Some of the insurance policyholder representation led to more direct representation of the insurance companies, including an appeal early in his career of a declaratory judgment action on insurance coverage. That case has now become recognized as one of the seminal authorities for the determination of the relative rights among insurance carriers with multiple policies covering the same insured or same group of insured. Michael also represented the parties in the appeal of a case of first impression, regarding Florida’s joint and several liability statutes as they evolved over time, and the apportionment of responsibility under those statutes. The interplay of those statutes and Florida’s proposal for settlement rules was also addressed on some of those appeals. In another case of first impression in Florida, and perhaps even in the United States, Michael represented a corporation and its principal shareholder who were sued in a shareholder derivative action by a party who had ceased to have any interest in the corporation, but wished to continue the litigation after his ownership of the corporation ceased. That case established the rule of “continuous ownership” as a requirement for an ongoing derivative lawsuit in Florida.
