Stephen M. Bull, Partner/Shareholder

Our founding attorney, Stephen M. Bull, graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1968 and with a law degree in 1973. Prior to law school, he worked as a facilities engineer (mainly piping design) for Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company in West Palm Beach, a project engineer for E.I. duPont deNemours in Richmond, Virginia, and a co-op engineer in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Georgia Power Company in Atlanta, Georgia.

After law school, Mr. Bull served as in-house counsel for a consulting environmental and civil engineering firm, Black Crow and Eidsness, Inc. in Gainesville, Florida from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, he moved to Orlando to enter the private practice of law concentrating in the area of construction law, representing owners, architects, engineers, surveyors, sureties, insurers, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. Since entering private practice, Mr. Bull has been involved in legal disputes in over 900 construction projects throughout Florida from Key West to Pensacola and in the southeast.

In the general insurance area, Mr. Bull has represented insurers and defendants on personal injury and property damage cases involving damages from high voltage switchgear and underground lines, ultralight aircraft, fire extinguishers, fire sprinkler systems, slip and falls, termiticide, termite damage, PCE contamination, premises liability, road construction accidents, auto accidents, train accidents, all terrain vehicles, industrial machinery, tie-down clamps, roof collapses, mold, mildew, indoor air quality contamination, and coverage disputes. In the personal injury and property damage cases, he has gravitated toward those cases involving complex technical issues, due to his mechanical engineering background.

He is active on various committees of The Florida Bar and American Bar Association dealing with construction and surety law. He is also an approved attorney for the Attorney's Title Insurance Fund for the real property title and conveyance matters. He has an AV rating (highest available) from Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Bull has served on the Board of the Central Florida Advisory Council, and his is presently serving on the National Panel of Construction Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association. In 1993, he was the recipient of the American Arbitration Association's Distinguished Service Award. He served as a Board Member on the City of Orlando Historic Preservation Commission from 1983-1985. Mr. Bull is active in several professional groups such as the Florida Defense Lawyers Association, Associated General Contractors of America, Associated Builders and Contractors, and the Florida Engineering Society, having served as Chairman of the Legislative and Governmental Affairs Committee of the Central Florida Chapter from 1993 to 1996. He is also a Certified Circuit Court and Appellate Mediator.

• Utica Mut. Ins. Co. v. Pennsylvania Nat. Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. 1994

• Suckle v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. 1977

• Reliance Ins. Co. v. Barile Excavating & Pipeline Co. Inc. 1988

• Post Tensioned Engineering Corp. v. Fairways Plaza Associates 1983

• Holsapple v. Ducker 1998

• City of Wildwood v. Gibbs & Register, Inc. 1997

• CH2M Hill Southeast, Inc. v. Pinellas County 1992

• Black, Crow & Eidsness, Inc. v. Asphalt Paving Company of Florida, Inc. 1979

• Aagaard - Juergensen, Inc. v. Lettelier 1991