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Julius F. “Rick” Parker, III is a Partner at Butler who joined the firm in 2004. Rick’s practice areas include first and third-party coverage matters, extra-contractual matters, and premises liability defense.  He has significant appellate and trial experience in both state and federal courts.

Rick earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1987 and owned a successful contracting business prior to attending law school. He graduated cum laude from Florida State University College of Law in 1998, where he served as Articles and Notes Editor for the Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law. During law school, Rick earned book awards in Civil Procedure I, Federal Jurisdiction Remedies, and Energy Law & Policy.

Rick is a former president of the Tallahassee Bar Association’s Legal Aid Foundation. He is a member of the DRI and continues to publish industry articles. He is also an AV peer-rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell.

Admissions

  • Florida

Education

  • University of Arizona
    Bachelor of Science
  • Florida State University College of Law
    Doctor of Jurisprudence

Memberships

  • DRI
  • Tallahassee Bar Association
  • The Florida Bar

Courts

  • United States District Court – Northern District of Florida
  • United States District Court – Middle District of Florida
  • United States District Court – Southern District of Florida
  • United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • Florida State Courts
  • Florida Supreme Court

Experiences

Chase v. Horace Mann Ins. Co., 158 So. 3d 514 (Fla. 2015); Progressive Express Ins. Co. v. Dept. of Financial Services, 125 So. 3d 201 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013); Rundell v. Progressive Express Ins. Co., 994 So. 2d 1227 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); Delta Health Group, Inc. v. Royal Surplus Lines Ins. Co., 327 Fed. Appx. 860 (11thCir. 2009); Waters v. Miller, 564 F.3d 1355 (11th Cir. 2009); Royal Surplus Lines Ins. Co. v. Delta Health Group, Inc., 243 Fed. Appx. 551 (11th Cir. 2007); Solomon v. Liberty County Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs, 221 F.2d 1218 (11th Cir. 2000) (en banc)

Media

New Appleman Florida Insurance Law (2024 Edition)

Butler congratulates its Partners on the 2024 New Appleman Florida Insurance Law Edition. This book was edited by Partner John Garaffa and co-authored by Partners Sarah Burke, Ryan Hilton, Julius “Rick” Parker III, Carol Rooney, Jason Seitz, James Michael Shaw, Jr., and J. Blake Hunter. LexisNexis Practice Guide: New Appleman Florida Insurance Law provides the practitioner with immediate ac...

Tear-Out Costs Get Torn Out Again

On September 13, 2023, the Third District Court of Appeal released its opinion in People’s Trust Insurance Company v. Banks.1 The opinion is a substitute opinion for the Court’s original opinion, which was issued on August 13, 2023.2 The sole issue for the Court’s decision was whether a “limited water damage endorsement,” which contained a sub-limit of $10,000 for all damages caused by...

Lions, Tigers, and Billboards: An Uncommon Perspective on the Common Law

Partner Rick Parker was a panelist for the 2023 Florida Business Forum on February 13, 2023. He was joined by Alfred J. Saikali, Esq. (Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP) and Ashley Kalifeh (Capital City Consulting). The program description is below: Florida’s long and winding common law development has generated a number of potholes over time. From the unruly contours of third-party bad faith and t...

New Appleman Florida Insurance Law (2022 Edition)

JOHN V. GARAFFA, SARAH R. BURKE, RYAN K. HILTON, JULIUS F. "RICK" PARKER III, JASON M. SEITZ, J. BLAKE HUNTER, CAROL M. ROONEY, JAMES MICHAEL SHAW, JR. Butler congratulates its Partners on the 2022 Edition of the New Appleman Florida Insurance Law. This book was edited by Partner John Garaffa and co-authored by Partners Sarah Burke, Ryan Hilton, Julius "Rick" Parker III, Carol Rooney, Jason Seitz...

How Carriers Implement Fair Claims Practices in a Hands-Off World

This article was originally published in the DRI For The Defense magazine, October 2020 edition. Legal opinions may vary when based on subtle factual differences. All rights reserved. Insurance bad faith claims are among the most contentious and heavily defended lawsuits in civil litigation. This article will explore the growing use of automation and predictive analytics in the insurance industry...

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Heads I win, Tails You Lose: Southern Owners Insurance Company v. MAC Contractors

On July 29, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Southern Owners Ins. Co. v. MAC Contractors, of Fla., LLC, --- Fed. Appx. ---, 2020 WL 4345199 (11th Cir. July 29, 2020).  While claiming to follow its own precedent, which narrowly interpreted the Florida Supreme Court’s decisions in United States Fire Ins. Co. v. J.S.U.B., Inc., 979 So. 2d 871 (Fla. 2007) and Auto-O...

Pretzel Logic: Cheetham V. Southern Oak And Its Ill-Begotten Progeny

The standard ISO homeowners insurance policy contains an exclusion for damage caused by water which backs up through sewers or drains. While this appears to be an unambiguous exclusion, using twisted logic, the Third District Court of Appeal in Cheetham v. Southern Oak Ins. Co., 114 So. 3d 257 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013) interpreted this exclusion to apply only where the water which backs up through drain ...

New Appleman Florida Insurance Law (2020 Edition)

JOHN V. GARAFFA, SARAH R. BURKE, RYAN K. HILTON, JULIUS F. "RICK" PARKER III, JASON M. SEITZ, J. BLAKE HUNTER, CAROL M. ROONEY, JAMES MICHAEL SHAW, JR. The 2020 Edition of the New Appleman Florida Insurance Law is now available. This book was edited by Partner John Garaffa and co-authored by Partners Sarah Burke, Ryan Hilton, Julius "Rick" Parker III, Carol Rooney, Jason Seitz, James Michael Sh...

Rick Parker Awarded “Extraordinary Legal Customer Service Award”

It's not every day that a client presents an attorney with an award for their services! Attorney Rick Parker of the Tallahassee office was awarded the "Extraordinary Legal Customer Service Award" by client, Melinda Jefferson, for his pro bono work on a civil legal case for her family. Rick's pro bono work perfectly exemplifies the quality of Service provided at Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig. ...

Rick Parker Quoted in South Florida’s Newspaper, The Sun-sentinel

Partner Rick Parker was recently quoted in an article written by one of South Florida's top sources for breaking news, the Sun-Sentinel. The article titled "No-fault auto insurance repeal advances in Senate" discussed a bill that would repeal Florida’s longstanding no-fault auto insurance system and require vehicle owners to buy bodily injury coverage. A key Senate committee meeting happened ov...

Florida Insurance Litigation (2017 Edition)

LexisNexis Practice Guide: Florida Insurance Litigation provides the practitioner with immediate access to knowledge and strategy on every aspect of insurance practice in Florida. The publication concisely presents the terms, conditions and exclusions that govern coverage offered against the risks under each line of insurance. This approach provides a comprehensive exploration of key concepts, pol...

The Confession-Of-Judgment Doctrine: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

This article was originally published in the ABA website, a publication by the American Bar Association, © Copyright 2017 by ABA. All rights reserved. Republished by Butler with permission from ABA. Virtually every jurisdiction in the United States has a statute on the books that provides for prevailing-party attorney fees in favor of insureds when they are successful in coverage suits against ...

Southern District Refuses to Remand Unremovable Case

On September 21, 2016, a District Judge in the Southern District of Florida denied a plaintiff’s motion to remand a case removed from state court, despite finding a valid basis for remand. In Goldstein v. GFS Market Realty, Four, LLC, the plaintiff filed a tort action against GFS Market Realty Four, LLC based upon a slip-and-fall injury he suffered in the defendant’s supermarket. After nearly ...

Eleventh Circuit Affirms Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict in UIM Bad Faith Case

On Friday, September 30, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law that had been granted by the Middle District Court of Florida in an uninsured/underinsured motorist (“UIM”) bad faith case. In Cadle v. GEICO Gen’l Ins. Co., the federal appeals court held that the plaintiff’s failure to provide evidence that she suffered a permanen...

Southern District Applies Fridman v. Safeco to Preclude Bifurcation

Following the issuance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Fridman v. Safeco, the Southern District of Florida had occasion to consider a unique set of circumstances in a bad faith case. In Levesque v. GEICO, the Southern District denied GEICO’s motion to bifurcate the issue of extra-contractual liability from the determination of the insured’s actual damages. In the prior uninsured motori...

Insured is Entitled to a Determination of Liability and Damages in a UIM Case Despite the Insurer’s Confession of Judgment

The Florida Supreme Court recently resolved a conflict among Florida’s lower state and federal courts regarding an insured’s right to a determination of its damages and liability in an underlying uninsured motorist (“UIM”) case prior to bringing an action for bad faith against the insurer. In Fridman v. Safeco, the Court held that the insured is entitled to have a jury decide the full mea...

Middle District Denies Remand in Removed Uim Case

On January 22, 2016, Judge Gregory Presnell of the Middle District of Florida entered an order denying Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand an uninsured/underinsured motorist (“UIM”) case to state court. See Johnson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2016 WL 277768 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 22, 2016). Johnson is one more in a long line of decisions which hold that a bad faith claim following a favorable UIM ...

Clarifying The Standard Employee Exclusions In Commercial Automobile Policies

This article was originally published on Americanbar.org, reprinted with permission. Any attorney who has ever faced a claim in which a truck driver is injured while driving a truck for an insured has faced a wall of confusion. The standard Insurance Services Office (ISO) form commercial auto policy excludes coverage for injuries to employees of the insured. Due to the nature of trucking operatio...

The Ongoing Struggle Over Removal Of First-Party Bad Faith Cases In Florida

Three years ago, I published an editorial in this esteemed journal regarding the vanishing right to federal jurisdiction for insurers in bad faith claims in Florida.1 That article focused on a decision of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Moultrop v. GEICO General Ins. Co. Since authoring that article, the law concerning removal of first-party bad faith cases...

Ricky’s Believe It Or Not: Part Two

In the January 26, 2015 edition of this publication, I shared a collection of excerpts from documents authored by attorneys. Given the sheer volume of paper which crosses my desk in reviewing claims for coverage and bad faith, I inevitably come across some very humorous (though not intentionally so) mistakes in the various documents reviewed. This month, I share some of the funniest entries I've ...

Ricky’s Believe It Or Not

As an attorney for more than sixteen years, and a practitioner of insurance bad faith for nearly eleven years, I have seen virtually every kind of bad faith set-up one could imagine. I have shared my observations through various articles published in this fine periodical as well as other publications. The law of insurer bad faith is obviously one which is constantly in flux. Therefore, it would b...

The Coverage Action ‘Fixed’ Bad Faith Damages: Are The Total Damages Binding?

Florida state and federal courts struggle with excess damage verdicts in first-party bad-faith actions arising out of uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage. Recent case decisions produce mixed results for insurers. But mention UM coverage, bad faith, and total damages, and Florida Statute Section 627.727(10) immediately comes to mind. Comments by two judges framed the Section 10 d...

Wall Of Confusion: Geico General Insurance Company V. Bottini And Its Ill-Begotten Progeny

On July 20, 2012, a three-judge panel of Florida's Second District Court of Appeal released what, on its face, appeared to be a relatively innocuous opinion in Geico General Insurance Company v. Bottini . The Bottini appeal arose as a result of Geico's appeal of a jury verdict in the amount of $30,872,266 rendered against it in an uninsured/underinsured motorist (‘‘UIM'') case. Consistent wi...

Causal Friday: Better To Be Lucky Than Good

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, as the insurers in the following cases learned. These cases demonstrate that, even where the facts indicate that the insurer acted in bad faith, it is still possible for the insurer to escape extra-contractual exposure. In the absence of a causal link between the excess judgment and the insurer's actions, bad faith liability cannot exist as a matter of...

Is A Discriminatory Refusal To Rent An Invasion Of The Right Of Private Occupancy?

This article was originally published in DRI's The Newsletter of the Insurance Law Committee, November 5, 2012. As the I.S.O. "Personal and Advertising Injury" coverage form ("Coverage B") has evolved over the years, one thing has remained constant: claims for wrongful eviction are covered. The modern Coverage B form covers certain enumerated "offenses," one being, "The wrongful eviction from, ...

The Vanishing Right To Federal Jurisdiction In Bad Faith Claims In Florida

On April 25, 2012, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued its opinion in Moultrop v. GEICO General Ins. Co., remanding a bad faith claim to state court pursuant to the one-year ‘‘repose'' provision of 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b). The Moultrop decision is one more in a growing line of cases which refuse insurers access to a federal forum based on the repose provis...

Raising The Roof: What’s Hot In Construction Defect Litigation

Kathy J. Maus is a partner with Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP, having joined the firm in 1991. Julius F. "Rick" Parker III is a senior associate with the firm, having joined the firm in 2004. Ms. Maus and Mr. Parker both practice in the firm's Tallahassee office and focus their practices on first and third party extracontractual litigation defense, casualty litigation and first and third-party ...

Bad Faith – Variations On A Theme

This is one of a series of articles originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 24, #6 (July 29, 2010). © 2010   [Editor's Note: Julius R. 'Rick' Parker is a senior associate in the Tampa office of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP, which also has offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Mobile, Tallahassee, and Miami. Mr. Parker is an experienced trial lawyer in th...

Fairly Debatable?

This is one of a series of articles originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 23, #8, page 30   (August 27, 2009). © 2009  [Editor's Note: Julius F. "Rick" Parker III is a senior associate with the law firm of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP with offices in Tampa, Tallahassee, Miami, Mobile, and Charlotte. He is an experienced trial lawyer in the firm's Th...

Unreasonable Consent Judgments; What Next?

This is one of a series of articles originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 22, #14, page 28 (November 25, 2008). © 2008 [Editor's Note: Julius F. "Rick" Parker III is a senior associate with the law firm of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP with offices in Tampa, Tallahassee, Miami, Mobile, and Charlotte. He is an experienced trial lawyer in the firm's Third...

Caveat Insuror

This is one of a series of articles under the by line “Butler on Bad Faith” originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 20, #22, p. 32 (March 20, 2007). [Editor's Note: Julius F. "Rick" Parker III is an associate with the law firm of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP, in the firm's Liability, Coverage and Extra-Contractual Departments. This commentary, other t...

Pushing The Envelope: Exploring The Newest Trends In Bad Faith Exposure In Automobile Cases

Kathy J. Maus is a partner with Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP, having joined the firm in 1991. Julius F. "Rick" Parker III is an associate with the firm, having joined the firm in 2004. Ms. Maus and Mr. Parker both practice in the firm's Tallahassee office and focus their practices on first and third party extracontractual litigation defense, casualty litigation and first and third-party covera...

Julius “Rick” Parker III