Robert F. Tacher

707 SE 3rd Ave.,5th Floor
Fort Lauderdale FL 33316

Phone:  954.763.3200 extension 1106

E-mail: robert.tacher@petersonbernard.com

Bob has been awarded the prestigious AV® Preeminent™ rating by Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in many “Who’s Who in American Law” Publications. 
 
 An attorney with over 40 years experience, Bob managed the South Florida Legal Offices for the Travelers Insurance Company for many of those years and handled their most complex and high exposure litigation. 
 
 He has extensive experience in litigating high exposure Wrongful Death Cases, Complex and Catastrophic Injury Cases, and is experienced in handling all aspects of Automobile, Trucking, Premises Liability, Products Liability, Negligent Security, Complex Commercial First Party Litigation. and Construction Litigation. 
 
 Bob served 8 years on the prestigious Florida Bar Code and Rules of Evidence Committee including one year as the Chairman of that committee. 

State/Court Admissions

  • Florida Bar, 1977
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, 1978


Education

  • B.A. University of Miami, 1972
  • J.D. University of Miami, 1977


Florida Approved CE Seminar Presentations

  • Automobile "Black Box" Technology 
  • Maximizing Collateral Source Set-Offs
  • Investigating and Handling Premises Liability Cases under Florida’s New 2010 Statute
  • Developments in the Law Regarding Negligent Security Cases


Affiliations/Memberships

  • Florida Bar
  • Broward County Bar Association 
  • American Bar Association


Reported Cases

Johnson Construction v. Lopez, 902 So. 2d 206, Fla. App. (3rd Dist 2005); Almarante v. Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Inc., 921 So.2d 703, (4th Dist., 2006); Italian Pavilion, Inc., USA v. Palm Bay Studios, Inc., 8 So.3d 1145, (3rd Dist., 2009); Norlasco v. Asplundh Tree Expert Co., 36 So.3d 107, (3rd Dist.,2010) 

Recent Cases

Robert F. Tacher obtained a Defense Verdict on a claim for damages made after Hurricane Wilma. He successfully argued that the Plaintiffs had failed to protect their home from further damages after the storm. The jury agreed that their failure to do so breached their insurance policy and returned a verdict for the Defendant.

Robert Tacher won a Summary Judgment where Plaintiff claimed significant injury due to a slip and fall at an apartment building in Delray Beach Florida. This building is adjacent to restaurants and shops on Atlantic Avenue.

Plaintiff stated that it was well known that partygoers in that area used the parking lot of the building and therefore was foreseeable for the owner of the building and the janitorial service of the building, that there could be debris and broken beer bottles in the garage area on Friday and Saturday nights.

Plaintiff alleged that Peterson Bernard's client, the janitorial service, was retained to clean the various common areas of the building including the parking garage. Through discovery, it was demonstrated that patrolling the building to look for spills was not part of our client's job duties and for that reason, any liability should rest on the owner and manager of the building.

The court agreed that our client did not have a duty to patrol the parking lot and granted summary judgment in defendant's favor. 

Robert Tacher obtained Summary Judgment on the case in Broward County. of Florez v. Citizens. This case arose from an alleged water leak in the Plaintiff’s home for which the Plaintiff was claiming substantial damages and attorney’s fees. Through aggressive discovery, Robert was successful in getting all of the Plaintiff’s experts stricken due to the Plaintiff’s failure to comply with discovery orders.
 
After the experts were stricken, Robert filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. Just before the hearing on the motion and just before trial, the Plaintiff attempted to file an affidavit from a new expert in opposition to the Motion for Summary Judgment. Robert was successful in getting the new expert stricken too, on the grounds that the late entry into the case was in violation of the court’s trial order. Not only did Robert obtain summary judgment, but pursuant to a Proposal for Settlement that had previously been filed, he is in the process of recovering attorney’s fees and costs for the client.

Robert Tacher obtained Summary Judgment in a case where the Plaintiff was claiming significant injuries with medical bills in excess of $200,000 as a result of a fall on a liquid substance in the building in which Defendant was providing janitorial services.
 
Although Defendant was on the property at the time of the incident, and was responsible for building maintenance, Robert was successful in getting the building owner to admit in deposition that Plaintiff was responsible for a multitude of duties in the building and was not expected to patrol the building looking for spills. Robert was also able to establish that Defendant had no knowledge of the spill prior to the fall.
 
Based upon this testimony, Robert obtained Summary Judgment for Defendant on this significant case.