An Experienced Trial Attorney Offering Mediation And Arbitration Service

Donna DeVaney Stockham is a Supreme Court of Florida Circuit Mediator and a Florida Supreme Court qualified arbitrator. Mrs. Stockham attended Auburn University and then received her Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law, Cum Laude. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1997. After graduating law school, Mrs. Stockham joined Carlton Fields, P.A. where she worked in the General Litigation Department. In that position, she represented Defendants in various civil and business litigation matters. She then joined the Products Liability Group where she represented pharmaceutical companies in the Fen Phen and Latex Glove litigation. After becoming a Shareholder at Carlton Fields, Mrs. Stockham wanted to diversify her experience and do Plaintiffs’ work. She began working at Merlin Group in 2006. She remained there for many years representing Plaintiffs in property damage cases throughout Florida and Texas. She then started her own law firm in 2013 where she continued to focus her practice on first party property insurance litigation. However, her Firm also handles General Community Association Management and Nursing Home abuse cases. She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Texas Bar, and the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida. She belongs to several Associations including the Windstorm Insurance Network where she just completed a four (4) year term on the Board of Directors. She is also on the Board of Governors of The Federal Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR). She is a member of Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Leadership Trust, which is an invitation only group for President’s and CEO’s of businesses. She was also recently selected as one of the Women to Watch in 2022 by Tampa Magazine.

Mrs. Stockham has been an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated™ attorney by Martindale-Hubbell® for over 22 years. She has been selected for inclusion to the Florida Super Lawyers® list for ten (10) consecutive years (2013-2022). Prior to that, she was selected as a Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star® from 2010-2012. She was also selected to Florida Trend’s Legal Elite from 2016-2020. Her outstanding knowledge and experience awarded her the opportunity to speak at the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), Property Insurance Law Committee, Spring CLE meeting in Carlsbad, California on the topic of Mediating Property Insurance Cases. In addition to the above achievements and awards, she received a rating of 5.0 out of 5.0 from peers from the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review.

An Experienced And Detail-Oriented Mediator

Mrs. Stockham offers a range of mediation services including:

• Pre-suit mediations
• Complex and multiple-party mediations
• Hybrid mediation/non-binding arbitration

Through mediation, the parties involved in a dispute remain in control while working jointly toward a mutually agreeable outcome. Mrs. Stockham facilitates a dialogue between the parties designed to lead to a favorable resolution for both sides. If the parties are able to reach an agreement, the agreement is fully binding and fully enforceable. If they are not able to reach agreement, the parties continue on through the court system to resolve their dispute. All mediation sessions are strictly confidential.

A Highly Professional And Impartial Arbitrator

Arbitration is similar to courtroom litigation in some aspects, but parties in arbitration have much more say in the how the process will work. For example, they can choose the arbitrator, decide on scheduling, and agree on how much time and money both sides will spend on discovery – a legal process that often drives up costs enormously in traditional litigation.

Arbitration may be binding or non-binding. The outcome achieved through binding arbitration is final and enforceable. It is the same as a decision arrived at through traditional litigation in front of a judge or jury. Non-binding arbitration, on the other hand, results in an opinion by an arbitrator that litigants can either accept or reject. When both parties accept the arbitrator’s decision, it becomes binding. If one party does not agree, the case will proceed to trial.

As a qualified arbitrator, Mrs. Stockham handles both binding and non-binding arbitrations.

Schedule Your Next Mediation or Arbitration

Call StockhamADR, Inc., at 813-867-5492 or send an email inquiry to discuss scheduling your next mediation or arbitration.