Chelsey Polgar did her undergraduate studies at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg Florida. She spent a significant portion of her career working for a Fortune 500 healthcare insurance company. She comes to us from Stetson University College of Law where she graduated in May of 2020. Ms. Polgar is licensed to practice law in the state of Florida.
Ms. Michel is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. She received her commission in 1996 and served five years as a Surface Warfare Officer onboard the guided missile destroyer, USS Ross (DD-71) and the strike destroyer, USS John Hancock (DD-981). She obtained her juris doctor from University of Miami School of Law in 2004. In 2004 she became licensed to practice in Florida as well as the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts Courts of Florida and in 2005 she became licensed to practice in Illinois.
Ms. Michel started her legal career as a prosecutor in Charlotte County and was quickly promoted to Drug Court Prosecutor and Domestic Violence Liaison Officer and given the responsibility of a felony docket.
In 2007 she joined the Tampa office of Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP where she handled matters in the areas of professional liability claims, Fair Debt Collection Practices litigation, Employment Law, Workers Compensation, and other insurance defense litigation.
In 2011, Ms. Michel opened her own practice where she focused on complex commercial litigation matters, the defense of insurance claim disputes, foreclosure defense, and administrative law matters with the Department of Professional Business Regulation. As a sole practitioner, Ms. Michel became Of Counsel to Alliance Legal Group, heading their contested foreclosure defense department and, subsequently, Of Counsel to the firm of Moriarty & Chiofalo, P.A. to introduce the foreclosure defense practice area to their firm as her specialty, and handle all trust and estate litigation and complex business litigation for the firm.
In 2016, Ms. Michel joined HD Law Partners, PA where she was tasked with opening their Sarasota Bradenton office and continuing a general civil litigation practice, where she focused on complex business litigation, personal injury, family law, and insurance claim disputes.
Ms. Michel is a co-founder and sits on the Board of Directors of Open Door Mission, a non-profit organization located in Cameroon, Africa, which offers free medical services to the local communities and schools young men and women to become physician assistants with the hope that they will provide medical services to their communities
David J. Salmon, born in 1966, St. Louis, Missouri. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1995. Also admitted to the Missouri Bar, 1991, and Illinois Bar, 1993. Education: Boston College (B.A., 1988), Washington University School of Law (J.D. 1991). Also admitted to the United States District Courts for the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida.
Mr. Salmon is a founding partner in the law firm of Groelle and Salmon, P.A. After practicing law in Missouri and Illinois from 1991 to 1995, Mr. Salmon moved to south Florida, where he actively litigated Hurricane Andrew claims and developed his practice on suspicious first party property losses. In 2003, Mr. Salmon moved to St. Petersburg, Florida to open the firm’s first west coast office in Tampa. The firm now operates in six cities throughout Florida and has expanded practice areas, which include all aspects of insurance, construction defect litigation, commercial litigation, and the defense of charitable organizations and not for profits.
Mr. Salmon practices civil litigation, with his primary focus on first party insurance litigation, claims investigation and evaluation of coverage issues in property claims. Mr. Salmon has tried over a hundred cases in state and federal courts in Florida, Missouri, and Illinois. Mr. Salmon formerly handled and supervised subrogation recovery. While practicing in the Midwest, Mr. Salmon was the lead attorney on all litigation cases in the city of St. Louis and the State of Illinois.
Mr. Salmon is certified by the Department of Insurance as an instructor for continuing education courses. Mr. Salmon has participated in and delivered numerous educational seminars and presented case law analysis and commentary to the insurance industry and claim associations. These include the presentation of continuing education and instructional workshops and courses for the Windstorm Insurance Network and FIFEC. He has also presented case analysis and claim handling instruction at internal seminars for insurers throughout the United States.
Mr. Salmon is a member of the Council on Litigation Management, the Defense Research Institute, the Risk Management Society, the Florida Advisory Committee on Arson Prevention, the WIND Insurance Network, and the Florida Property Fraud Task Force.
Office Location:: St. Petersburg, FL
Cory Wilkinson is an associate in the Tampa office where he primarily defends insurance carriers in first-party property claims. Prior to joining Groelle & Salmon, P.A., Mr. Wilkinson gained valuable litigation experience representing insurance carriers and employers in workers’ compensation disputes, particularly in nuanced heart and lung claims.
Mr. Wilkinson is licensed to practice law in the state of Florida and is also a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011 before returning to the Tampa Bay area and earning his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law in 2015.
Stetson College of Law , J.D.
University of Texas, B.A.
Florida Bar
Office Location::St. Petersburg, FL
David Kelly is an associate attorney at the Tampa office of Groelle & Salmon, PA, focusing on first party property liability defense.
Mr. Kelly obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and in 1996 his Juris Doctor from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He later received an LL.M. in International Law, from the University of Miami School of Law.
Mr. Kelly has served as a trial attorney in the Tampa Bay Area and other venues throughout Florida, handling all phases of litigation in both state and federal court. Along with a variety of other legal areas, he also has experience in third-party insurance defense, including litigation involving catastrophic injury claims. In addition to handling numerous first-party property cases in both law firm and in-house settings, Mr. Kelly defended hundreds of personal injury protection lawsuits as a staff attorney for an insurance company.
Mr. Abramenko is an associate focusing his practice primarily on subrogation. Stan Abramenko graduated from Stetson University College of Law in May of 2016 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Florida Bar
Stetson University College of Law, J.D.
Florida State University, B.S.
Groelle & Salmon, P.A.
Tampa, FL
McDermott Law Firm
St. Petersburg, FL
Office Location::St. Petersburg, FL
Susan M. Whetstone, born in 1973, Queens, New York. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 2006. While practicing state, federal and appellate civil litigation, Ms. Whetstone developed her practice of real estate litigation and breach of contact matters in Southwest Florida. Ms. Whetstone practices civil litigation, evaluates insurance claims and focuses on first party insurance litigation. Ms. Whetstone served as a certified mediator for the State of Florida and on the Judicial Administration and Evaluation Committee for The Florida Bar prior to her work as an undergraduate college professor for various law classes. Prior to representing clients in complex civil litigation matters, Ms. Whetstone served at the State Attorney’s Office in Charlotte County then focused her efforts on appellate and litigation practice in Port Charlotte, Sarasota and Naples.