St. Petersburg

Associate

Alexis Gay

Alexis Gay is an associate attorney at Groelle Salmon P.A. She practices First Party Property.

Alexis earned her law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Florida. Prior to attending law school, Alexis earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Studies from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Outside the office, Alexis enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family. Born in New Orleans and raised in Texas she is happy to consider Florida her new home.

Associate

Caitlin E. Finneman

Ms. Finneman is an Associate focusing her practice primarily on first party property disputes in the St. Petersburg office. Before joining Groelle & Salmon as an Associate, Ms. Finneman spent over two years with McCue Reams Bucha & Associates as a Personal Injury Attorney, and while there litigated over 100 cases against insurance companies. Ms. Finneman also has experience in construction defect, and debt collection litigation. She is well versed in all phases of litigation, from preliminary negotiations to appeals.

Caitlin Finneman graduated from Tulane Law School in May of 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and prior to attending law school she was a member of AmeriCorps VISTA.

Bar Admissions:
Florida Bar

Education:
Tulane Law School, JD
Florida Gulf Coast University, BA

Associate

Chelsey A. Polgar

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.

Associate

Chioma H. Michel

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

Partner

David J. Salmon

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.

Associate

J. Cory Wilkinson

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.

Education:

Stetson College of Law , J.D.

University of Texas, B.A.

Bar Admissions:

Florida Bar

Partner

Kimberly A. Salmon

Associate

Laura Solis

Laura Solis, Esq. is an associate in the Tampa office. Ms. Solis has experience handling litigation of first party property cases with damages resulting from hurricane, windstorm and water damages. Ms. Solis also has experience on personal injury and general liability. Prior to being barred, Ms. Solis was a Foreign Trial Attorney, in a civil law jurisdiction specializing its practice in commercial and general liability litigation.

Prior to obtaining its Juris Doctor degree, Ms. Solis was a Certified Paralegal and Law Clerk in which she worked on insurance defense litigation. This supplied Ms. Solis with experience on Civil Litigation for common law jurisdictions. Especially on practice focused areas such as Commercial Litigation, First Party Property Insurance Coverage and Defense, Federal Practice Support, Premises Liability, PIP and General Liability.

Ms. Solis obtained her Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University – Shepard Broad School of Law. Ms. Solis is fluent in Spanish and French.

Awards & Honors

Dean List Certificate – Winter, 2020
Dean List Certificate – Fall, 2020

Bar/Court Admission

Florida Bar
Dominican Bar Association (CARD)
U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Education

Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra – Licenciada en Derecho – 2010
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra – Magister in Legal Practice – 2012
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) – Shepard Broad School of Law – Juris Doctor – 2020

Professional/Civil Memberships

American Bar Association
Young Lawyers Division – Florida Bar

Languages

Spanish
French

Partner

Stanislav Abramenko

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.

Bar Admissions:

Florida Bar

Education:

Stetson University College of Law, J.D.

Florida State University, B.S.

Professional Background:

Groelle & Salmon, P.A.
Tampa, FL

McDermott Law Firm
St. Petersburg, FL