Salmon & Salmon would like to reintroduce you to some key members of the firm and share their new positions within our organization. We also look forward to sharing other exciting updates in the coming weeks.
Kimberly Salmon is now a shareholder, director, and officer of the firm. Kimberly has worked in the insurance industry for 32 years. Mrs. Salmon was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Summa Cum Laude. She was on the Dean’s List, graduated with Honors and was a member the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Golden Key National Honor Society. She also served as a Volunteer for Students with Disabilities.
She began her career as a litigation paralegal in 1993, and worked as a law clerk while earning her law degree at Stetson University College of Law. Mrs. Salmon is a zealous oral advocate who has successfully litigated first and third-party insurance disputes throughout Florida.
The primary focus of her practice has been devoted to all types of first and third-party insurance disputes, including complex litigation, arson and fraud, assignment of benefits and litigation-for-profit schemes. Her services include pre-suit investigation, coverage analysis, active litigation and motion practice, individual or mass settlement negotiation, trials and appeals. She has extensive experience analyzing issues of first impression, developing novel legal theories, and assisting clients with implementing internal claims and litigation procedures based upon industry issues and legislative changes. Mrs. Salmon was a pioneer in the defense of assignment of benefits cases and worked closely with lobbyists, legislators, and regulators for legislative reform for seven years. She was retained to testify as an expert on the legal issues relating to assignment litigation before the Office of Insurance Regulation. She served as a member of the Insurance Consumer Advocate’s Working Group in 2013 at the request of the Consumer Advocate to revise the Homeowners’ Policy and Claims Bill of Rights, which was later codified.
Mrs. Salmon manages a busy litigation practice, and also counsels CEOs, product managers, underwriters and lobbyists on claims handling, product development, and underwriting and identification of issues in need of legislative reform.
In 2014, Mrs. Salmon was recruited by one of our publicly traded insurance company clients, where she was hired as its first general counsel, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary of the company and its subsidiaries. There, she created the company’s legal department, oversaw all internal legal matters, including implementation of internal legal risk management, contract negotiation, and managed all outsourced legal functions, including responsibility for corporate governance, multi-state insurance regulation, business litigation, real estate development, mergers and acquisitions, and other financial transactional matters. Mrs. Salmon acted as liaison with regulators, legislators, and lobbyists and actively participated as an industry advocate, addressing pertinent topics of proposed legislation at every legislative session. She was actively involved with policy language revisions and form filings, including protection of trade secret information. Ultimately, Mrs. Salmon was also tasked with oversight of the company’s litigation department, where she worked closely with the internal litigation team and managed outside defense counsel. After almost 5 years in that role, Mrs. Salmon returned to active litigation practice at Salmon & Salmon, P.A.
Mrs. Salmon is approved as an educational speaker with the Florida Bar and the Florida Department of Financial Regulation and has an impressive history of speaking engagements, including educational presentations for the Florida Chamber, presenting at theAnnual Summit 2014 as a Panel Speaker (Cost Drivers in the Insurance Industry), USAA (A Survey of Florida Law), Olympus Insurance Company, Gulfstream Insurance Company, Paul Davis Restoration, Quality First Builders, Groelle & Salmon Annual Seminars (Civil Litigation and Rules of Procedure-A Roadmap to Becoming a Partner in Litigation Strategy; Premises Liability; Chipped Tile Claims; Assignment of Benefits Claims Handling), Paul Davis Restoration, United Property & Casualty Insurance Company, HSA Seminar (Avoiding Bad Faith Claims Handling), Rimkus Sixth Annual Seminar, Florida Insurance Fraud Education Committee Seminar, Sunshine Claims Conference, American Integrity Insurance Company (Defending Liability Claims), Colonial Claims, and Homeowner’s Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company.
Mrs. Salmon acted as Corporate Secretary and oversaw state corporate governance and SEC governance of all Board and Committee meetings for a publicly traded holding company, as well as its affiliated insurance companies in 13 states. Mrs. Salmon previously served on the Board of Methodist Early Childhood Education (MECE) at First United Methodist Church of Boca Raton and currently serves as a Director on the Board of the Southside Estates Homeowner’s Association and serves as its Corporate Secretary. She is also a Board Member of BreckCreate, which aims to build a dynamic, year-round creative community within he Town of Breckenridge and Summit County.
Mrs. Salmon is married to David J. Salmon and has five adult children.
Robert “Bobby” Dehne is now Managing Partner of the Orlando office. Mr. Dehne focuses his practice primarily on first party property and insurance coverage matters. He has extensive experience in handling all types of property damage claims, both pre-suit and litigation, and has actively participated in a large number of SIU/fraud investigations.
Mr. Dehne is a certified Florida instructor of insurance adjuster continuing education, and has presented insurance seminars to insurance claims staff and professionals around the Country. Over the years, Mr. Dehne has handled property losses caused by hurricane, windstorm, lightning, hail, fire, water intrusion, plumbing leaks, sinkhole, and theft.
Mr. Dehne is rated AV by the Martindale Hubbell professional rating organization upon review by his peers; the highest rating conferred on practicing attorneys by the Martindale Hubbell organization. Further, Mr. Dehne has been selected to the Florida Super Lawyer Rising Star list from 2017 through 2022, an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice.
Prior to his legal career, Mr. Dehne received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida, and his Juris Doctor from the Florida Coastal School of Law located in Jacksonville, Florida. He is licensed to practice in all state courts of Florida, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
In his free time, Mr. Dehne enjoys spending time with his family, watching football, playing golf, and coaching his son’s football team. Mr. Dehne is also an avid Green Bay Packers, Florida State Seminoles, and UCF Knights’ fan.
Bobby has been instrumental in the growth of the firm during his fifteen years with the company. He continues to inspire our lawyers with his optimism and steady guidance. 
Nestor Marante is now Managing Partner of the Miami, West Palm Beach, and Port St. Lucie offices. Mr. Marante joined the firm in 2008 as a law clerk. He started his career with he firm as an attorney in 2009. Mr. Marante focuses his practice on handling first-party insurance coverage disputes. His experience also includes representing commercial contractors in the State of Florida in construction defect litigation. Mr. Marante frequently presents continuing education courses to Florida insurance adjusters. Our clients rely on Nestor’s approach to resolving contested litigation with calm and reliable solutions.
Joseph “Joe” Matera is now Managing Partner of the Tampa office. Mr. Matera practices first party insurance defense. He has experience defending various homeowners’ property claims, including windstorm, water damage, and theft claims. He has also assisted insurance carriers with claims’ investigations, including conducting many examinations under oaths and coverage analysis.
Before joining Groelle & Salmon, Mr. Matera was an Assistant State Attorney seeking justice for victims of crimes in the State of Florida. He litigated thousands of cases from the initial inception of the case by making the charging decision through jury trial if necessary. He prosecuted various cases ranging from petit theft to armed burglary of a firearm, vehicular homicide, and driving under the influence-manslaughter.
Mr. Matera was raised in the Tampa Bay area where he attended high school in New Port Richey and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida. Subsequently, he graduated with honors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in May of 2012. While in law school, Mr. Matera was a legal extern for the Honorable Judge Martha Cook of Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit.
He also was an extern at the State Attorney’s Office for the Eighth Judicial Circuit (Gainesville) for a semester and subsequently earned a pro bono certificate for his work as a volunteer at the State Attorney’s Office. Additionally, Mr. Matera was a Senior Research Editor for the Florida Journal of International Law and a Research Editor for the Florida Journal of Technology Law and Policy.
Mr. Matera is a member of the Florida Bar Association and is eligible to practice in all Florida state courts. He is also a member of the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida.
Mr. Matera is one of the firm’s many educators, presenting internal seminars on new and developing legal theories. He is also leading the firm’s appellate practice group.
Jayson Serrano is now Chair of the Trial Practice Group. Mr. Serrano has tried over a dozen first party property insurance this past year against some of the top litigators in Florida. He has demonstrated a willingness to take on any trial, including those from other defense firms, and provide our clients with a path to victory or successful resolution. Understanding his adversary’s evidentiary challenges allows Jayson to creatively exclude the plaintiff’s evidence resulting in astounding achievements.
Mr. Serrano graduated from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois in 2011. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in May 2018 and joined our firm soon thereafter. He practices in our Tampa office and focuses on first party property insurance defense and contract disputes.
Keith Mixon remains the firm’s Practice Administrator, a role in which he has served for sixteen years. Heather Grove also continues in her role as Manager of Legal Support Services. Jennifer Brackett has been promoted to the firm’s Controller and Kelley Harner will be managing the Billing Department.
Please note that our domain is changing from “gspalaw.com” to “salmon-salmon.com“.
We thank the over 100 employees who continue to make the firm thrive as we expand into new territories.