Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

My real estate practice focuses on the acquisition, lease and development of commercial and residential properties, including office buildings, retail centers, condominiums, apartment complexes and single-family homes. I regularly draft and negotiate purchase contracts and ground leases for my clients, and work closely in conjunction with the them and their respective project management teams to help anticipate and resolve any issues that may arise throughout the inspection and development of the properties. I also have practical experience in the areas of commercial lending, real estate financing, and the creation of condominium and homeowner associations. The clients that I represent are particularly appreciative of my ability to continuously keep them updated as to the most current status of their matters, and advise accordingly regarding what steps should be taken next to help ensure a smooth and successful transaction.

Practice Areas
Local government law, including serving as general counsel for the St. Augustine – St. Johns County Airport Authority and the City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida. Mr. Burnett’s practice also includes real estate development, real property and construction litigation, land use planning, comprehensive planning and concurrency, development agreements, financing and transactional matters. Mr. Burnett has represented all participants in the real estate development business including landowners, developers, contractors, lenders and brokers. His experience includes management of sensitive and controversial applications for development approval. Mr. Burnett has also handled litigation of contested zoning matters before the trial and Appellate Courts.

Education

University of North Florida, B.B.A. 1994
Widener University School of Law, J.D. 1998
Experience

Former Assistant County Attorney in St. Johns County, Florida.
Former Assistant State Attorney in St. Johns County, Florida.
Former Shareholder at Rogers Towers, P.A.
Regularly serves as outside counsel to local governments.
Represents numerous landowners and developers in negotiating with local government to obtain Development Agreements and Impact Fee Credit Agreements.
Represents landowners and developers seeking amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and vesting under the Comprehensive Plan.
Successful plat and street vacations.
Extensive trial experience, including over thirty jury trials and non-jury trials, as well as mediation and arbitration.
Representation of owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals in disputes and litigation involving both commercial and residential contract and construction claims.
Professional Activities

St. Augustine Lighthouse (Board Member and Founding Lights Member)
St. Johns County American Cancer Society (Former Cattle Baron)
St. Johns County Bar Association (Past President)
St. Johns County Education Foundation (Board Member)
St. Johns County Salvation Army (Advisory Council Member)
Flagler College (Prior Visiting Instructor)
Bar Memberships

The Florida Bar
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

Steve Fahlgren is a general practioner in Hilliard, Florida. He handles most types of civil litigation but does not take cases against consumers and does not practice criminal law. For a listing of practice areas, please see them below.

Mr. Fahlgren also practices debt collection defense and credit litigation throughout Florida. He is AV rates (the highest) by Martindale-Hubbell, the oldest and most widely used lawyer rating service. Mr. Fahlgren recognizes that credit reputation is becoming even more important every day. For over four years, Mr. Fahlgren has represented consumers exclusively in consumer litigation matters. During his more than eleven years of experience, Mr. Fahlgren has represented consumers in litigation relating to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act, Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Consumer Leasing Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Retail Sales Finance Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Repair Act, Florida's Title Loan Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Lease Disclosure Act, Florida's False Advertising law, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Housing Act, and has also handled claims involving fraud, negligent misrepresentation, conversion, civil theft, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and restitution. Mr. Fahlgren has litigated credit report errors and is very experienced in all facets of Fair Credit Report Litigation from the credit dispute letters to the requirement that credit bureaus maintain reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy.

Mr. Fahlgren handles cases in the following Florida counties and occasionally handles cases outside of those counties when the circumstances merit: Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Hamilton, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, Union, Citrus, Lake, Marion, Sumter, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry and Lee. Mr. Fahlgren handles cases in the following Florida cities, among others: Jacksonville, Bryceville, Hilliard, Orlando, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Daytona Beach, Deland, Haines City, Altamonte Springs, Apopka, Bartow, Casselberry, Cocoa, Edgewood, Fort Meade, Atlantic Beach, Celebration, Deltona, Eustis, Eagle Lake, Fort Myers, Hawthorne, Holly Hill, Lady Lake, Lake Wales, Maitland, Neptune Beach, Palm Bay, Lake alfred, Lake Mary, Melbourne Beach, Mount Dora, Ocoee, Orange Park, Keystone Heights, Oviedo, Ponce Inlet, Indialantic, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Leesburg, Longwood, Minneola, Clermont, New Smyrna, Palatka, Port Orange, Brevard, St. Cloud, Tavares, Winter Garden, Winter Springs, Sanford, Tampa, Winter Haven, and Winter Park. Many of Mr. Fahlgren's clients cannot afford to pay on an hourly basis, so Mr. Fahlgren often takes cases on a contingency fee basis if the client's expectations are reasonable.

After graduating with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law, Mr. Fahlgren began his legal career practicing commercial litigation and collection law at Foster & Kelly, P.A. He then joined Fisher, Rushmer, et al and expanded his practice to the areas of consumer litigation and employment litigation. Mr. Fahlgren left Fisher, Rushmer et al. to form his own firm, Law Offices of Steven M. Fahlgren, P.A., to focus on consumer litigation. Mr. Fahlgren, who formerly served as a Counterintelligence Agent in the U.S. Army, is a member of the Florida Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, all state and federal courts in Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Fahlgren is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers, and is a graduate of Leadership Orlando Class 48.

Mr. Fahlgren has published various articles on Consumer Law. Over the years, Mr. Fahlgren has lectured on computer law and internet related issues and has provided information in in numerous stories for television, radio and newspapers. For over a year, Mr. Fahlgren hosted a popular radio show entitled "For the Consumer" on AM 950 WTLN in Orlando.

Mr. Fahlgren also handles a very select few cases involving employment law matters. He has filed claims for age discrimination, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation, unpaid wages, Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act. Mr. Fahlgren's jury trial experience includes a patent infringement trial lasting in excess of five weeks and a ground breaking same-sex sexual harassment trial in which Mr. Fahlgren's client obtained a jury verdict for an amount in excess of one million dollars.

In November 2007, Mr. Fahlgren and his co-counsel obtained a record $2.9 million dollar verdict against Equifax for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Mr. Fahlgren is also a Certified Circuit Civil Mediator and has fulfilled the arbitrator training required by the Supreme Court of Florida for court appointed arbitrators. Having represented both sides in his career, Mr. Fahlgren is a successful mediator.

For more information, please feel free to contact Mr. Fahlgren's office by contacting me at (904) 845-2255 or my cell (407) 852-1711. My email for potential clients is stevefahlgren@gmail.com