Niva Harney-Hiller
Niva.Harney@kennedyslaw.com
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Profile
Education
- University of Miami Law School, JD
- Maritime and Admiralty Law, University of Miami School of Law, LLM
- Florida International University, BBA (summa cum laude)
Niva Harney-Hiller is a partner in the firm’s Miami office. Niva dedicates her practice to defending premises liability and commercial liability claims. Specifically, her focus is on personal injury, wrongful death, negligent security, property damage, construction defect, product liability, medical and professional malpractice, product liability, and commercial litigation.
Niva was born and raised in Antigua, West Indies. She remains strong to her Caribbean roots. To that end, she is also barred in the US Virgin Islands and has practiced there for over a decade successfully defending a large array of local businesses on the islands. Additionally, she frequently handles claims throughout the rest of Caribbean including representing foreign governments, individuals, and businesses in commercial disputes.
Across her multi-jurisdictional practice, Niva’s clients include retail stores, major hotels & resorts, condominium associations, shopping malls, developers, the world’s premier cruise lines, and major insurance carriers. A large portion of her practice is devoted to representing property owners and condominium associations in premises liability, property damage, and negligent security matters.
She earned her Juris Doctor and her LLM in Maritime and Admiralty Law from the University of Miami School of Law. Niva works with a number of marine insurers and cruise lines defending against Jones Act, Unseaworthiness and Maintenance and Cure claims.
Niva is an active member of the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), where she earned the CLMP designation.
Qualifications and admissions
- Florida
- US Virgin Islands
- US District Court, Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida
- US District Court, District of the US Virgin Islands
Market recognition
- Florida Super Lawyers, Rising Star, Law & Politics, 2012-present
- Top 40 Under 40, National Black Lawyers
Work highlights
- Motion to Dismiss granted for large retail store where Plaintiff’s counsel attempted a fraudulent joinder of a store manager in a personal injury negligence case.
- Motion for Summary Judgment granted when Plaintiff attempted to claim breach of condominium bylaws where Plaintiff was a resident and not an owner of said condominium; therefore, blocking Plaintiff’s entitlement to fees under Florida Statute 718.
- Motion for Summary Judgment on board member’s allege breach of fiduciary duty to condominium owner.
- Successfully defended condominium association against significant property damage claim where Plaintiff alleged seven figures worth of damages against condominium association for failure to maintain common elements.
- Commercial litigation matter involving Antiguan government and multiple contractors and sub-contractors who performed construction services in constructing Antigua’s headquarters building in St. John’s, Antigua.
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of the cruise line in a shore excursion case where Plaintiff claimed significant injuries while on a zip lining shore excursion in Jamaica.
- Wrongful death matter involving an employee of a major company who was intoxicated while driving in the U.S. Virgin Islands resulting in death of two men. Successfully resolved pre-suit.
- Defense of negligent security and wrongful death matter involving a mall in the U.S. Virgin Islands where a tenant was shot upon exiting the mall. Achieved successful result on behalf of the mall.
- Successfully represented condominium association in a highly contentious multi-party matter involving substantial damages to a multi-million dollar penthouse unit.
- Successfully represented a Trinidadian Security Company in a commercial matter involving complex business dispute between the company’s commercial suppliers located in South Florida.
- Successfully defended a crane maintenance company when damage was caused to a ship’s crane and slewing bearing.
Presentations and publications
- Co-Author, “Breaking Through Barriers: For a successful mediation, communication and preparation are keys,” published in CLM Magazine (January 2020)
- Panelist, “Insurance PAC CLE Session: Partnering with Defense Counsel and Managing Your Legal Spend,” NAMWOLF Driving Diversity & Leadership Conference (2020)
- Instructor, “Litigation Management: Partnering with Defense Counsel and Managing Your Legal Spend,” Claims and Litigation Management Alliance Claims College (2019)
Insurance and reinsurance