Fort Myers connection & Magnus: Kim Hart

Many years ago, I met an attorney in my hometown of Fort Myers, Florida, named Kim Patrick Hart. I will begin this post with some background. Kim and I are close in age, but we attended rival high schools. I graduated from the original high school, Fort Myers Senior High School (go Green Wave!) and Kim graduated from Cypress Lake High School. I received my Ph.D. from Florida State University, while Kim received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida. Needless to say, other than being from Fort Myers, it would not appear we have much in common. But, as everyone knows, appearances can be deceiving. Kim and I share a love for music, particularly, rock and roll of the loudest variety and volume. In addition to being one of the smartest, and best, attorneys in Fort Myers, the state of Florida, and the United States of America, Kim is a multi instrumentalist, an accomplished actor, and a fine singer; he is a true Renaissance person. I was fortunate to be a member of a rock band with Kim for a few years; playing rock and roll music with Kim was a dream come true for me! Kim is a loving husband and father; an adoring grandfather; a generous and kind friend; and without a doubt, one of the most fabulous people I have ever met. He represents clients who have been wrongfully injured with diligence, ethics, and professionalism, resulting in many large verdicts and settlements. Kim Hart is living proof that hard work can, and does, pay off. He puts forth just as much effort when having fun as when working hard on behalf of his clients. Kudos to you, Kim, for the wonderful person I am lucky to have as my friend!

You never know how things will turn out at a first meeting. I met Kim not long after starting Magnus in 1993 (Melissa met him a few years earlier). Though we had worked in the trial consulting world for a few years, and Melissa longer than me, we were starting “from scratch” and making cold calls. We also knew of Kim Hart by virtue of his advertising and the prominent location of his office, but when we met to talk about our new venture, we found a few things to discuss, due to Melissa’s “home girl” connection. Kim soon hired us on a case – and another and another. As of today he has hired us on more cases than any other client – 40+! Working with him gave us the opportunity to get to know more about him than his successes representing plaintiffs. But, in that respect, he cares greatly about his clients and about winning (or getting a good settlement) on their behalf. Kim has the distinction of hiring Magnus on what was then our smallest case ever (subsequently we were hired on a smaller one, but that is another story). But, when he hired us on that small case he told us “I want to win the little ones and the big ones. I want my opponents and my clients to know I take even the smallest cases seriously.” He took that one seriously, and won. The verdict was higher than the policy limit which gave him some leverage to turn this case into an even bigger win. His foresight in using jury research has resulted in many more successes for him, and his clients. And, for the very few cases which did not fare well in front of mock jurors, he was able to resolve the cases knowing that there was a downside risk to proceeding. And, Kim has utilized Magnus to evaluate his own advertising, with the goal of ensuring that it is strong as it can be. He knows how to utilize research results! We enjoy the challenges he brings to us, which leads us to getting to know a client over many years and cases. Melissa has told the story of the non lawyer side of Kim. The singer, guitar player, bass player, etc. With Kim and a couple of others, rocking out in Ft. Myers provided hours of entertainment to those in the band, and others who heard them rehearse, and play together. Even the police officer who showed up one evening to say, “turn it down” seemed to enjoy the tunes. Kim, you rock!

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