J. Lester Kaney

Partner
Board Certified Business Litigation Attorney
Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney

(386) 323-9233 (voice)
(386) 944-7950 (fax)
Lester.Kaney@CobbCole.com

Daytona Beach Office
150 Magnolia Ave
Post Office Box 2491
Daytona Beach,  FL  32115-2491
(386) 255-8171

Assistant: Michele Staples
 - Michele.Staples@CobbCole.com

VCard

Biography

Mr. Kaney has engaged almost exclusively in the area of civil litigation, including appellate practice, for his entire career. Mr. Kaney has conducted more than 65 jury trials, and more than 50 non-jury trials and evidentiary proceedings. In addition, Mr. Kaney has briefed and argued more than 70 appeals in state and federal courts. He is certified as a Civil Trial Lawyer by The Florida Bar, in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and is also certified by the Florida Bar in the specialty of Business Litigation Law.

For approximately the first fifteen years of his career, he specialized in the defense of personal injury matters. In those years, his clients included USF&G, Southern Bell, Florida Power & Light, State Farm Casualty Insurance Company, Canal Insurance Co., Florida East Coast Railway, Wal-Mart, and a number of other insurance carriers and self-insured companies. Mr. Kaney also handled a wide variety of commercial, real estate, and probate litigation matters during this period.

In the early 1990's, Mr. Kaney elected to redirect his practice away from traditional insurance defense toward a business litigation practice that included business transaction litigation, employment litigation, professional liability, including insurance agents' errors and omissions, product liability litigation, and probate/trust litigation.

In recent years, Mr. Kaney has served as lead counsel in federal and state court litigation involving claims of sex discrimination, race discrimination, sexual harassment, disability discrimination, and age discrimination. He is a charter member of the American Employment Law Council, which consists of in-house and outside counsel to many of the major corporations in the United States, and which is dedicated to keeping its members current on a vast array of employment law issues, including trial and settlement techniques and strategies.

Mr. Kaney's practice consists of a wide variety of complex civil issues including business transaction disputes, professional liability, employment litigation, products liability and probate/trust litigation.