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Vilma Martinez

Partner

1410 N. Westshore Blvd., Suite 200

Tampa, Florida 33607

Telephone: (813) 286-8818

Facsimile: (813) 286-9998

E-mail: vilma.martinez@qpwblaw.com

Vilma Martinezis a partner in the Tampa office of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A.  Her practice is emphasized in the areas of medical and dental malpractice defense, nursing home, and assisted living negligence defense, and the representation of healthcare providers in administrative proceedings. Her practice is also focused in premises liability, automotive liability, and catastrophic injury claims and wrongful death matters. Ms. Martinez has provided legal counsel to healthcare facilities and others since 2010 in all of her areas of practice and pertaining to electronic health records, e-discovery, healthcare technology, HIPAA compliance and data breach response.

Previously, Ms. Martinez served as chief legal and compliance officer for providers of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.  She had oversight of corporate risk management, corporate governance and compliance programs and handled key strategic business matters, contract drafting and negotiation, and policy and procedure review drafting and implementation. She also served as senior associate corporate counsel for one of the largest providers of senior healthcare services in Florida.  She handled health care regulatory and risk matters, litigation and compliance; managed post-survey and post incident investigations, appeals, negotiations of CMS and AHCA survey determinations and handled litigation of survey appeals through settlement negotiation and conclusion.

Ms. Martinez regularly provided management and oversight responses to government investigations, subpoenas, and civil investigative demands, and litigated regulatory, False Claims Act and qui tam cases. 

Ms. Martinez commenced her legal career as an associate attorney at QPWB's Tampa office assisting with the defense of administrative cases and in all phases of litigation, discovery and civil appeals on matters involving nursing home, assisted living and medical malpractice litigation.  She also practiced with a plaintiff's personal injury law firm in Tampa as an associate attorney handling class action cases in state and federal courts where she served as special projects attorney in medical malpractice and personal injury trials and litigation.

Ms. Martinez received her Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law at Gulfport, Florida in May 2009 and Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary social science from the University of South Florida in 1994. She completed an online Certificate Program in Health Care Risk Management from the University of South Florida in 2015.  While in law school, Ms. Martinez served as a federal judicial intern at the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida; and certified legal intern at the Office of the State Attorney, Sixth Judicial Circuit.  Ms. Martinez interned with the Office of the Public Defender in Tampa, Florida.  She also served as primary author of the Florida Bar grant application program to secure funds to establish a veterans clinic at Stetson University College of Law while serving as liaison for the Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP) Committee, ABA Law Student Division.

During law school, she received various awards; among them, the William F. Blews Pro Bono Award, May 2009; ABA Law Student Division Gold Key Award, May 2009; Stetson University College of Law Trailblazer Award, April 2009; Most Outstanding ABA Liaison for 2008-2009, April 2009; Star of the Division, ABA Law Student Division, March 2009; Nominee of the Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access for Duty Bound initiative, 2008.

Ms. Martinez is licensed to practice law in Florida and is admitted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida; and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

She is recognized in Super Lawyers® Florida list of "Rising Stars" 2013.

Ms. Martinez is fluent in Spanish, and proficient in Mandarin Chinese and French.  In 1996, she received intensive language training in Mandarin Chinese at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

Ms. Martinez served in the United States Army for two years and received an honorable discharge in December 1997.

Military Honors and Recognitions

  • Recipient, Letter of Commendation, United States Army, November 1997
  • Recipient, Commandant's Award, United States Army, June 1997
  • Recipient, Honorable Mention, Chinese Mandarin Speech Contest, April 1997
  • Recipient, Certificate of Commendation, United States Army, February 1996
  • Recipient, Certificate of Achievement, United States Army, February 1996
  • Recipient, Certificate of Achievement, United States Army, January 1996

Publications and Presentations

  • Panelist, Logikcull.com, "Slack, Social Media and Self-Deleting Texts: Major Developments in Labor & Employment Law," January 18, 2018 (Webinar).
  • Panelist, "Idea Lab: 360° Analysis on 0365," Georgetown Law, 13th Annual Advanced eDiscovery Institute, November 10-11, 2016 - Washington DC.
  • Author, Agency Snapshot Agency for Health Care Administration (The Florida Bar Administrative Law Section Newsletter Volume XXXVI, No. 1), Sep. 2014, at 14-15 (available at http://www.flaadminlaw.org/pdf/Sept2014-Final.pdf) (last accessed October 21, 2014).
  • Co-Author, Duty Bound: a National Veterans Service Initiative (American Bar Association, Law Student Division, Veterans' Advocacy Toolkit), Aug. 2008 (available at http://www.abanet.org/lsd/veterans/toolkit.pdf) (last accessed June 2, 2009).

RELATED ARTICLES 

QPWB Scores Significant Victory for Assisted Living Facilities

QPWB Wins Appeal: Trial Court Upholds Summary Judgment

QPWB Wins Appeal: Trial Court's Summary Judgment Affirmed

Per Curiam Decision from Fourth District Court of Appeals Concludes Rules Require Arbitrator to deciding with QPWB'S Appeal Team That Lower Court Exceeded Its Authority

Areas of Practice

  • Administrative Law
  • Civil Litigation
  • Assisted Living Facilities
  • Automotive Liability
  • Insurance and Insurers
  • Medical Malpractice Defense
  • Nursing Homes
  • Premises Liability
  • Product Liability

Education

Stetson University College of Law, J.D. (2009)

University of South Florida, B.A. (1994)

Bar Admissions

Florida

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