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Mercedes Armas Bach

Mercedes Armas Bach

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Latest Insights
Upcoming Events
General Biography
Practice Areas
Banking
Business Commercial
Construction Defect
Construction
Employment Law
Estate Probate Trusts
Family Law
Higher Education & Title IX
Insurance
Intellectual Property
Maritime Admiralty
Personal Injury
Professional Liability
Real Property
Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities
Background and Education

Mercedes Armas Bach, Retired Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit, Florida, has extensive experience mediating complex civil disputes and is well regarded for her fairness, diligence, and efficiency in handling a wide variety of matters including business/commercial, construction, employment, family law, insurance, intellectual property, personal injury, professional liability, and real property actions. 

After 17 years of experience from serving on the Florida Courts in Miami Dade County and 13 years in private law practice, Ms. Bach brings her ADR practice to JAMS where she serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and special magistrate. A veteran mediator, Ms. Bach puts disputing parties at ease with her calm demeanor and warm disposition to effect settlements. She is trained in mortgage foreclosure mediation. Additionally, Ms. Bach is fluent in Spanish.

Download Mercedes Bach's biography in Spanish

ADR Experience and Qualifications

  • As a private mediator, extensive experience mediating complex civil, probate, and family matters
  • Served as special master for discovery, hearing master for multi-million dollar construction bid and grant protests and has served as a court appointed trustee
  • Served as umpire/appraiser in first-party insurance property claims
  • Presided over hundreds of jury trials, thousands of bench trials and dispositive motions
  • Trained in Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation at Collins Center

Representative Matters

  • Business Commercial
    • Breach of contract, breach and dissolutions of partnership and joint venture agreements, fraud, non-competes, civil theft and conversion, breach of fiduciary duty
  • Construction
    • Commercial and residential disputes, defects and delays, workmanship and materials, breach of contract, mechanics lien, fraudulent liens, lis pendens, escrow and deposit disputes, pre-construction disputes
  • Consumer
    • Unfair deceptive trade practices, breach of dealer sale/lease agreements, fair credit reporting and collections, stolen and forged checks
  • Employment Law
    • Claims involving unlawful termination; racial, gender, and sex discrimination; hostile work environment; wage and hour disputes: and Title VII claims
  • Estate Probate Trusts
    • Will contests, beneficiary disputes, accountings, guardianships, claims and liens, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud
  • Family Law
    • Child and spousal support, custody, guardianship, termination of parental rights, marital settlement agreements
  • Insurance
    • Coverage, bad faith, first-party claims; mediated or has served as a Neutral Appraisal Umpire in over a hundred cases involving property damage (storm/water, wind, mold) mostly resulting from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma
  • Intellectual Property
    • Trademark, copyright, and license disputes; trade secrets; non-competes
  • Maritime Admiralty
    • Jones Act and seaman claims, cruise ship passenger personal injury claims
      Personal Injury: Automobile and motorcycle accidents resulting in death and catastrophic injury, premises liability, negligent security, construction accidents
  • Professional Liability
    • Negligence resulting in death, serious injury, failure to diagnose/treat
  • Real Property
    • Purchase and sale disputes, misrepresentations and non-disclosures, broker entitlement to commissions, partition of real property interests, fraudulent liens, lis pendens , commercial and residential foreclosures, lien foreclosures, commercial lease disputes

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

  • Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS
  • Daily Business Review Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, 2024
  • Leadership Award, Conference of County Court Judges
  • Co-Chair, Education Committee, Conference of County Court Judges
  • Associate Dean, College of Advanced Judicial Studies
  • Faculty, New Judges College
  • Faculty, College of Advanced Judicial Studies
  • Faculty, The Conference of County Court Judges
  • Supreme Court Appointed Mentor and Mentor Trainer, Supreme Court Judicial Mentoring Program
  • Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching Trial Advocacy, Florida International University
  • Co-Chair, International Judges for National Association of Women Judges Conference
  • Admitted to Court of Military Appeals, 2005
  • Former member, Florida Bar Committee on Professionalism
  • Former board member, Miami Civic Music Association
  • Life member, Young Patronesses of the Opera and awarded the Gold Star of the Year for Service
  • Extensive presentations at bar associations and law firms

Background and Education

  • Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation, Collins Center Trained  
  • Senior Judge, Florida Circuit Courts, served in Civil, Criminal, Family, Juvenile, and Domestic Violence Divisions, 2008-2012
  • Judge, County Court, Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, 1995-2008
    • Administrative Judge, County Court Civil Division: served as Associate Dean of Advanced Judicial Studies, Faculty of New Judges College, Co-Chair of the Education Committee of the Conference of County Judges, Florida Bar Committee on Professionalism, and presented at the Miami Beach and South Dade Bar Associations; Co-Chair, Eleventh Judicial Circuit Technology Committee, 1997-2008
  • Private law practice, Mercedes Armas, P.A., 1979-1992
  • J.D., University of Miami School of Law, 1979
  • B.A., magna cum laude, University of Miami, 1976

Disclaimer

This page is for general information purposes.  JAMS makes no representations or warranties regarding its accuracy or completeness.  Interested persons should conduct their own research regarding information on this website before deciding to use JAMS, including investigation and research of JAMS neutrals. See More

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