Chantel C. Wonder

Overview

Chantel Wonder focuses her practice on hospitality and complex commercial litigation, consumer financial services, employment defense, general liability, and insurance coverage and property matters.

Ms. Wonder represents hotels, franchisors, owners, operators, and other hospitality companies in matters involving the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), premises liability, negligent security, employment disputes, and other claims arising from hotel operations. Her experience includes disputes involving franchise relationships, ownership and control, agency, indemnification and risk transfer, insurance, and the allocation of responsibilities among franchisors, franchisees, owners, and operators.

In her consumer financial services practice, Ms. Wonder represents debt buyers, creditors, debt collectors, financial institutions, and other financial services companies in individual and class-action litigation. She handles matters involving debt collection, bankruptcy, and credit reporting, including claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA), and Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA). She has represented clients in federal and state courts, class actions, appeals, jury trials, and hundreds of bench trials.

In her employment defense practice, Ms. Wonder represents employers before the EEOC and in state and federal courts. Her experience includes wage-and-hour disputes, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, disability and accommodation issues, restrictive covenants and non-compete agreements, breach of contract, and employment-related torts.

Ms. Wonder’s general liability practice includes premises liability, slip-and-fall, negligent security, property damage, and other tort matters. She represents businesses, property owners, insurers, and other entities in claims arising from their operations and properties.

Ms. Wonder also handles insurance coverage and property matters for homeowners’ associations, property owners, developers, engineers, contractors, design professionals, and other businesses. Her experience includes first-party property claims arising from floods, fires, and hurricanes, as well as matters involving construction and code defects, breach of contract, and failures to perform management duties.

Prior to joining Kaufman Dolowich, Ms. Wonder was a partner at a national law firm, where she practiced in the Financial Services Litigation and Insurance practice groups. Earlier in her career, she practiced at national and Am Law 100 firms and served as in-house litigation counsel for a national debt buyer.

Professional Memberships

• Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA) International, 2023-present
• Florida Small Claims Rules Committee, 2017-2023; Vice-Chair 2022-2023
• Florida Creditors’ Bar Association, 2011-Present, Past President 2017-2018, Board Member 2016-2018
• Hillsborough Bar, 2017-Present
• National Creditors Bar Association, 2017-Present