Maria Elena Abate

Practice Areas

Insurance Litigation, Business & Commercial Litigation, Administrative Law & Litigation, Employment Law & Litigation

Career

Maria Elena Abate is a Shareholder and Chief Diversity Officer at Colodny Fass. Ms Abate focuses her practice on complex, commercial and class action litigation, employment law, and the prosecution of fraudulent insurance claims. In her over 30 years of practice, she has successfully represented and advised clients in a myriad of high-risk business disputes, including coverage, bad-faith, re-insurance, premium audits, marine cargo insurance, regulatory appeals, and Medicare secondary payer matters. Ms Abate also serves in an advisory and training capacity to the industry. In recent years she has participated in panel discussions regarding the use of artificial intelligence in insurance.

Professional Memberships

Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, Fraud Committee

Claims and Litigation Management Alliance School of Insurance Fraud, Instructor

Florida Property and Casualty Insurance Task Force

Florida Bar, Member

National African American Insurance Association, Florida Chapter: Board Member, Elections Chair and Finance Committee Member

Personal

Among her accomplishments, Maria is most proud of her work in helping to found two non-profit boards dedicated to the service of under-represented communities: the National African American Insurance Association (“NAAIA”), Florida Chapter and the Women’s Breast and Heart Initiative, (“WBHI”) Florida Chapter.

Ms. Abate currently serves as the Elections Chair for NAAIA, Florida, is a member of the finance committee, and helped to establish the NAAIA Florida Scholarship Program. This program, which partners with the Risk Management & Insurance Program (RMI) at FSU and FAMU, provides a reciprocal pathway wherein minority students are made aware of the various career opportunities available in the insurance industry and prospective employers are provided emerging skilled talent. Since its inception in 2021, the NAAIA Florida Scholarship Program has awarded ten RMI students full scholarships.

As a founding board member of WBHI, Ms. Abate has overseen and helped to make possible the provision of life-saving screenings and education regarding breast health and heart health to thousands of women. These services are coordinated by WBHI throughout South Florida - an area where too many women have limited access to care. Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties are the state’s most diverse and populous region, with a population that is 67 percent Hispanic, 16 percent Black, 14 percent White, and 3 percent other. The region also ranks in the lowest 25 percent of Florida counties for adults who have insurance coverage, are Medicaid enrollees, or have a usual source for healthcare.

Languages Spoken

Fluent in Spanish

Education