12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 170b
Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Contingency risk multiplier of 1.5 is appropriate — Expert witness fees and costs awarded
ALL CARE HEALTH AND WELLNESS, INC., a Florida Corporation (assignee of Henry, Monique) Plaintiff, v. UNITED AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Case No. 03-03115 COSO 60. November 15, 2004. Sharon L. Zeller, Judge. Counsel: Russel Lazega, The Law Office of Russel Lazega, North Miami. Kishasha B. Sharp.
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES PLUS COST AND FINAL JUDGMENT AWARDING ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS AS TO COUNT I OF PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT
This action was heard on Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Costs and Request for Entry of Final Judgment against Defendant as to Count I of Plaintiff’s Complaint and the Court, having heard argument of counsel and testimony presented finds as follows:
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
This is a P.I.P. case. The Plaintiff’s complaint seeks relief under two counts. Count I seeks an itemized specification of unpaid charges pursuant to Florida Statute s. 627.736(4)(b) plus attorney’s fees and costs for the necessity of the action to enforce compliance with the statute. In addition to the claim for information under F.S. 627.736(4)(b), Plaintiff also seeks payment of its unpaid charges under separate second count (which is still pending and not addressed by this judgment). On July 26, 2004, Plaintiff was granted summary judgment as to Count I and the court at that time determined that Plaintiff is entitled to attorney’s fees and costs for the necessity of the action in an amount to be determined at a later date. On October 28, 2004 this court convened a hearing to determine the reasonable attorney’s fees and costs due Plaintiff as to its efforts related to Count I of its complaint and the Court finds as follows:
1. For attorney Russel Lazega the court finds that attorney Russel Lazega reasonably expended 10 hours and that an hourly rate of $250 per hour is reasonable for this case.
2. For attorneys James Underwood and Christopher Tuccitto the court finds said attorneys reasonably expended 7 hours and that an hourly rate of $200 is reasonable for this case.
3. The Court also finds that Plaintiff’s counsel reasonably expended 3.4 hours of paralegal and law clerk time in prosecution of this issue and that $75 per hour is a reasonable hourly rate for said services.
4. The total loadstar amount of the above attorney’s fees = $4,155.00 ($2,500 for the work of attorney Russel Lazega + $1,400 for the work of attorneys James Underwood and Christopher Tuccitto + $255 for the work of the law clerks and paralegals).
5. The court has considered the factors set forth in Standard Guarantee Ins. Co., v. Quanstrom, 555 So. 2d 828 (Fla. 1990) and Florida Patients’ Comp. Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145 (Fla. 1985) and finds that Plaintiff has demonstrated the necessary factors and that a loadstar multiplier of 1.5 is appropriate.
6. Multiplying the loadstar attorney’s fee amount of $4,155.00 by the multiplier of 1.5 the total attorney fee award to Plaintiff is $6,232.50.
7. Additionally, the parties have stipulated to the taxable costs of $192.00 which shall be awarded to Plaintiff.
8. Further, Plaintiff’s expert witness, Stacey Giulianti, is awarded 2.5 hours (which this court finds to be a reasonable time expenditure) at an hourly rate of $250 per hour (which was not disputed) for a total expert witness award against Defendant of $625.00.
ACCORDINGLY, Final Judgment is entered in Favor of Plaintiff as to Count I of its complaint as follows:
1. Attorney’s fees in the amount of $6,232.50;
2. Costs in the amount of $192.00;
3. Expert Witness Fees to attorney Stacey Giulianti in the amount of $625.00, FOR A TOTAL JUDGMENT AMOUNT OF $7,049.50 WHICH SHALL BEAR INTEREST AT THE RATE OF 7% PER ANNUM AND FOR WHICH SUM LET EXECUTION ISSUE.
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