Volume 10

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 424a

Insurance — Disability — Refusal to pay benefits — Attorney’s fees — Court-awarded fee cannot exceed maximum permitted under contingent fee contract — Contract with insured limited amount of attorney’s fees to one-third of settlement, regardless of court’s finding that reasonable fee would have been much higher without contract’s limiting language

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 590a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Justiciable issues — Where insurance benefits were exhausted long before suit was filed, suit was frivolous, and insurer is entitled to attorney’s fees — Error to award attorney’s fees for period after date of entitlement hearing — Appellate fees — Where insurer prevailed on issue of entitlement to fees but did not clearly prevail on issue of amount of fees, insurer will only be entitled to appellate fees if it prevails on issue of amount in trial court

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1039a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Amount — Hourly rate of $300 is reasonable — Contingency risk multiplier — Where expert testified that relevant market requires contingency fee multiplier to obtain competent counsel in PIP claims such as medical provider’s case, and provider’s chances of success was approximately even at outset of case, multiplier of 1.5 is appropriate — Costs and expert witness fee awarded

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1019bNOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 11 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 139a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 564a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Calculation of attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, and costs — Fees awarded to expert witness who prepared to testify at hearing cancelled due to insurer’s failure to comply with court’s order preliminary to hearing on motion to tax costs and award attorney’s fees

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 124c

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Reasonable attorney’s fee and expert witness fee set

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 50a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Reasonable hourly rate and reasonable number of hours expended determined — Contingency risk multiplier of 2.0 is appropriate based on novel issue of medical necessity of x-ray/video fluoroscopy diagnostic test

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 132b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Dispute between medical provider and insurer — Where insured cooperated to some degree with investigation and processing of claim by completing and submitting application for PIP benefits and driver’s statement and submitting to chiropractic independent medical examination and medical doctor IME, and insured and her counsel appeared at examination under oath but requested that EUO be conducted with co-claimant present or insurer provide evidence of policy condition requiring that EUO be conducted separately, there remains genuine issue of material fact as to whether insured breached condition of policy requiring attendance at EUO as condition precedent to suit — Insurer’s motion for summary judgment denied

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 132a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Dispute between medical provider and insurer — Where insured cooperated to some degree with investigation and processing of claim by completing and submitting application for PIP benefits and driver’s statement and submitting to chiropractic independent medical examination and medical doctor IME, and insured and her counsel appeared at examination under oath but requested that EUO be conducted with co-claimant present or insurer provide evidence of policy condition requiring that EUO be conducted separately, there remains genuine issue of material fact as to whether insured breached condition of policy requiring attendance at EUO as condition precedent to suit — Insurer’s motion for summary judgment denied

10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 159c

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Dispute between medical provider and insurer — Examination under oath — No error in granting summary judgment based on insured’s failure to attend six EUOs where only evidence of reasonableness of noncompliance with policy requirement to attend EUO was unsubstantiated, untimely filed, self-serving hearsay statement attributing noncompliance to communications breakdown between insured and her former attorney