Volume 12

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 235a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — Insurer was obliged to provide declarations page, policy, and payout log upon pre-suit request by medical provider/assignee, and insurer’s post-suit provision of requested information amounts to confession of judgment

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1143a

Attorney’s fees — Appellate — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Motion for conditional order awarding appellate attorney’s fees prior to resolution of appeal is premature

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 439a

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 631b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — Coverage — Error to weigh evidence and make credibility determination when deciding motion for directed verdict/involuntary dismissal — New trial required — Attorney’s fees — Appellate — Plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees is premature where he has not yet been determined to be prevailing party entitled to recover on PIP policy

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 321a
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Examination under oath — Failure to attend — Where insurer erroneously sent letter to insured stating it was suspending all benefits, insurer repudiated PIP contract and insured was under no obligation to attend EUO — No error in entering summary judgment in favor of medical provider — Attorney’s fees — Justiciable issues — Attorney’s fees are awarded to medical provider where insurer’s appeal is completely without merit; is contradicted by overwhelming evidence; and resulted from problem that began with insurer’s misinterpretation of independent medical examination report by its own doctor — Further, considerable delay in appeal was caused by misrepresentation of contents of record by insurer’s attorney

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 38a

Attorney’s fees — Appellate — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Frivolous appeal

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 295a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Justiciable issues — No abuse of discretion in denying insurer’s motion for attorney’s fees under section 57.105 against medical provider that filed suit naming wrong PIP carrier where complaint was not frivolous when filed because fact that wrong insurer provided provider with claim number, sent correspondence on its letterhead, received claim for medical services rendered to insured, and failed to advise provider or insured that it did not issue insured’s policy led to reasonable inference that wrong insurer issued insured’s PIP policy — Further, where provider filed voluntary dismissal without prejudice soon after it received affidavit identifying correct defendant, wrong insurer was not required to defend against frivolous suit — Appellate fees — Provider’s request for appellate attorney’s fees is denied where request was not made in separate motion, but in answer brief, and request does not specify particular contractual, statutory or other substantive basis for award of fees

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 234a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Appellate fees — Contingency risk multiplier — Where medical provider employed same attorney from beginning of litigation through appeal, both trial and appellate work were governed by contingency fee agreement, and probability of success was 50/50 at outset of case but chance of prevailing on appeal was excellent, court is required to apply same 2.4 multiplier for appellate work as was applied for trial work — Expert witness fee and costs awarded

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 216d

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Insurer waived right to summary judgment by failing to set motion for hearing — Attorney’s fees — No abuse of discretion in awarding attorney’s fees in excess of contingency fee contract and awarding multiplier

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 780a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Amount — Joint stipulation

12 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 307a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Contingency risk multiplier — Award of multiplier is appropriate where fees are awarded pursuant to fee-shifting statute such as section 627.428 — No abuse of discretion in awarding 1.25 multiplier — Competent substantial evidence supported findings that likelihood of success at outset was more likely than not, that time spent up to point of confession by judgment was reasonable, that relevant market does require multiplier, that there was no way to mitigate risk of nonpayment, that maximum results were obtained, and that attorney represented medical provider on pure contingency basis — Time spent litigating amount of fees — While time spent litigating amount of attorney’s fees is not recoverable in attorney’s fee award, time spent proving denied requests for admissions in attorney’s fees litigation is recoverable under rule 1.380(c) — Fact that issues raised in requests for admissions are core issues in dispute does not qualify as reason for insurer’s failure to admit — However, award of fees pursuant to rule 1.380(c) should only include time spent after insurer denied requests for admissions and should be based on reasonable hourly rates without application of a multiplier — Discovery — Depositions — Expert witness fee — Provider’s attorney was not entitled to expert witness fee for deposition testimony regarding time documented in fee affidavit — Deposition time should have been awarded as cost due to fact that deposition was necessitated by denied request for admissions, and not subjected to multiplier — Appellate fees — Where provider did not prevail on all issues on appeal, appellate fees will be limited to those issues on which it prevailed