Volume 15

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 863a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Declaratory judgment — While PIP statute does not require insurer to produce PIP log on presuit request from assignee/medical provider, on remand county court may address argument that furnishing log was required by policy — Insurer’s production of PIP log after provider filed suit is not tantamount to confession of judgment — Attorney’s fees — Appellate — Offer of judgment — Where real issue in case was whether insurer was obligated to produce PIP log, case was not action for damages to which offer of judgment statute applies, and insurer’s motion for appellate attorney’s fees is denied

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1168a

Insurance — Med Pay — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing insured — Error to deny insured’s motion for attorney’s fees where insurer settled claim after suit was filed — Insurer that made ambiguous offer to pay medical payment coverage before insured filed suit for benefits, but did not attempt to pay sums due, did not make effective tender prior to suit

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 633c

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Justiciable issues — Insurer’s obligation to provide PIP log on presuit request from assignee/medical provider — Insurer’s motion for fee award is denied — Case law determining insurer is not obligated to provide PIP log under certain statutory provisions did not address any obligation that might arise under other provisions

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 293a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Justiciable issues — Exhaustion of benefits — Where issue of effect of exhaustion of benefits on pending claim is not settled in Florida, it cannot be said that medical provider’s claim could not be supported by application of then-existing law to facts — Although insurer claims to possess evidence that provider’s bill was received by insurer after benefits were exhausted, where insurer withheld such evidence from provider until two days before hearing on motion for summary judgment, it would be manifestly unjust to allow insurer to claim that provider should have known all along that facts did not support claim — Motion for attorney’s fees and costs denied

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 984a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Amount — No abuse of discretion in setting amount of attorney fee award where trial court was provided with competent substantial evidence of hours expended, details of services performed and reasonable hourly rate — Costs — Where expert witness had to review records spanning two years and testified that he had expectation of being paid and that it was burdensome for him to work as expert witness, there is competent substantial evidence supporting decision to award expert witness fee — No abuse of discretion in denying continuance requested by insurer where trial court, dissatisfied with insurer’s attempt to lay predicate and foundation for admission of attorney’s affidavits and timesheets, asked attorney if he wanted to continue hearing and denied continuance when attorney stated that he did not want case to be continued

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 155b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Discovery — Attorney depositions

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 708a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Amount — Hourly rate — Reasonable hourly rates set for insured’s attorney and paralegal — Contingency risk multiplier — Where no attorney in community would accept PIP case without multiplier, attorney was not able to mitigate risk of nonpayment, case posed substantial risk to attorney, and insured’s chances of success at outset were even at best, multiplier of 1.5 is appropriate — No merit to argument that, because insured easily found attorney to handle her personal injury case and thereafter attorney suggested PIP case to recover medical expenses, insured had no difficulty obtaining counsel and is not entitled to multiplier where there is no evidence that insured could have found attorney to handle PIP case without expectation of multiplier — Costs, expert witness fees and prejudgment interest awarded

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 706a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Amount — Reasonable hourly rates set for most effective and experienced PIP plaintiff’s lawyer in area and exceptional paralegal — Amount of time spent on case pre-suit was professionally responsible and effective — Contingency risk multiplier — Where evidence established that plaintiffs could not obtain competent counsel in PIP cases in area without expectation of multiplier, attorney was not able to mitigate risk of nonpayment, case was problematic due to multiple issues, attorney accepted case despite substantial probability that he would not prevail, and medical provider stipulated that it had even chance to succeed at outset of case, 2.0 multiplier is appropriate — No merit to argument that multiplier is not justified where provider, who had difficulty obtaining competent counsel in past cases until he found and retained current attorney, had no difficulty obtaining counsel in this case — Costs, prejudgment interest and expert witness fee awarded

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 703b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Amount — Reasonable hourly rates set for most effective and experienced PIP plaintiff’s lawyer in area and exceptional paralegal — Amount of time spent on case pre-suit was professionally responsible and effective — Contingency risk multiplier — Where evidence established that plaintiffs could not obtain competent counsel in PIP cases in area without expectation of multiplier, attorney was not able to mitigate risk of nonpayment, case was problematic due to multiple issues, attorney accepted case despite substantial probability that he would not prevail, and medical provider stipulated that it had even chance to succeed at outset of case, 2.0 multiplier is appropriate — No merit to argument that multiplier is not justified where provider, who had difficulty obtaining competent counsel in past cases until he found and retained current attorney, had no difficulty obtaining counsel in this case — Costs, prejudgment interest and expert witness fee awarded

15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 399a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Contingency risk multiplier of 1.25 is awarded where relevant market requires multiplier to obtain competent counsel in PIP matters, insured had difficulty obtaining counsel, and likelihood of success at outset was 40% – 70% — Expert witness fee, costs and prejudgment interest awarded