Volume 9

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 526a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Discovery — Oral order requiring production of documents is valid enforceable order — Privilege — Work product — Error to order counsel for medical provider to disclose entire file in matter below in attorney’s fees proceeding — Medical provider putting expert witness on stand who testified that he had been permitted to review entire file and testified to contents of file only as they related to time expenditures did not waive privilege as to attorney’s work product contained in file

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 635a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Discovery — Depositions — Motion to compel depositions in preparation for attorney’s fee hearing is denied where medical provider’s attorney is seeking fees for only 7.4 hours, and insurer’s attorney has cross-examined provider’s attorney about his background, experience and training at other fee hearings in past

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 716a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing insured — Even if delay in payment of disability credit insurance benefits was due to good faith need for insurer to investigate conflicting disability periods apparent in claim by insured who was disabled, returned to work despite disability, and then was involved in a second disabling accident, successful insured is entitled to claim attorney’s fees against insurer that paid total claim during suit — Obligation for attorney’s fees and costs continued past insurer’s offer of judgment where that offer did not include attorney’s fees and costs already incurred — Although insurer was within its rights to dispute claim for period between accidents when it believed insured was working, insurer agreed that insured did not work by paying claim for that period, and insured is entitled to attorney’s fees and costs against insurer for all time reasonably expended by insured’s counsel in pursuit of claims — Insurer’s claim for attorney’s fees because insured’s claim was frivolous is denied where, although chances of success at outset were even, claim had merit — Where insurer contested entitlement to attorney’s fees, insured is awarded fees and costs for litigating entitlement issue

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 133a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Trial with novel motion x-ray test at issue and less than 50/50 chance of success for plaintiff at outset, resulting in verdict for full amount — Multiplier of 2.4 warranted

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 424a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Default — Relief from judgment — Meritorious defenses, even if shown by the record, would not alone entitle defendant to avoid default — Claims manager’s affidavit containing no explanation for inaction other than vague reference to workload and statement that she made a mistake was insufficient to prove excusable neglect — No gross abuse of discretion in refusal to set aside default — No merit to claim that default should be set aside because it causes unjust enrichment — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Contingency risk multiplier — Error to award multiplier where nothing in record indicates that fee was contingent on recovery — Consideration of difficulty of case and likelihood of success relates to amount of multiplier, not entitlement to multiplier — Costs — Parking and postage costs are miscellaneous office expenses that should not have been taxed

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 853b

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Contingency risk multiplier — Application of contingency risk multiplier is not appropriate — If contingency risk multiplier is appropriate, multiplier in the range of 1.0 – 2.0 would be reasonable because likelihood of success was even at outset, and multiplier of 1.0 should be applied — Expert witness fees and costs awarded

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 641a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Contingency risk multiplier — Where insured’s complaint was for overdue PIP benefits that included database bill reductions and income loss, insurer’s expert conceded income loss claim was more difficult claim on which to prevail, and insurer quickly settled claim after suit was filed by paying medical provider bill reductions and paying insured more than twice the claimed income loss, contingency risk multiplier of 1.5 is appropriate — Costs — Expert witness fee, filing fee, and service of process fee awarded as costs

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 480b

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Attorney’s fees — Contingency risk multiplier — Where insured’s chance of success in recovery on uninsured motorist claim was unlikely at outset due to extremely late notice to insurer and credibility issues on part of insured as to whether there was a phantom vehicle that had run him off the road as he rode his bicycle, and market requires multiplier to obtain competent counsel in this type case, multiplier of 2.0 is awarded — Hours claimed by insured’s two attorneys are reduced because there must necessarily have been some duplication of effort — Costs — Fees of insured’s expert attorney’s fees witness are awarded where witness testified that case presented a hardship

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 53b

Insurance — Attorney’s fees awarded to medical provider calculated at rate of $250 per hour with contingency risk multiplier of 1.5 — Expert witness fee of $375 awarded — Costs awarded

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 637a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Proposal for settlement — Medical provider which filed voluntary dismissal eight months after expiration of insurer’s proposal for settlement was liable for insurer’s attorney’s fees and costs — Insurer did not have duty to plead entitlement to attorney’s fees under section 57.105 before case was ended — Medical provider’s action was brought in bad faith where provider’s corporate status was cancelled seven years prior to suit and, thus, provider is non-existent entity without legal capacity to bring, maintain or defend any action in any court of state