Volume 9

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 433a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Contingency risk multiplier — No abuse of discretion in application of 1.5 multiplier where trial court found probability of success at outset of case was 50/50, and there was evidence that possibility of multiplier was the only reason insured’s counsel was able to accept case — Costs — Expert witness fees — No abuse of discretion in award of expert fee for attorney who testified about reasonable attorney’s fees where there was evidence that preparation for testifying was lengthy and burdensome — Appellate fees — Motion for appellate fees for time expended litigating amount of fees is denied

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 85a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Appellate attorney’s fees — Where appellate court concluded that directed verdict in favor of insurer was inappropriate, remanded case for new trial, and granted insured’s motion for appellate fees, order granting fees is conditioned upon insured ultimately prevailing with a recovery on the policy on retrial

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 210a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Venue — Forum non conveniens — No abuse of discretion in transferring venue from Orange County to Collier County where accident occurred in Collier County, insured resides there, most of medical practitioners and almost every witness would be located there, and only evidence that insured submitted was affidavit claiming that he would use the testimony of an Orlando orthopedic surgeon — No error in basing decision to transfer venue on affidavits without allowing insured to cross-examine insurer’s affiant — Error to require insured to pay transfer costs where venue was proper in Orange County, albeit inconvenient — Where it is apparent from transcript that trial judge meant to order insurer rather than insured to pay transfer fees, it is not necessary to address argument that it was within court’s discretion to order insured to pay fees — Appellate attorney’s fees — Despite being the prevailing party on appeal, insurer is not entitled to appellate attorney’s fees because it filed for fees pursuant to section 57.105, and insured’s appeal was not frivolous or totally unsupportable — Insurer should have costs taxed in its favor under rule 9.400(a) if it timely files a motion with trial court

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 170a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Appellate attorney’s fees — Fees awarded pursuant to section 57.105

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 212a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Appeal of 2.25 contingency risk multiplier awarded to insured in action for PIP benefits for TMJ treatment after automobile accident so minor that it did not damage insured’s vehicle — Difficulties and complications in case which arose after attorney agreed to represent insured have no bearing on the assessment of a contingency risk multiplier — No abuse of discretion in finding that success was unlikely at outset of case based on factors that were present at the outset — Although facts in case may not be as unique as those warranting multiplier in State Farm Fire & Casualty v. Palma, no abuse of discretion in finding that insured’s case presented a situation where success was unlikely at outset — Where results obtained for insured were 100% and parties agree there was contingency agreement, trial court’s finding that this is a case in which few attorneys would venture without the possibility of a multiplier will not be disturbed — No merit to argument that insured’s attorney was able to mitigate the risk of non-payment by the volume of PIP cases he handles which end in court awarded fees — Argument that standard jury instruction 6.2(b) militated against the award of a multiplier is not properly before appellate court where insurer did not appeal the jury instructions — Appellate attorney’s fees — No award of appellate fees will be granted where only issue appealed was the application of multiplier, which addresses the amount of fees rather than the entitlement to fees

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 854a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Party entitled to recover fees incurred in litigating applicability of multiplier — Use of contingency fee muliplier is appropriate — Because likelihood of plaintiff prevailing at outset was even under circumstances of case, multiplier of 1.5 is determined to be reasonable — Multiplier does not apply to paralegal time — Expert witness fees and prejudgment interest awarded from date case was settled

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 503a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Appellate court will not substitute its judgment for that of trial court on factual issue of when insurer agreed to pay all that was due and case ended — No abuse of discretion in concluding, based on expert affidavit, that bills of insured’s two attorneys were not duplicative — Contingency risk multiplier — Although only basis for awarding multiplier articulated in order was contingency fee agreement, where there is evidence in record that relevant market requires multiplier to obtain competent counsel, trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding 1.25 multiplier

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 539a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Med Pay — Attorney’s fees — Contingency risk multiplier — In case involving novel issue of reimbursement from Med Pay when a workers’ compensation lien is paid, where risk was substantial and chance of success even at outset of case, and market requires a multiplier in order for someone like insured to obtain competent counsel, multiplier of 2.0 is awarded — Attorneys for insured reasonably anticipated a proper defense and possible proposal for settlement from insurer, and fact that insurer failed to live up to that expectation is not basis for lower multiplier — Reasonable hourly rate — Court is satisfied that attorney is quite knowledgeable and skillful in handling first party insurance cases despite attorney’s lack of board certification — Reasonable number of hours — Hours attorney devoted to clerical functions are not taxable as attorney functions — Costs — Expert witness fees and other costs awarded — Prejudgment interest on attorney’s fees and costs awarded

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 769a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Claim that billing for intra-office conferences and memos between attorney and paralegal amounts to over-billing is rejected — $300 is reasonable hourly rate for attorney with considerable experience and expertise, and $75 is reasonable hourly rate for paralegal with extensive PIP experience — Contingency risk multiplier of 2.0 is justified where evidence establishes that insureds could not obtain competent counsel in PIP cases without a contingency multiplier, insured’s counsel was not able to mitigate the risk of nonpayment in any way other than by litigating case to the point of trial, case involved substantial risk to counsel since it would come down to a battle of medical experts, and success was unlikely at outset — Costs and expert witness fees awarded

9 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 640b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Reasonable number of hours expended and reasonable hourly rate determined — Contingency risk multiplier — Where relevant market requires contingency risk multiplier to obtain competent counsel in claim for PIP benefits, attorney was not able to mitigate risk of nonpayment in any way, and success was even at time case was initiated, multiplier of 2 is warranted — Costs — Fee awarded to expert witness