2014

39 Fla. L. Weekly D139a
132 So. 3d 858

Attorney’s fees — Offer of judgment — Insurance — Title — Proposal for settlement of title insurer’s counterclaim against its insured clearly delineated which claims it intended to extinguish — Trial court correctly awarded fees and costs to insurer where insured did not accept within time frame and insurer subsequently recovered judgment in amount at least 25 percent greater than offer — No error in awarding fees for travel time, as award of fees under section 768.79 is intended as sanction against party who unreasonably rejects settlement offer — Error to award fees incurred in litigating amount of fees

39 Fla. L. Weekly D1271c
164 So. 3d 1

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Homeowners — Proposal for settlement — Trial court used incorrect standard in determining whether insurer’s nominal proposal for settlement of insured’s claim for hurricane damage was made in good faith — Rule is that minimal offer can be made in good faith if evidence demonstrates that, at time it was made, the offeror had reasonable basis to conclude that its exposure was nominal — Record contains enough evidence to conclude that insurer only faced nominal exposure, as insured did not first report alleged damage to home for nearly four years after fact — Remand with instructions to enter order granting fees to insurer and determining amount to be awarded

39 Fla. L. Weekly D731a

NOT FINAL VERSION OF OPINION
Subsequent Changes at 39 Fla. L. Weekly D1271c

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Homeowners — Proposal for settlement — Trial court used incorrect standard in determining whether insurer’s nominal proposal for settlement of insured’s claim for hurricane damage was made in good faith — Rule is that minimal offer can be made in good faith if evidence demonstrates that, at time it was made, the offeror had reasonable basis to conclude that its exposure was nominal — Record contains enough evidence to conclude that insurer only faced nominal exposure, as insured did not first report alleged damage to home for nearly four years after fact — Remand with instructions to enter order granting fees to insurer and determining amount to be awarded

39 Fla. L. Weekly D1441a
141 So. 3d 1256

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Confession of judgment — Where insurer stated that it would not pay medical provider’s claims until provider complied with insurer’s requests for documents, insurer instituted declaratory judgment action, provider filed counterclaim seeking declaration that insurer’s document requests were outside scope of statute, insurer requested declaration that its document requests were proper, and both parties filed motions for summary judgment, it was error for trial court to enter summary judgment for insurer on basis that court no longer had jurisdiction because insurer paid the disputed claims — In light of insurer’s position that it would not pay claims until provider produced the requested documents, provider was forced to file declaratory judgment suit — If insurer paid claims after provider filed its counterclaim, this constituted a confession of judgment, entitling provider to attorney’s fees — Court should award attorney’s fees to provider for claims paid after provider filed its counterclaim

39 Fla. L. Weekly D487a
138 So. 3d 479

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Trial court properly denied attorney’s fees and costs where insurer did not wrongfully cause insureds to resort to litigation

39 Fla. L. Weekly D455b
137 So. 3d 1039

Insurance — Automobile — Attorney’s fees — Where, after insured had filed breach of contract complaint against insurer for failure to pay automobile theft claim, insurer made payment to lienholder of automobile, insurer’s payment to lienholder was the functional equivalent of a confession of judgment, and trial court erred in denying insured’s motion for attorney’s fees for prosecuting his case against insurer — Trial court properly denied insured’s motion for fees for defending insurer’s counterclaims which were dismissed for lack of prosecution because order granting motion to dismiss for lack of prosecution was not a judgment or the functional equivalent of a judgment in insured’s favor

39 Fla. L. Weekly D1058a
139 So. 3d 402

Insurance — Automobile — Attorney’s fees — Insured prevailing in action against insurer — Policy issued in foreign state — Where insurer which issued policy to insured in Texas accepted insured’s proposal for settlement of claim for repairs to insured automobile, insured was not entitled to award of attorney’s fees under Florida law — Trial court erred in declining to consider application of Texas law to issue of entitlement to attorney’s fees — Insured could properly raise issue of entitlement to attorney’s fees under Texas law in motion for reconsideration of order denying award of attorney’s fees under Florida law

39 Fla. L. Weekly D1937a
155 So. 3d 1163

Insurance — Automobile liability — Trial court properly found that insurer was responsible for a sanctions judgment entered against insured for misrepresentations during discovery — Sanctions judgment constituted a cost charged to insured in a covered lawsuit — Insured’s misrepresentations during deposition were not the type of misrepresentations contemplated by policy’s “fraud and misrepresentation” provision which would authorize insurer to void coverage under policy — Duty to cooperate — Insured’s conditioning its acceptance of replacement legal counsel upon insurer’s withdrawal of insurer’s reservation of rights did not constitute a violation of insured’s duty to cooperate — Once insurer issued its reservation of rights, insured no longer owed insurer a duty of cooperation

39 Fla. L. Weekly D1911a
207 So. 3d 245

Insurance — Homeowners — Sinkhole claim — Attorney’s fees — Insured prevailing in action against insurer — Confession of judgment — Where insured filed claim for damage to home caused by sinkhole activity; insurer commissioned professional engineer whose presumptively correct report found that damage was not caused by sinkhole activity; insured commissioned her own engineer’s report which disagreed with insurer’s report; insured filed breach of contract action against insurer without disclosing her engineer’s report; insurer opted to pursue neutral evaluation procedure; and insurer paid claim after neutral evaluator rendered report concluding that damage was caused by sinkhole activity, it was error to award attorney’s fees to insured on the basis that insurer confessed judgment by paying claim — Insurer’s actions in investigating and handling claim pursuant to pertinent statutory provisions, and in relying on the presumptively correct report it commissioned to deny the claim, did not establish a wrongful or unreasonable denial of benefits that forced insured to file suit to obtain policy benefits

39 Fla. L. Weekly D266a
130 So. 3d 783

Insurance — General liability — Insured’s breach of policy condition by failing to notify insurer that suit had been filed against insured, with result that default was entered against insured and plaintiff in underlying suit moved for writ of garnishment against insurer — Although insured breached its obligations under its contract of insurance, insurer had burden to show that it was insured’s breach that resulted in the existence of the judgment debt, not only when the default judgment was entered but also when plaintiff in underlying suit sought to collect — Insured’s allowing entry of judgment against it without notifying insurer of a defensible suit would materially prejudice insurer, and preclude recovery against insurer, unless insurer unjustifiably refused to file and pursue a viable motion to set the judgment against insured aside — Insurer had an obligation to file a motion to set aside the judgment, if the original lawsuit was defensible and grounds to set aside the judgment existed — Evidentiary hearing is required to determine whether insurer was under an obligation to file and pursue a motion to set aside the default judgment