2016

41 Fla. L. Weekly S62a
185 So. 3d 1214

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Bad faith — Insured is entitled to a determination of liability and full extent of damages in UM action before filing a first-party bad faith action — Determination of damages in UM action is binding, as an element of damages, in a subsequent first-party bad faith action against the same insurer so long as parties have the right to appeal any properly preserved errors in the verdict — Trial court did not err in retaining jurisdiction to allow filing of bad faith cause of action — District courts have jurisdiction to review claims of error in the determination of damages obtained in the UM action — Amount of damages in UM case does not become moot by virtue of insurer’s confession of judgment and tendering of policy limits

41 Fla. L. Weekly D2736b
208 So. 3d 239

Insurance — Homeowners — Sinkhole loss — Bad faith — Trial court erred when it entered summary judgment in favor of insurer on first-party bad-faith complaint on ground that, by accepting insurer’s proposal for settlement on underlying breach of contract claim for amount less than policy limits, insureds had failed to obtain a determination of liability or the extent of their damages — Insurer’s payment of settlement amount constituted a favorable resolution for insureds and further served as a determination of liability and extent of insureds’ damages, and fact that settlement was in amount less than policy limits or amount initially demanded by insureds does not change result

41 Fla. L. Weekly D1357a
193 So. 3d 1026

Attorney’s fees — Proposal for settlement — Validity of proposal — Insurance — Action by insured against insurer — Trial court properly denied defendant insurer’s motion for attorney’s fees based on proposal for settlement where proposal purported to impose liability for an indeterminate category of other claims of third parties on plaintiff’s counsel, a non-party

41 Fla. L. Weekly D1438a
200 So. 3d 153

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Confession of judgment by insurer — Circuit court, acting in its appellate capacity, did not violate clearly established principles of law resulting in miscarriage of justice by finding that confession of judgment occurred, entitling health care provider to award of attorney’s fees, when insurer mailed overdue PIP payments the day before suit was filed, which were not received by health care provider after suit was filed — Insurer waived claim that payment was made before suit was filed by its initial stipulation that payment was made after suit was filed where stipulation was never withdrawn — Insurer’s argument that PIP payments are deemed made when mailed was not raised in county court, and is rejected

41 Fla. L. Weekly D2609a
204 So. 3d 154
Insurance — Personal injury protection — Attorney’s fees — Multiplier — County court properly denied the request of insured who prevailed in action against insurer for a contingent fee multiplier upon finding that the relevant market did not require a multiplier for insured to obtain competent counsel because many attorneys took his case without a discussion of a multiplier — Circuit court departed from essential requirements of law by reversing county court’s decision

41 Fla. L. Weekly D30d
183 So. 3d 1134

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Action against homeowners insurer which initially failed to pay insured for the loss of her home and eventually paid the policy limit after suit was filed — In awarding attorney’s fees to insured, trial court properly applied a multiplier of 1.5 where there was no other counsel in the relevant market who would agree to represent insured under the contingency fee arrangement she needed in light of her financial situation, time involved by counsel was substantial, and the results obtained were the maximum sought — It was improper to award fees for counsel’s travel time and to award costs for counsel’s travel expenses — It was improper to award costs in the form of back-up expert fees where insured did not establish the necessity of the fees

41 Fla. L. Weekly D2044a
201 So. 3d 182

Insurance — Homeowners — Attorney’s fees — Insureds prevailing in action against insurer to recover for sinkhole damage to home — Trial court abused discretion in applying multiplier to attorney’s fee award where case was not one involving rare and exceptional circumstances — Evidence did not support award of court costs for expert witnesses

41 Fla. L. Weekly D1279a
196 So. 3d 419

Insurance — Homeowners — Attorney’s fees — Insureds prevailing in action against insurer — Trial court abused discretion in applying multiplier to fees awarded to insureds where there was no showing that insureds would have had difficulty finding competent counsel to represent them — Finding that attorneys went all the way through trial to completion was not a valid basis for award of fee multiplier

41 Fla. L. Weekly D696a
189 So. 3d 905

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing insured — In determining commercial general liability insurer’s liability for fees incurred by insured, who prevailed in coverage dispute with insurer, trial court erred in limiting recovery of attorney’s fees under contingency fee agreement between insured and insured’s attorney to those fees incurred in litigating coverage action against insurer, thereby allowing no recovery for attorney’s fees incurred in defending the insured in underlying personal injury action for which insured had sought coverage and a defense — Insurer had no standing to advance a construction of fee agreement to which it was neither a party nor a third-party beneficiary and, accordingly, could not impose an interpretation of the agreement that ran counter to the intent of the parties to the contract, who agreed that they contemplated recovery of attorney’s fees incurred in defending underlying tort action — Inclusion of these fees is consistent with subject matter and object and purpose of contract between insured and attorney, which contemplated a lawsuit against insurer for breach of its duty to defend insured in tort action

41 Fla. L. Weekly S115a
190 So. 3d 1047

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Discovery — Billing records of opposing counsel — Hours expended by counsel for defendant insurance company in a contested claim for attorney’s fees filed pursuant to sections 624.155 and 627.428, Florida Statutes, is relevant to issue of reasonableness of time expended by counsel for the plaintiff, and discovery of such information, where disputed, falls within sound discretion of trial court — Clarification of relevance of time expended by opposing counsel to issue of reasonable hours for party who is entitled to payment of attorney’s fees when fees are contested — Entirety of the billing records are not privileged, and where the trial court specifically states that any privileged information may be redacted, plaintiff should not be required to make an additional special showing to obtain the remaining relevant, non-privileged information — District court improperly infringed on sound discretion of trial court and required plaintiff to meet unnecessarily high standard when it required plaintiff to make additional special showing prior to discovery of billing records — Appeals — Certiorari — District court improperly employed certiorari jurisdiction when it granted petition on an issue that did not depart from essential requirements of law and would not cause irreparable harm to opposing party