2020

45 Fla. L. Weekly D219a
297 So. 3d 635

Insurance — Florida Insurance Guaranty Association — Attorney’s fees — Circuit court improperly found that insured was entitled to prevailing party attorney’s fees under section 631.70 because FIGA never denied insurer’s claim by affirmative action before suit was filed where FIGA was not notified of insured’s claim until after he filed suit with circuit court

45 Fla. L. Weekly D523a

Attorney’s fees — Insurance — Sinkhole claims — Florida Insurance Guaranty Association — Language of statute prevents FIGA from paying “[a]ny amount payable for a sinkhole loss other than testing deemed appropriate by the association or payable for the actual repair of the loss” and specifically prevents FIGA from paying attorney’s fees in connection with a sinkhole loss — Section 631.70, which generally applies to attorney’s fees payable by FIGA when FIGA has denied a covered claim by affirmative action, does not specifically address sinkhole claims — Question certified: Does the language in section 631.54(3)(c) regarding attorney’s fees in connection with a sinkhole loss operate to prevent a sinkhole claimant from receiving fees from FIGA under section 631.70? — Costs — Prevailing party — Limiting language in section 631.54(3)(c) prevents award of costs to be paid by FIGA — Discussion of correct interpretation of Miller v. Florida Insurance Guaranty Association

45 Fla. L. Weekly D730a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Sinkhole claims — Statute precludes award of attorney’s fees in connection with claim for sinkhole damage involving Florida Insurance Guaranty Association — Question certified: Does the language in section 631.54(3)(c) regarding attorney’s fees in connection with a sinkhole loss operate to prevent a sinkhole claimant from receiving fees from FIGA under section 631.70?

45 Fla. L. Weekly D485b
294 So. 3d 324

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Section 57.105 sanction — Award of attorney’s fees to insured for litigating insurer’s declaratory judgment action — Although court properly awarded insured her reasonable attorney’s fees, it was error to award her an additional punitive amount equivalent to insurer’s attorney’s reasonable fees — No authority exists under section 57.105 for court to award movant not only movant’s reasonable attorney’s fees, but an additional punitive amount, such as an amount equivalent to the non-movant’s attorney’s hours expended

45 Fla. L. Weekly D1217c
296 So. 3d 572

Insurance — Homeowners — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Contingency fee multiplier — In determining whether relevant market required contingency fee multiplier to obtain competent counsel, trial court erred in considering plaintiff’s actual difficulty in locating counsel rather than looking at the relevant market itself — Trial court erred in analyzing whether counsel was able to mitigate risk of nonpayment where instead of relying on undisputed evidence that plaintiff could not afford an hourly fee, the trial court relied on the likelihood of success — Likelihood of success is to be considered in determining range of multiplier rather than whether risk of non-payment is mitigated

45 Fla. L. Weekly D2550a

Insurance — Uninsured motorist — Bad faith — Damages — Attorney’s fees — Prevailing party — Fees-for-fees — Trial court erred in granting insurer’s motion for summary judgment asserting that fees incurred in furtherance of underlying UM suit are not recoverable in a bad-faith suit — Contrary to trial court’s conclusion, section 627.727(8) does not preclude, categorically, the recovery of UM attorney’s fees — Although trial court was correct that insured was not entitled to recover prevailing party attorney’s fees incurred in underlying UM case that would otherwise be available under section 627.428 because UM coverage was not contested, the insured was seeking attorney’s fees as compensatory damages resulting from insurer’s bad faith failure to settle pursuant to section 624.155(8) — Section 624.155(8) permits recovery for reasonably foreseeable damages resulting from insurer’s bad-faith conduct, which may include reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in underlying action — Trial court erred in precluding award of fees to firm that litigated entitlement to damages under section 624.155(8) on the basis that they constituted attorney’s fees incurred in establishing the amount of attorney’s fees to be awarded for underlying UM case — Litigation of the existence and the amount of damages, including whether and how much of the fees incurred litigating the UM action were the natural, proximate, probable, or direct consequence of the insurer’s bad faith actions, was a part of the prosecution of the bad faith suit and, as such, attorney’s fees incurred for such litigation should be awardable as prevailing-party fees in bad faith case — No error in denying insured’s motion for summary judgment claiming entitlement to all fees in underlying UM action as damages because insured failed to prove that she actually suffered damages in the form of attorney’s fees where, pursuant to her fee agreement with her UM attorney, she was not liable to her UM attorney for an hourly rate beyond forty percent

45 Fla. L. Weekly D2811a

Insurance — Homeowners — Assignment — Anti-assignment clause in insurance contract was ineffective to restrict or prevent insured from making post-loss assignment of right to payment of claim under policy without insurer’s consent — Fact that anti-assignment clause was placed in application rather than policy itself is immaterial

45 Fla. L. Weekly D2511a

Insurance — Attorney’s fees — Multiple attorneys — Excessive award — Lodestar — Trial court’s findings as to reasonable hourly rates of all five of plaintiff’s attorneys and paralegal approved — Finding that 469 hours were reasonably expended in first-party property insurance case that settled after minimal discovery and in which no significant motions were litigated was not supported by competent substantial evidence — Competent, substantial evidence supported defendant’s fee expert’s determination that 101 hours were reasonably expended, and trial court directed to reduce number of hours billed to 101 — Multiplier — Contingency risk — Trial court improperly applied multiplier where record was devoid of any evidence that relevant market required contingency fee multiplier to obtain competent counsel — Expert fees — Trial court abused its discretion by awarding costs to plaintiff’s experts who never testified at trial and who were never deposed without making factual findings regarding which expenses would have been reasonably necessary for an actual trial

45 Fla. L. Weekly D2086c

Real property — Homestead — Insurance — Assignment of post-loss benefits — Question certified: Does Article X, section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution allow the owner of homestead property, joined by the spouse if married, to assign post-loss insurance benefits to a third-party contractor contracted to make repairs to the homestead property?

45 Fla. L. Weekly D1999a
302 So. 3d 463

Real property — Homestead — Alienation — Insurance — Assignment of post-loss insurance benefits — Trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of insurer based on conclusion that insurance proceeds resulting from a loss to homestead property are constitutionally protected to the same extent as the homestead property itself and cannot be assigned pursuant to an assignment of benefits — Article X, section 4(c) of the constitution does not prohibit assignment of post-loss insurance benefits due as a result of damage to homestead property — Assignment of post-loss insurance benefits does not constitute alienation of homestead property because the assignment of benefits conveys no title or interest in the property — Question certified: Does article X, section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution allow the owner of homestead real property, joined by the spouse, if married, to assign post-loss insurance benefits to a third party contractor contracted to make repairs to the homestead property?