![]() ![]() Premise Liability and Duty Owed to Business Invitees.Purchase-and-Sale Contract: Your Right to Modify Them.Moving for and Challenging a Protective Order under the Apex Doctrine.Breach of Express Contract is Exception to Sovereign Immunity.Serving the Civil Remedy Notice (CRN) to Perfect a First-Party Bad Faith Insurance Claim.Apparent Authority of Agent to Bind Principal.You Cannot Intentionally Render Moot a Plaintiff’s Lawsuit.Plaintiff MUST Confer Direct Benefit on Defendant to Prove Unjust Enrichment.Bert Harris Act and Competing Motions for Summary Judgment.Dismissal Without Prejudice does NOT Trigger Attorney’s Fees under Proposal for Settlements.Waiver is a Voluntary Relinquishment of a Known Right that Must be Proven with a Clear Showing.You can follow David Adelstein on Twitter Considerations: Independent Tort Doctrine and Claim Known as Equitable Accounting Please contact David Adelstein at or (954) 361-4720 if you have questions or would like more information regarding this article. The insurer’s confession to a judgment and tendering the amount to the insured did not in of itself create the judgment needed to bring finality to the dispute. That had not even been done in this case. The thirty-day clock to file the motion for attorney’s fees did not begin until the trial court entered a judgment. While voluntary payment of claim may have triggered entitlement to statutory attorney’s fees, subsequent unilateral action of filing its Confession Filing did not “conclude the action” so as to trigger rule 1.525’s thirty-day time period. Rule 1.525’s thirty-day time period commences upon the trial court’s rendition of a judgment, or service of a notice of voluntary dismissal, that concludes the action as to the party seeking fees. Simply put, a “confession of judgment” in the context of section 627.428 is not the functional equivalent of the “judgment” that opens the thirty-day filing window prescribed in rule 1.525. The Third District Court of Appeal explained: 627.428 provides an entitlement to attorney’s fees upon the rendition of a judgment. A judgment needs to be signed by a judge and bring finality to the dispute. Rule 1.525 starts the 30-day clock from the actual judgment. The trial court agreed and struck the insured’s motion for attorney’s fees.īut here lied the problem. The insurer moved to strike the motion for attorney’s fees for being filed outside of the 30-day window required by Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.525. Well outside of 30 days from the filing of this Confession of Judgment, the insured filed a motion for attorney’s fees. The insurer did so by filing a “Confession of Judgment and Confession of Coverage” in the trial court. This amount was also tendered to the insured. The insurer, recognizing there was coverage, consented or confessed to the entry of a judgment in an amount that included the insured’s principal damages plus prejudgment interest. 3d DCA 2021), an insured filed an insurance coverage dispute against her first-party insurer. 627.428 provides: “ Upon the rendition of a judgment or decree by any of the courts of this state against an insurer and in favor of any named or omnibus insured…under a policy or contract executed by the insurer, the trial court or, in the event of an appeal in which the insured or beneficiary prevails, the appellate court shall adjudge or decree against the insurer and in favor of the insured or beneficiary a reasonable sum as fees or compensation for the insured’s or beneficiary’s attorney prosecuting the suit in which the recovery is had.” In an insurance coverage action, Florida Statute s. The latter is the scenario in the insurance coverage case discussed below.įlorida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.525 provides: “ Any party seeking a judgment taxing costs, attorneys’ fees, or both shall serve a motion no later than 30 days after filing of the judgment, including a judgment of dismissal, or the service of a notice of voluntary dismissal, which judgment or notice concludes the action as to that party.” There are times a party rightfully moves to strike another party’s motion for attorney’s fees for being untimely. There are other times a party may try to create a “gotcha” moment to catch a party off guard to create a strategic argument that the motion for attorney’s fees was untimely. ![]()
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