SFR Services, LLC a/a/o John & Rose Zapisek v. Florida Department of Financial Services o/b/o Avatar Property and Casualty Insurance Company

Summary

The Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal held that the trial court incorrectly calculated the "judgment obtained" under Florida's offer-of-judgment statute by excluding the plaintiff's pre-offer taxable costs and attorney's fees. Applying the Florida Supreme Court's binding White formula, the court concluded that the insurer was not entitled to recover attorney's fees and costs because the judgment was not at least 25 percent less than the offer. The court reversed the fee judgment, dismissed part of the appeal, and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Under the binding construction adopted in White v. Steak & Ale of Florida, Inc., the judgment obtained includes the net judgment for damages plus attorney's fees and taxable costs that could have been included in a final judgment if judgment had been entered on the date of the offer.
2. The insurer was not entitled to attorney's fees and costs under section 768.79 because inclusion of SFR's pre-offer costs caused the judgment obtained to exceed the statutory threshold of $11,250, or 75 percent of the $15,000 offer.
3. The portion of the appeal challenging SFR's fee-entitlement motion was dismissed, and the dispute concerning individual costs awarded to the insurer was moot in light of the reversal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court correctly calculated the plaintiff's judgment obtained under section 768.79, Florida Statutes, by excluding pre-offer attorney's fees and taxable costs.
2. Whether the insurer was entitled to recover attorney's fees and costs under the offer-of-judgment statute based on the $15,000 proposal and the plaintiff's $9,000 damages judgment.
3. Whether the appeal concerning SFR's fee-entitlement motion and individual costs awards remained justiciable after Avatar became insolvent and was placed into receivership.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded