In Reversal, Florida Appellate Court Awards $805K in Attorney Fees
The lower court judge held that a $4,000 hourly rate “shocks the undersigned’s conscience.”
Florida First District Court of Appeal.
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court ruling that sought to turn a Jacksonville lawyer’s $805,000 in attorney fees into $123,000, in litigation the lower court judge called “the most complex and delicate case” ever before him.
Michael Winer of the Winer Law Group in Tampa represents the plaintiff, Michael Rudolph of Rudolph, Israel, Tucker & Ellis in Jacksonville. Rudolph appealed a ruling by Judge Edward Almeyda of the Offices of the Judges of Compensation Claims on the attorney fees award for a settlement he obtained from defendants, Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
“The ruling is a primer for litigants and judges,” Winer said. “You can’t have it where judges are only seeking to police high hourly rates and focus only on that factor because contingency fees by their nature mean sometimes lawyers don’t make money and sometimes they are more handsomely rewarded on cases.”
Kimberly Fernandes, a partner at Kelley Kronenberg in Tallahassee, declined to comment because the award of attorney fees did not impact the amount of the settlement her clients were paying.
Now, the First District Court of Appeal reversed the ruling by Almeyda.
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