Federated Nat'l Ins. Co. v. Joyce, 179 So. 3d 492 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015). · Go Syfert
Federated Nat'l Ins. Co. v. Joyce, 179 So. 3d 492 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
33 citation events (33 in the last 25 years) across 2 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: William Joyce v. Federated National Insurance Company (fla, 2017-10-19)
Treatment trajectory · 2016 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
2016 2021 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 3 distinct citers. How cited ↗
examined Cited as authority (verbatim quote) William Joyce v. Federated National Insurance Company (4×) also: Cited as authority (rule)
Fla. · 2017 · signal: see · quote attribution · 2 verbatim quotes · confidence high
this was not a complicated case. either the joyces had falsified their insurance application, or federated had made an error.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Sawgrass Mutual Insurance Co. v. Mone
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 2016 · confidence medium
In Federated National Insurance Co. v. Joyce, 179 So.3d 492, 493-94 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015), review granted, SC16-103 (Fla.2016), we recently wrote: In Rowe , the Florida Supreme Court adopted the federal lodestar approach, which includes “a ‘strong presumption’ that the loadstar represents the ‘reasonable fee.’” Progressive Express Ins.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Florida Peninsula Insurance Company v. Wagner
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 2016 · confidence medium
Co. v. Joyce, 179 So.3d 492, 493 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015) (quoting Progressive Express Ins.
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
FEDERATED NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY
v.
William JOYCE and Judith Joyce
No. 5D15-1210.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Nov 20, 2015.
179 So. 3d 492
Derek J. Angelí, of O’Connor & O’Con-nor, LLC, Winter Park, for Appellant., Tracy L. Markham,.of Avolio and Han-lon P.C., St. Augustine,, for Appellee.'
Cohen, Jordan, Lambert.
Cited by 8 opinions  |  Published
PER CURIAM.

Federated National Insurance Company (“Federated”) appeals the award of $76,300 in attorney’s fees to William and Judith Joyce (“the Joyces”), following settlement of the parties’ insurance disputé. The action arose from a denial of coverage based on an alleged material misrepresentation in the Joyces’ homeowners insurance application. In denying the claim, Federated argued that the Joyces had failed to disclose two previous insurance claims at..the time of their application. However, early in discovery, it came to light that the Joyces had actually disclosed the prior claims.[1]

Federated acknowledged the error, and the parties , executed a settlement agreement for $23,500, exclusive of attorney’s fees. The .trial court awarded the Joyces over $38,000 in attorney’s fees based on the number Of hours their attorney, worked multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate — -the “lodestar figure.” See Fla. Patient’s Comp. Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145, 1151-52 (Fla.1985), modified by Standard Guar Ins. Co. v. Quanstrom, 555 So.2d 828, 829 (Fla.1990). We affirm this portion of the award. However,- the trial court improperly awarded a “multiplier” of 2.0, which we reverse.

In Rowe, the Florida Supreme Court adopted the federal lodestar approach, which includes “a ’strong presumption’ that the lodestar represents the ‘reasonable fee.’” Progressive Express Ins. Co. v. Schultz, 948 So.2d 1027, 1030 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007) (citing Pennsylvania v. [*494] Del. Valley Citizens’ Council for Clean Air, 478 U.S. 546, 565, 106 S.Ct. 3088, 92 L.Ed.2d 439 (1986)). “The application of a multiplier is the exception, not the'.rule ... and this presumption is overcome only in ‘rare’ and ‘exceptional’ circumstances.” State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Alvarez, 175 So.3d 352 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015) (citing Perdue v. Kenny A. ex rel. Winn, 559 U.S. 542, 544, 130 S.Ct. 1662, 176 L.Ed.2d 494 (2010)).

This was not a complicated case. Either the Joyces had falsified their insurance application, or Federated had made an error. There were no esoteric legal issues or complicated factual disputes to resolve. As one would anticipate given today’s legal market, there was no evidence the Joyces had any difficulty obtaining counsel to handle this matter. Indeed, it took only one phone call for the Joyces to secure counsel. While we review the trial court’s decision for an abuse of discretion, “we are not required to abandon what we learned as lawyers or our common sense in evaluating the reasonableness of an award.” Trumbull Ins. Co. v. Wolentarski, 2 So.3d 1050, 1057 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009) (citation omitted). This was not one of those rare or exceptional cases in which the award of a multiplier was appropriate.

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART.

COHEN and LAMBERT, JJ., and JORDAN, J.E., Associate Judge, concur.
1

The Joyces produced a copy of their original insurance application, which properly dis- - closed the prior’ claims, However, Federal-ed’s agent had incorrectly transmitted the application data to Federated without the prior claims information,