RAY B. HELLMANN, APPELLANT,
v.
CITY OF ORLANDO, FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1994-03-25
No. 93-2042
W. SHARP and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
634 So. 2d 245 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1994) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases
Topics
Offer Of Judgment Waiver Of Sovereign Immunity Sovereign Immunity Waiver

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Opinion of the Court
DAUKSCH, Judge.

DAUKSCH, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order awarding attorney’s fees in a case where an offer of judgment was made, rejected, and the statutory attorney’s fees became available. § 768.79, Fla.Stat. When the appellant, plaintiff below, offered to settle his case he did so in accordance with the statute. When the defendant city rejected his offer it put itself in jeopardy of having to pay attorney fees if the ultimate judgment was at least 25% greater than the offer. That is what occurred here.

But the court did not give a full award of attorney’s fees, it limited the amount to 25% of the judgment because the sovereign immunity waiver statute says that is the limit. § 768.28(8), Fla.Stat. Because the government controls absolutely how much it will pay in tort claim cases, we are bound by the statute limiting the award of attorney’s fees. Appellant’s remedy is in the legislature, not the courts.

AFFIRMED.

W. SHARP and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Pinellas Cnty. v. Bettis, 659 So. 2d 1365 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)
    …of the amount of the offer plus 25%. The fee awarded under this statutory provision was $16,000.00, well within the 25% of judgment or settlement limitation contained in section 768.28(8), Florida Statutes (1989). Accord Hellmann v. City of Orlando, 634 So. 2d 245 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994). The County, however, argues the trial court erred in requiring it to pay this fee beyond the sovereign immunity limits of section 768.28(5), Florida Statutes (1989). We agree. Section 768.28(5) limits the County’s liability in…
  • Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A. v. State, 194 So. 3d 349 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015)
    …claimant.- . Our sister courts have commented in cases involving section 768.28(8), Appellants’ “remedy is in the legislature, not the courts.” City of Live Oak v. Harris, 702 So. 2d 276, 277 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) (quoting Hellman v. City of Orlando, 634 So. 2d 245, 246 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994)).…
  • City OF Live OAK v. Harris, 702 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
    …tion 768.28, Florida Statutes (1995) governing the waiver of sovereign immunity, fees may not be awarded in excess of 25% of the judgment amount, or a total of $8,145.09. We agree and reverse. As the court recognized in Hellmann v. City of Orlando, 634 So. 2d 245, 246 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), “the government controls absolutely how much it will pay in tort claim cases.” Section 768.28(8) governs the award of fees against the sovereign in tort cases, and “we are bound by the statute limiting the award of attorney…

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