KARL T. BROWNING AND JEFFREY BRANT BULLARD, INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLANTS,
v.
BRIAN K. SCOTT AND DEBRA C. SCOTT, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS HUSBAND AND WIFE, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 2004-08-18
Nos. 2D03-4583, 2D03-5695
CANADY and WALLACE, JJ., Concur.
884 So. 2d 298 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2004) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases
Topics
Proposal For Settlement Offer Of Judgment

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Proposal For Settlement cases and more on FLexlaw

Opinion of the Court
NORTHCUTT, Judge.

NORTHCUTT, Judge.

In these consolidated appeals, Karl Browning and Jeffrey Bullard challenge a final judgment in favor of Mr. and Mrs. Scott for damages arising from an accident and an order awarding attorney’s fees to Mr. Scott based on a proposal for settlement. We affirm the damages judgment without discussion, but we reverse the attorney’s fee award.

Section 768.79(3), Florida Statutes (2000), and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442(d) state that an offer of judgment or a proposal for settlement shall be served on the opposing party but shall not be filed unless accepted or unless filing is necessary to enforce the statute or the rule. As Mr. Scott admitted below and on appeal, his proposal for settlement was filed prematurely, in violation of the express requirements of the statute and rule. This court has previously held that a prematurely filed settlement proposal is void. Bottcher v. Walsh, 834 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). Therefore, we reverse the award of attorney’s fees.

Case number 2D03-4583 is affirmed. Case number 2D03-5695 is reversed.

CANADY and WALLACE, JJ., Concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Frosti v. Creel, 979 So. 2d 912 (Fla. 2008)
    …365-CI-13 (Fla. 6th Cir. Ct. order dated June 21, 2005) (Order Denying Plaintiffs Motion for Fees). The trial court found, on the basis of the Second Districts decisions in Bottcher v. Walsh, 834 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002), and Bronming v. Scott, 884 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), that the proposals were filed prematurely. On the basis of the Second Districts decision in Lyn v. Lyn, 884 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), the trial court further found that the motion for fees and costs was filed prematurely. F…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw