CHESTER CAMPBELL, APPELLANT,
v.
ARAMARK & SPECIALITY RISK SERVICES, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 2006-07-24
No. 1D05-3672
ERVIN and BENTON, JJ., concur.
933 So. 2d 1255 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2006)

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Synopsis

Chester Campbell, a workers' compensation claimant, appeals an attorney's fee award limited by the statutory percentage formula in section 440.34, Florida Statutes (2003). The court affirms the fee award and certifies a question of great public importance regarding whether the amended statute establishes the percentage formula as the sole standard for determining attorney's fees.


Holding

The amended section 440.34 establishes the percentage fee formula as the sole standard for determining the reasonableness of attorney's fees in workers' compensation cases. The JCC correctly construed the statute by applying the strict statutory percentage formula and had no discretion to award a greater fee.


Headnotes

[1] The judge of compensation claims must award attorney's fees in a workers' compensation case according to the strict statutory percentage formula provided in section 440.3…

[2] The 2003 amendments to section 440.34, Florida Statutes, deleted prior factors for determining attorney's fees, establishing the percentage fee formula as the sole standa…

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Key Quotes

“the JCC still has the discretion to award a reasonable attorney's fee greater than what the statutory percentage fee formula establishes. This interpretation of the post-amendment attorney's fee statute was expressly rejected in Wood v. Fla. Rock Indus., 929 So.2d 542 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)”

Establishes that Campbell's primary argument had already been rejected in binding precedent, making the outcome predictable.

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Facts & Procedural History

Campbell was a workers' compensation claimant who secured temporary partial disability benefits valued at $5,740.89. The judge of compensation claims …

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Opinion of the Court
BROWNING, J.

BROWNING, J.

Chester Campbell, the claimant in this workers’ compensation case, appeals an attorney’s fee order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC) directing the employer/carrier (E/C) to pay to Campbell’s attorney a fee in the amount of $1,111.13 for securing temporary partial disability benefits with a total value of $5,740.89. Campbell challenges the JCC’s determination that section 440.34, Florida Statutes, as amended in 2003, precludes the JCC from approving an attorney’s fee greater than the statutorily enumerated percentage based on the value of the benefits secured on the claimant’s behalf. We have de novo review of this issue of statu tory interpretation. See McBride v. Pratt & Whitney, 909 So. 2d 386, 387 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005).

Campbell contends that although (in the 2003 amendments) the Florida Legislature deleted the factors set out in Lee Eng’g & Constr. Co. v. Fellows, 209 So. 2d 454, 458-59 (Fla.1968), which were codified in the attorney’s fee statute, the JCC still has the discretion to award a reasonable attorney’s fee greater than what the statutory percentage fee formula establishes. This interpretation of the post-amendment attorney’s fee statute was expressly rejected in Wood v. Fla. Rock Indus., 929 So. 2d 542 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006), mot. for certif. granted, 929 So. 2d 542 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006), in which the following question of great public importance was certified:

DO THE AMENDED PROVISIONS OF SECTION 440.34(1), FLORIDA STATUTES (2003), CLEARLY AND UNAMBIGUOUSLY ESTABLISH THE PERCENTAGE FEE FORMULA PROVIDED THEREIN AS THE SOLE STANDARD FOR DETERMINING THE REASONABLENESS OF AN ATTORNEY’S FEE TO BE AWARDED A CLAIMANT?

929 So. 2d at 545; see also Lundy v. Four Seasons Ocean Grand Palm Beach, 932 So. 2d 506 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006). Accordingly, even without the benefit of Wood and Lundy, the JCC correctly construed the section 440.34 by following the strict statutory percentage formula.

Campbell argues that the JCC’s interpretation of the attorney’s fee statute, as amended in 2003, renders the statute unconstitutional: specifically, in violation of federal and/or Florida constitutional guarantees of equal protection, due process, separation of powers, and access to courts. These specific arguments were addressed and rejected in Lundy. See 932 So. 2d at 509. Pursuant to Wood and Lundy, we AFFIRM the award of attorney’s fees according to the statutory percentage formula and CERTIFY the same question of great public importance.

ERVIN and BENTON, JJ., concur.


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