GEICO INDEMNITY CO.
v.
PEREZ

Fla. 3d DCA | 2019-05-22
Nos. 18-0208 & 18-0629
273 So. 3d 1131 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2019)
Cited by 1 case

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

Attorney's fees and costs awards dependent upon a reversed final judgment must themselves be reversed.


Headnotes

[1] An award of attorney's fees and costs that is dependent upon an underlying judgment is subject to reversal when the underlying judgment is reversed and remanded on appeal…

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Key Quotes

“Once a final judgment is reversed and remanded by an appellate court, there can be no prevailing party for purposes of an award of prevailing party attorney's fees. Consequently, an award of attorney's fees and costs predicated on a reversed or vacated final judgment also must be reversed”

Marty v. Bainter citation establishing the principle that fee awards tied to reversed judgments cannot stand

Facts & Procedural History

GEICO appealed attorney's fees and costs judgments awarded in an uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage dispute. This Court had previously reversed …

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Opinion of the Court

HENDON, J.

As the appellees properly concede, the attorney’s fees and costs judgments at issue in these consolidated appeals must be reversed. In GEICO Indemnity Co.

v. Perez, 260 So. 3d 342 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018), this Court reversed the underlying final judgment as to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and remanded for a new trial. Therefore, the attorney’s fees and costs judgments that were predicated on the reversed final judgment cannot stand. See City of Hollywood v. Witt, 939

So. 2d 315, 319 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (recognizing that “where an award of attorney’s fees is dependent upon the judgment obtained, the reversal of the underlying judgment necessitates the reversal of the fee award”); Marty v. Bainter,

727 So. 2d 1124, 1125 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (“Once a final judgment is reversed and remanded by an appellate court, there can be no prevailing party for purposes of an award of prevailing party attorney’s fees. Consequently, an award of attorney’s fees and costs predicated on a reversed or vacated final judgment also must be reversed”).

Reversed.

2


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