In Cox v. Great American Insurance Co., --- So.3d ----, 2012 WL 933073 (Fla. 4th DCA March 21, 2012), Download Cox v. Great American Insurance Co. (Fla. 4th DCA Case No. 4D10.5155, Opinion Filed March 21, 2012) PUBLIC ACCESS, several issues were resolved concerning the imposition of Attorney's Fees as sanctions for not keeping an agreement made at a Florida Mediation.
First, the Florida Appellate Court upheld the imposition of Attorney's Fees as sanctions in this case under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.730(c), which expressly authorizes the assessment of Attorney's Fees in cases in which parties do not keep their Mediation agreements. Further, the Appellate Court affirmed the Trial Court's ruling that the moving party in this case was entitled to its Attorney's Fees incurred in litigating the amount of Attorney's Fees incurred, not merely for litigating the issue of entitlement. Id. at *1, *2.
The Florida Appellate Court upheld the imposition of Attorney's Fees as sanctions for failure to keep an agreement made by a party at Mediation in this case, under a doctrine that Attorney's Fees can be imposed as sanctions where a Court can determine that a party has engaged in "inequitable conduct". As described in the Appellate Court's opinion, the inequitable conduct doctrine permits the assessment of Attorney's Fees where one party has engaged in "'egregious conduct or acted in bad faith.'” Id. at *1.
The Appellate Court remanded the case to the Trial Court, however, for the purpose of detailing the specific instances of Bad Faith conduct that warrant the sanctions in this case. Id.
For those concerned with the conduct of litigation and of Insurance Claims and of Mediations -- a group which should include most or all of us -- the decisions of the Trial Court and of the Appellate Court in this Florida case show that Bad Faith conduct still reaps a special kind of attention from the Courts. It is the kind of attention that most of us -- a group which should include all of us -- do not attract, or want to.
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