Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...We agree. Accordingly, we hold that the safe harbor provision contained in section 57.105(4) is substantive in nature. Having determined that the safe harbor provision is substantive, we turn now to consider the prospective or retroactive application of section 57.104(4)....

...[2] Without the $298.00 statutory pre-demand costs award, the plaintiff's judgment amounted to $7,430.03; $69.97 short of the required amount. The plaintiff's entitlement to fees under Section 768.79 depends upon whether predemand costs, to which a prevailing plaintiff *411 is entitled pursuant to Section 57.104, are part of the "judgment obtained" for Section 768.79 purposes....

...McDougald entitled to fees must be reversed. Because we find that McDougald is not entitled to an award of attorney's fees, we also reverse the award of legal assistant's fees, since those are contingent upon the entitlement to attorney's fees. See § 57.104, Fla....

...Although the condemnee argues that we adopted this method of calculating attorneys' fees in Florida Inland Navigation District v. Humphrys, 616 So.2d 494 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993), we do not read that case to support his theory. While the trial court is required by section 57.104 to consider time expended by legal assistants when awarding attorney's fees in eminent domain proceedings, Whitlow v....

...fact on the appropriateness of increasing or decreasing the lodestar, the trial court failed to do so. This also was error. C. Finally, Loper argues that the trial court erred in failing to consider the time the legal assistant expended on the case. Section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1989), states in pertinent part: In any action in which attorneys' fees are to be determined or awarded by the court, the court shall consider, among other things, time and labor of any legal assistants who contribut...

...Loper also submitted an affidavit of an attorney who stated that a reasonable hourly fee for the work of the legal assistant would be $35.00 per hour. Allstate did not present any evidence to dispute these affidavits. In apparent disregard of the mandatory language in section 57.104, the trial court entered an amended final judgment that failed to reflect any consideration of the legal assistant's time....

...d jurisdiction to determine whether what claimant's attorney characterized as costs should have been included in the attorney's fee. *500 Analysis of the attorneys' second argument, that paralegal time is a reimbursable cost, begins with a review of section 57.104, Florida Statutes, enacted in 1987, which reads in part: In any action in which attorneys' fees are to be determined or awarded by the court, the court shall consider, among other things, time and labor of any legal assistants who contributed nonclerical, meaningful legal support.... This section applies to workers' compensation matters. See Dayco Prods. v. McLane, 690 So.2d 654, 656 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). Application of section 57.104, Florida Statutes, is mandatory when attorney fees are awarded. See Loper v. Allstate Ins. Co., 616 So.2d 1055, 1061 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (holding the trial court "disregarded the mandatory language in section 57.104" when it failed to consider the paralegal's time as reflected in the affidavit filed by Loper's attorney)....

...Section 440.34(1), Florida Statutes, mandates that the retainer agreement not provide "for compensation [as to fees and costs] in excess of the amount allowed under this section." Thus, a retainer agreement in a workers' compensation matter must comply with both sections 440.34 and 57.104, Florida Statutes. Here, the JCC reviewed sections 57.104 and 440.34(1), Florida Statutes, Loper, and Dayco Products, and concluded paralegal time was included with attorney time....

...at 1053. Here, claimant is paying a fee to his attorney pursuant to a lump sum settlement, a situation which is governed by section 440.34(1), Florida Statutes. [2] This court recently applied Dayco Products, 690 So.2d at 655, with its reliance on section 57.104, Florida Statutes, in a dispute involving a carrier paid fee, to affirm the JCC's "denial of costs associated with legal assistants," because the claimant's attorney failed "to establish that time spent by these legal assistants was nonclerical." See Moore v....

...unsel developed a relationship with the plaintiffs over the course of four years. The trial court also stated that it applied the multiplier based on the expert witness testimony, the factors set forth in Florida Rules of Professional Conduct 4-1.5, section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1995), and the relevant Florida case law....

...at 553 (because claimant's attorney's fee affidavit included time spent on activities not includable in a fee award, attorney was required on remand to "submit a detailed affidavit, including only the time spent on this claim"). The JCC also erred in awarding eight hours of paralegal fees. Section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1991), provides that in any action in which attorney's fees are awarded, the court shall consider the "time and labor of any legal assistants who contributed nonclerical, meaningful legal support to the matter involv...

...The terms of Ethical Consideration 3-6 are now generally included within the provisions of Rule 4-5.3(b), as well as the comments to Rules 4-5.3 and 4-5.5. [4] As it is not applicable to the instant case, we are not asked to decide what effect, if any, the enactment of Section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1987), may have on the continued vitality of the Bill Rivers rule following the effective date of the statute — October 1, 1987. See Chapter 87-260, Section 1, Laws of Florida. Section 57.104 provides: "In any action in which attorneys' fees are to be determined ..., the court shall consider ... time and labor of any legal assistants ... [performing] meaningful legal support to the matter involved and who are working under the supervision of an attorney." (e.s.) Although it is uncertain from the explicit language of section 57.104 whether it was intended to modify the Bill Rivers rule, the staff analysis to the House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary states: "This legislation would reverse the decisions of the first [ Bill Rivers ] and third districts [ ABD Management Corporation v....

...at the multiplier is to be applied only to attorney's fees and that the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law in affirming the county court's application of the multipliers to the paralegal fees. In response, Respondents cite section 57.104, Florida Statutes, which provides: In any action in which attorney's fees are to be determined or awarded by the court, the court shall consider, among other things, time and labor of any legal assistants who contributed nonclerical, m...

...Respondents also argue that the failure to apply a multiplier to paralegal fees would compel attorneys to assign paralegal tasks to associate attorneys or perform the work themselves at much higher rates, which would substantially increase the attorney's fees paid by insurers and other responsible parties. Section 57.104 was enacted in 1987 in response to this court's decision in Bill Rivers Trailers, Inc....

...These observations are borne out by the facts of this case, which reflect that a significant amount of the legal work was done by the paralegal at an hourly rate that was less than one-third of the attorney's hourly rate. Judge Joanos' observations and section 57.104 are consistent with the prevailing view that an attorney's fee award may include paralegal fees because the paralegal's work is a component of the attorney's work product....

...As in Jenkins, the Court declared that it was "self-evident" that the statute embraced not only attorney's fees, but also paralegal fees. Id. at 2014-15. Although none of these cases involved the application of a multiplier to paralegal fees, the cases (and section 57.104) clearly establish the principle that the paralegal's work is a component of the attorney's ultimate work product....

...Coast Ry., LLC, 873 So.2d 1271, 1275 n. 5 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004) (stating that decisions of federal courts other than U.S. Supreme Court are persuasive, but not binding). Second, one of the cases— Louis v. Nelson, 646 F.Supp. 1300 (S.D.Fla.1986)—pre-dated Jenkins and section 57.104, and the other case— Zunde v....

...s, there is no basis for applying any multiplier to the figures."). In sum, because there is no "clearly established law" prohibiting the application of a multiplier to paralegal fees that are included as part of an attorney's fee award, and because section 57.104 clearly supports the inclusion of the paralegal fees as attorney's fees, we conclude that the circuit court did not depart from the essential requirements of law in affirming the county court orders at issue in this case....

...ial settlement of the case. *440 Before the trial court orders Martin to pay the sanctions imposed, he should be given the opportunity to have a hearing to review the affidavit of Laidlaw to determine if those fees and expenses are appropriate under section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1991), the Statewide Uniform Guidelines For Taxation of Costs In Civil Actions, and are fees and expenses related to obtaining the discovery which was the basis of the imposition of sanctions by the trial court....

...Paralegal time totaled 4.9 hours at $100. All told, this came to $27,830. 1 Vis-á-vis the paralegal time, at the hearing Ms. Youngblood’s attorney acknowledged that clerical work was not compensable, and he assured the court that such had been excluded from the claim. Indeed, section 57.104, Florida Statutes (2010), provides that when awarding attorney’s fees the court must consider the time and labor of paralegals “who contributed nonclerical, meaningful legal support to the matter involved.” (Emphasis supplied.) See Madden v. Madden, 865 So.2d 555 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (applying § 57.104 in a dissolution case and disallowing fees for paralegals not shown to have performed any nonclerical, meaningful legal support to the matter)....

...See In re Estate of Platt, 586 So.2d 328 (Fla. 1991); Florida Patient's Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145 (Fla. 1985). There is nothing in the final order, however, disclosing whether the court considered the time devoted by counsel's legal assistants, [1] as required under section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1989)....

...It was Appellant’s burden to prove that the paralegal time was, in addition to being necessary to the procurement of the benefits, “nonclerical, meaningful legal support to the matter involved.” Dayco Prods. v. McLane, 690 So.2d 654, 656 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) (quoting section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1991))....

...within section 57.105. See Gay v. Singletary, 700 So. 2d 1220, 1221 (Fla. 1997). We Treasure Coast, 8 So. 3d 498, 500 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (citing Dayco Prods. v. McLane, 690 So. 2d 654, 656 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)). In Demedrano, this Court held that section 57.104—which provides that the time and labor of legal assistants should be considered in the computation of an award of attorneys’ fees—applies in workers’ compensation cases. The holdings in both Demedrano and Dayco concern only section 57.104 and the means by which an attorney’s fee award is to be calculated; this Court has never held that the attorney fee entitlement provision in section 57.105 applies to workers’ compensation cases....

following year, however, the legislature enacted section 57.104, Florida Statutes (1987), which requires appraisement

...Rather, reading the two statutes together, we conclude that only an expert witness fee authorized under section 92.231(2) qualifies as a reasonable cost of enforcement under section 119.12. Finally, we reject appellant’s argument that the fees attributable to the expert’s assistants are recoverable under section 57.104, Florida Statutes (2020). Section 57.104 provides that the court shall consider the “time and labor of any legal assistants” in computing an award of attorney’s fees. Id....

...Specifically, the court noted, “The Court fully reviewed the time sheets in evidence, and finds that the types of things the paralegal billed for in this case, including electronic filing and electronic file updating, require paralegal level expertise.” In a motion for rehearing, the Association cited section 57.104(1), Florida Statutes (2023), as limiting the legal assistant time which may be assessed as attorney’s fees....

...awarded by the court, the court shall consider, among other things, time and labor of any legal assistants who contributed nonclerical, meaningful legal support to the matter involved and who are working under the supervision of an attorney. § 57.104(1), Fla....

...ollows procedural problems that involve independent decisions. Id. In Youngblood v. Youngblood, 91 So. 3d 190 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), the Second District explained the types of activities which could not be recovered as paralegal time under section 57.104(1): In this case, our review of the attorneys’ time records discloses that just over half the claimed paralegal time was spent on clerical or secretarial activities, e.g., mailing and emailing the ans...

...4th DCA 2019). Because the trial court admitted that it had reviewed the bills and included as compensable paralegal time matters such as filings, it erred. We thus remand to the trial court to review the bills again to eliminate assessment of paralegal time spent on activities not consistent with section 57.104(1). (b) Expert Fee Appellees retained an expert attorney to testify in the proceedings, even though the trial court stated that it usually would not allow attorneys to opine on the law....

...o the prevailing party. The court denied each motion finding no prevailing party. However, the trial court determined that Eckler was the prevailing party with respect to the initial complaint, and awarded him attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to section 57.104, Florida Statutes....

...solution matrimonial dispute. Because we find that the evidence is insufficient to justify a determination that the “paralegals” and “law clerks” performed any “nonclerieal, meaningful legal support to the matter involved” as required by section 57.104, Florida Statutes (2003), we reduce the award by the $20,722.50 (276.3 hours at $75.00 per hour) allotted below for their services....

...ney’s fees over $1,000. The 1992 amendment to the statute does away with that distinction. . §§ 63.032(8)-.212(1)(c), Fla.Stat. (1993). . The lower court also mentioned in its order that payment for legal assistant services was not authorized by section 57.104, Florida Statutes; however, we are unable to determine the items to which the lower court referred or the basis for the court’s decision in this regard.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See § 57.104, Fla.Stat....