Louis P. Pfeffer v. Labor Ready Southeast, Inc.

191 So. 3d 884, 41 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 208, 2016 Fla. LEXIS 883, 2016 WL 1708823

• Court: Supreme Court of Florida
• Decided: April 28, 2016
• Docket: SC14-1325
• Status: Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This case is before this Court for review of the decision of the Fust District Court of Appeal in Pfeffer v. Labor Ready Southeast, Inc., 155 So.3d 1155, 1156 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014), a workers’ compensation case involving the statutory attorney’s fee provision declared unconstitutional in this Court’s opinion in Castellanos v. Next Door Co., No. SC13-2082, 192 So.3d 431, 432-33, 2016 WL 1700521, slip op. at 1-2 (Fla. Apr. 28, 2016). Pursuant to the fee schedule in section 440.34, Florida Statutes, the judge of compensation claims was constrained to award a total of $13,017.80 in attorney’s fees, to be split by three attorneys that spent a total of 258.10 hours on the case, for a fee award of $50.44 per hour. The attorney for the employer/car rier, on the other hand, was paid more than $50,000.

In an unelaborated' opinion, the First District affirmed the statutory fee award “[b]ased on” its decision in Castellanos [v. Next Door Co./Amerisure Ins. Co., 124 So.3d 392 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) ] and certified that its disposition passed upon 'the same question certified in Castellanos. Pfeffer, 155 So.3d at 1156. We therefore have jurisdiction. See art. V, §§ 3(b)(3), (4), Fla. Const. Because our holding in Castellanos resolves this issue, we quash the First District’s decision and remand for further proceedings consistent with Castellanos. See also Richardson v. Aramark/Sedgwick CMS, No. SC14-738, 193 So.3d 880-81, 2016 WL 1704132, slip op. at 2-3 (Fla. Apr. 28, 2016); Diaz v. Palmetto Gen. Hosp., No. SC14-1916, 191 So.3d 882, 882, 2016 WL 1704091, at *1 (Fla. Apr. 28, 2016).

It is so ordered.

LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, and PERRY, JJ., concur. CANADY and POLSTON, JJ., dissent.