Moore v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.

916 So. 2d 871, 2005 Fla. App. LEXIS 17220, 2005 WL 2863041
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 2, 2005
Docket2D04-5123
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 916 So. 2d 871 (Moore v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 916 So. 2d 871, 2005 Fla. App. LEXIS 17220, 2005 WL 2863041 (Fla. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

916 So.2d 871 (2005)

Perry MOORE, Appellant,
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 2D04-5123.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

November 2, 2005.
Rehearing Denied January 5, 2006.

*873 Richard A. Kupfer of Richard A. Kupfer, P.A., West Palm Beach, for Appellant.

Karen A. Barnett of Barnett & Associates, P.A., Miami; and Dorothy Venable DiFiore of Gallagher & Howard, P.A., Tampa, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Perry Moore appeals the final order awarding attorney's fees in his action for no-fault benefits against his insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. After awarding Moore only a portion of the attorney's fees he sought, the county court certified the following question as one of great public importance:

MAY A NO-FAULT PLAINTIFF RECOVER A STATUTORY ATTORNEY'S FEE UNDER A FEE AGREEMENT BETWEEN A PARTY AND HIS COUNSEL IN WHICH IT IS NOT SPECIFICALLY SET FORTH THAT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN COMPENSATION FOR TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF CASES?

We have jurisdiction. See Fla. R.App. P. 9.030(b)(4)(A). Having reviewed the entire record and the parties' arguments, we rephrase the certified question to read as follows:

MAY AN ATTORNEY AND CLIENT ENTER INTO A SINGLE PERSONAL INJURY REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT THAT INCLUDES ONE FEE AGREEMENT FOR A NEGLIGENCE CASE AGAINST A TORTFEASOR AND A SEPARATE AND INDEPENDENT FEE AGREEMENT FOR A BREACH OF CONTRACT CASE AGAINST THE CLIENT'S INSURANCE CARRIER WITHOUT HAVING AN AWARD OF FEES UNDER ONE AGREEMENT LIMITED BY THE OTHER?

We answer the rephrased question in the affirmative, reverse the award of fees entered by the trial court, and remand for further proceedings.

*874 Facts

Moore was injured in an auto accident in 1994. In 1996, Moore retained attorney Wendy Coxhead to represent him in seeking redress for his injuries. In doing so, Moore signed a document entitled "Personal Injury Fee Agreement," which was prepared by Ms. Coxhead. This "Personal Injury Fee Agreement" contained seven subsections which, when considered together, dealt with all aspects of Ms. Coxhead's representation of Moore.

Two of these subsections dealt with the amount of attorney's fees to which Ms. Coxhead would be entitled should Moore prevail in his claims. The first of these was entitled "Agreed Attorney Fees," and it set forth the standard percentage-of-recovery formula for attorney's fees permitted by The Florida Bar. See R. Regulating Fla. Bar 4-1.5(f)(4)(B). The second subsection was a more specific provision dealing solely with the issue of attorney's fees for seeking payment of no-fault benefits under a policy of automobile insurance. This provision, entitled "No Fault Law Attorney Fees," stated as follows:

NO FAULT LAW ATTORNEY FEES
I understand that the firm will assist in collecting benefits under Florida's No-Fault law without the payment of any additional fees unless it is necessary for the firm to file suit to collect benefits. If the firm files suit, I agree that they will be entitled to any attorney's fee determined to be reasonable by the court and paid by the insurance company or other company providing no-fault benefits and that I will owe them no additional fee for such representation other than the fee awarded by the court to be paid out of the no-fault benefits.

After State Farm refused to pay certain no-fault benefits to Moore, he filed suit. Ultimately, State Farm agreed to settle Moore's no-fault claim for $500. Moore then sought attorney's fees pursuant to the "No Fault Law Attorney Fees" subsection of his agreement with Ms. Coxhead. In doing so, Moore contended that under this subsection he was entitled to a reasonable fee as determined by the court pursuant to section 627.428, Florida Statutes (1995).

In opposition to Moore's motion, State Farm argued that while Moore might be entitled to a fee pursuant to section 627.428, the amount of such fee was limited to the specified percentage of the settlement amount provided by the "Agreed Attorney Fees" subsection of the representation agreement. In making this argument, State Farm relied on Standard Guaranty Insurance Co. v. Quanstrom, 555 So.2d 828 (Fla.1990), for the proposition that a court-awarded statutory fee cannot exceed the amount otherwise permitted under the fee agreement between the attorney and client. Despite Moore's argument that the general "Agreed Attorney Fees" subsection of his agreement with Ms. Coxhead did not apply to his action against State Farm for no-fault benefits, the trial court limited Moore's attorney's fee award to a percentage of the $500 settlement he had already recovered.

In discussing the question to be certified with the county court, State Farm conceded that the representation agreement between Moore and Ms. Coxhead contained two subsections dealing with attorney's fees and that the agreement appeared to contemplate that at least two different types of cases might be pursued under the single agreement. However, State Farm contended that the language of the representation agreement could not "trump" the law that the amount of the statutory fee could not exceed the amount otherwise recoverable under the agreement. Because the county court could not *875 find any clear guidance on the issue of a single representation agreement containing multiple potential fee awards, it certified the question to this court.

Certified Question

At its essence, the question posed by the county court is whether an attorney and client can enter into a single representation agreement in a personal injury case that anticipates multiple potential causes of action and includes provisions for different types of fee awards for each of those causes of action with each fee provision operating independently of the others. The answer to this question is undeniably yes.

Fee agreements between attorneys and clients are governed by the law of contracts. See, e.g., Lugassy v. Indep. Fire Ins. Co., 636 So.2d 1332, 1335 (Fla. 1994); Lyle v. Lyle, 167 So.2d 256 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964); Universal Beverages Holdings, Inc. v. Merkin, 902 So.2d 288, 290 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005). Nothing in the law of contracts requires a separate written document for each individual agreement between the parties. Contracts are entered into every day in this state which contain numerous individual agreements between the contracting parties, each of which is a separate "mini-contract" on a specific issue. Thus, contract law does not prohibit an attorney and client from entering into a single representation agreement in a personal injury case that provides one type of fee award for a negligence case against a tortfeasor and a separate and independent type of fee award for a breach of contract case against the client's insurance carrier.

Assuming such a representation agreement exists, the next question is whether an award of fees under one section of the agreement can properly be limited by the fees that might be recoverable under a separate section of the agreement. The answer to this question is undeniably no.

As one federal court has stated:

The basic rule of contract construction gives priority to the intention of the parties. In upholding the intentions of the parties, a court must construe the agreement as a whole, giving effect to all provisions therein.

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Bluebook (online)
916 So. 2d 871, 2005 Fla. App. LEXIS 17220, 2005 WL 2863041, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-fladistctapp-2005.