05/21/2022
Our own Michael Sastre won an appeal before the Third District Court of Appeal and on behalf of Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London.
The trial court awarded $562,692.00 in attorney fees to the Plaintiffs after a jury rendered a verdict against Lloyds in a first-party coverage dispute tried by Alvarez Feltman & Da Silva for the Plaintiffs and the Torres Law Group for Lloyds. The trial court’s fee award was the product of an “across-the-board” reduction of Plaintiffs’ fees and the application of a multiplier based on the difficulty of the case.
On appeal, Michael argued that the lodestar figure was excessive and not supported by competent substantial evidence and that the evidence did not support the application of a multiplier.
The Third District Court of Appeal agreed, finding that the Plaintiffs’ expert and the trial court’s arbitrary “across-the-board” method of determining the lodestar amount failed to meet the requirement of making specific reductions and findings as to the disputed entries. The Third District Court also ruled that the trial court abused its discretion when it awarded a multiplier without considering each of the Quanstrom factors.
Congratulations Michael!