Donna Hurst, as personal representative of the Estate of Howard Mathews, deceased v. Daymon Bell and Progressive Select Insurance Company
The Second District affirmed the denial of a judgment creditor's motion to join a liability insurer to a proposal-for-settlement attorney's fee judgment entered against its insured, holding that the Progressive policy unambiguously excluded adverse attorney's fee awards from its Additional Payments coverage. The court distinguished Government Employees Insurance v. Macedo on the ground that the GEICO policy there contained no express fee disclaimer, and it declined to treat a general 'reasonable expenses... incurred at our request' clause as an implied grant of attorney's fee coverage. The opinion also holds that judicial disagreement over similar policy language does not itself create ambiguity.
Key facts
- Howard Mathews sued Daymon Bell for injuries from an automobile collision; Bell was insured under a Progressive Select policy with $100,000/$300,000 bodily injury liability limits, and Progressive tendered its $100,000 limits pre-suit, which Mathews rejected.
- Mathews served a $160,000 proposal for settlement that was not accepted; the case went to trial, the jury returned a verdict for Mathews, and the court entered a final judgment against Bell after setoff plus a separate attorney's fee and cost judgment against Bell based on the unaccepted proposal.
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Holdings
- Where an insurance policy's Additional Payments provision expressly states that settlement-and-defense expenses do 'not include attorney fees awarded or assessed against an insured person,'…
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Why it matters
This is the most consequential Florida appellate decision to date cabining Macedo, and it materially changes the calculus for plaintiffs who serve proposals for settlement in cases where the defendant's liability limits… — full analysis with a trial
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