Are you involved in a lawsuit for tortious interference with an expectancy interest? You may be able to claim attorney’s fees for the trial using the offer of judgment rules in West Palm Beach. If you know for sure the case is going to trial this is a great way to keep costs down. To learn more you may want to read this recent case out of the Third District Court of Appeal.
Offers of Judgment
- Do you know an offer of judgment is?
- These are really more like an offer of settlement.
- In other words one side is saying that they are willing to pay the other party a certain amount to avoid trial on the issues in West Palm Beach.
- Why would you ever do that?
- The answer is because it may open up the doors to attorney fees.
- There are only two big avenues for attorney fees in West Palm Beach litigation – contract rights and statutory rights.
- The offer of judgment rules creates a statutory scheme for you to collect your fees.
- Watch out because if the other side serves you with an offer of judgment and then you do worse than that offer in trial you will have to pay fees.
- All the fees?
- No in West Palm Beach you will be liable for the costs incurred following the offer.
- Keep in mind though that means you are paying for the entire trial at lawyer hourly rates.
- In West Palm Beach a trial may last days which can get expensive.
- If you want to learn more about offer of judgment rules in West Palm Beach you may want to check out this recent case out of the Appeals Court in Miami.
Key West Seaside LLC v. Certified Lower Keys Plumbing Inc.
- Fla. Stat. 768.79 allows for a party to make an offer of judgment in good faith to avoid the costs of a needless trial.
- This Florida attorneys fee law is often used by probate litigation law firms West Palm Beach to try to shift Florida lawyer fees and recover Florida attorneys fees if you winyour Florida lawsuit under certain circumstances
- The offer of judgment law in Florida, Florida Law 768.79 is actually called a proposal for settlement
- You should also read Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442 if you want to try to get attorneys fees in your Florida lawsuit
- In this case Key West Seaside had filed just such a motion but it was denied by the trial court.
- On appeal the court noted that a party who makes an offer of judgment in good faith is entitled to reasonable attorneys fees.
- It was left for the trial court to decide what a reasonable fee is in the case.
- Is your case a slam dunk?
- Is the other side taking you to trial to drag on and avoid the inevitable?
- This is a perfect time to file your offer of judgment.
- Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators know what constitutes a fair offer of judgment based on the facts of the case.
Want to learn more about offers of judgment in West Palm Beach?
Check out the entire case by clicking here.