A lawsuit was filed against Defendant claiming that it had breached the contract of insurance by failing to issue payment for Plaintiff’s full roof replacement. Plaintiff sought a roof replacement and attorney fees and costs. Through the discovery process, Nikki Hawkins of HM&B discovered fraud in the presentation of the claim when Plaintiff testified that she had not retained Plaintiff’s Counsel of record, had not consented to a lawsuit against her insurance carrier, had not been advised of Defendant’s pre-suit offer by way of FS 627.70152, and was unaware that the lawsuit had been filed until she received an envelope of papers from Plaintiff’s counsel of record. A review of the purported retainer agreement presented by Plaintiff’s counsel of record revealed that Plaintiff’s signature had been inserted and it was not her original signature on the retainer agreement. Additionally, the retainer agreement contained language of FS 627.70152 which did not become law until approximately 11 months after Plaintiff allegedly executed the retainer agreement document. After an evidentiary hearing, the Trial Court granted Defendant’s Motion to dismiss for Fraud Upon the Court and Defendant’s entitlement to Sanctions. During the sanctions hearing, based upon expert testimony, the Court awarded Defendant’s counsel an hourly rate of $650.00 per hour and found that Defendant was not held to the contract rate with its counsel. The Court issued an Order granting Defendant $156,000 in attorney fees and costs.
