William Joyce v. Federated National Insurance Company

The issue in this case is whether trial courts may apply a contingency fee multiplier to an award of attorney’s fees to a prevailing party only in “rare” and “exceptional” circumstances, as the Fifth District Court of Appeal held in Federated National Insurance Co. v. Joyce, 179 So.3d 492 (Fla. 6th DCA 2015). Petitioners, the insureds in a successful dispute with their homeowners’ insurance earner, assert that the Fifth District’s opinion misapplied our precedent from Florida Patient’s Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1146 (Fla. 1985), and its progeny. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, §…