Title: Pfeffer v. Labor Ready Southeast, Inc.

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
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No. SC14-1325 
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LOUIS P. PFEFFER, et al.,  
Petitioners, 
 
vs. 
 
LABOR READY SOUTHEAST, INC., et al.,  
Respondents. 
 
[April 28, 2016] 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
This case is before this Court for review of the decision of the First District 
Court of Appeal in Pfeffer v. Labor Ready Southeast, Inc., 155 So. 3d 1155, 1156 
(Fla. 1st DCA 2014), a workers’ compensation case involving the statutory 
attorney’s fee provision declared unconstitutional in this Court’s opinion in 
Castellanos v. Next Door Co., No. SC13-2082, slip op. at 1-2 (Fla. Apr. 28, 2016).  
Pursuant to the fee schedule in section 440.34, Florida Statutes, the judge of 
compensation claims was constrained to award a total of $13,017.80 in attorney’s 
fees, to be split by three attorneys that spent a total of 258.10 hours on the case, for 
 
 
 
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a fee award of $50.44 per hour.  The attorney for the employer/carrier, on the other 
hand, was paid more than $50,000. 
 
In an unelaborated opinion, the First District affirmed the statutory fee 
award “[b]ased on” its decision in Castellanos [v. Next Door Co./Amerisure Ins. 
Co., 124 So. 3d 392 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013)] and certified that its disposition passed 
upon the same question certified in Castellanos.  Pfeffer, 155 So. 3d at 1156.  We 
therefore have jurisdiction.  See art. V, §§ 3(b)(3), (4), Fla. Const.  Because our 
holding in Castellanos resolves this issue, we quash the First District’s decision 
and remand for further proceedings consistent with Castellanos.  See also 
Richardson v. Aramark/Sedgwick CMS, No. SC14-738, slip op. at 2-3 (Fla. Apr. 
28, 2016); Diaz v. Palmetto Gen. Hosp., No. SC14-1916, slip op. at 1-2 (Fla. Apr. 
28, 2016).   
 
It is so ordered. 
LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, and PERRY, JJ., concur. 
CANADY and POLSTON, JJ., dissent. 
 
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND 
IF FILED, DETERMINED. 
 
Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal - Certified 
Great Public Importance  
 
 
First District - Case No. 1D13-4779 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Louis Paul Pfeffer, Jupiter, Florida, and Michael Jason Winer of the Law Office of 
Michael J. Winer, P.A., Tampa, Florida, 
 
 
for Petitioners 
 
Ronald Gray McCormick, Jr. of The Bleakley Bavol Law Firm, Tampa, Florida, 
 
 
for Respondents 
 
John Jacob Schickel, Jacksonville, Florida, 
 
 
for Amicus Curiae Workers’ Compensation Section of The Florida Bar