Title: International Marine Co-Op, Ltd., etc. v. Centro Nautico Representacoes Nauticas, LDA, etc., et al.

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

Supreme Court of Florida
 
____________
No. 94,530
____________
INTERNATIONAL MARINE CO-OP, LTD., etc.
Petitioner,
vs.
CENTRO NAUTICO REPRESENTACOES 
NAUTICAS, LDA, etc., et al.
Respondents.
[December 9, 1999]
PARIENTE, J.
We have for review a decision certifying the following question to be of great
public importance:
Is a contingency risk multiplier inapplicable to a court
awarded attorney's fee where the only authority for fees is
predicated on a contractual provision and not a statute?  
Centro Nautico Representacoes Nauticas, Lda. v. International Marine Co-op, Ltd.,
719 So. 2d 967, 971 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998).  We have jurisdiction.  See art. V, §
3(b)(4), Fla. Const.  We recently answered the same certified question in the negative
1We decline to address the other issues raised in this case.  See Heuss v. State, 687 So. 2d 823,
824 (Fla. 1996).
-2-
in Bell v. U.S.B. Acquisition, 734 So. 2d 403, 405 (Fla. 1999).  Accordingly, we
quash Centro Nautico solely on the issue of the applicability of a contingency risk
multiplier and remand to the district court for proceedings consistent with this
opinion.1
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., and SHAW, WELLS, ANSTEAD, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ.,
concur.
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
Fourth District - Case Nos.  96-03885 & 97-00548 
(Broward County)
Gus H. Carratt of Morgan, Carratt and O’Connor, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
for Petitioner
John Beranek of Ausley & McMullen, Tallahassee, Florida; Patricia S. Sechan of
Barnett & Barnard, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and William F. Cobb, Pompano
Beach, Florida,
for Respondents