Case Name: JESS PARRISH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL and All Risk Corporation of Florida, Appellants, v. Faye M. LAYER, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1982-10-21
Citations: 420 So. 2d 917
Docket Number: No. AK-471
Parties: JESS PARRISH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL and All Risk Corporation of Florida, Appellants, v. Faye M. LAYER, Appellee.
Judges: SHIVERS and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 420
Pages: 917–918

Head Matter:
JESS PARRISH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL and All Risk Corporation of Florida, Appellants, v. Faye M. LAYER, Appellee.
No. AK-471.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Oct. 21, 1982.
Robert E. Bonner, of Pitts, Eubanks, & Ross, P.A., Orlando, for appellants.
Thomas E. Thoburn, Cocoa, for appellee.

Opinion:
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Chief Judge.
Neither in the application for hearing nor at the hearing itself did claimant's attorney assert that the carrier's bad faith handling of the claim was the basis for his claim of attorney's fees. Consequently there was no forthright assertion of bad faith, nor any meaningful litigation on that subject at the hearing. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University v. Vestal, 399 So.2d 1033, 1035 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). The deputy's barebones finding of bad faith, constructed from a claimant's deposition introduced not to prove notice and bad faith but for another stated purpose, and the consequent fee award, are therefore REVERSED.
SHIVERS and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.