Case Name: DUNKLEY STUCCO, INC., Appellant, v. PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, etc., Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2000-02-18
Citations: 751 So. 2d 723
Docket Number: No. 5D99-1416
Parties: DUNKLEY STUCCO, INC., Appellant, v. PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, etc., Appellee.
Judges: COBB, J., concurring and concurring specially, with opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 751
Pages: 723–726

Head Matter:
DUNKLEY STUCCO, INC., Appellant, v. PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, etc., Appellee.
No. 5D99-1416.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Feb. 18, 2000.
Michael S. Wilson, Altamonte Springs, for Appellant.
Mark M. Heinish, of Law Offices of Steven J. Jacobson, P. A., Ft. Lauderdale, for Appellee.

Opinion:
HARRIS, J.
A vehicle owned by Dunkley Stucco, Inc. and operated by its employee collided with an automobile owned by Marcos Barreiro. Barreiro's insurance company, Progressive, paid Barreiro $44, 982.72 for property damages sustained to his vehicle. Progressive, as subrogee of Barreiro's claim, sued Stucco to recover this amount together with costs and attorney's fees. Stucco defaulted and Progressive obtained a default judgment, without further notice, in the amount claimed in its complaint, interest thereon, costs, and attorney's fees.
Stucco became interested in this case in time to appeal the final judgment. It contends that since the amount claimed was unliquidated even though the amount was specified in the complaint, Stucco was entitled to receive, but did not, notice of the hearing to determine the amount of damages and attorney's fees. We agree that Stucco is entitled to a noticed hearing on the issue of attorney's fees; we do not agree that a noticed hearing was required before entering judgment in the exact amount of pleaded damages.
The effect of a default is that the defaulting party admits all well pleaded allegations of the complaint. See Days Inns Acquisition Corp. v. Hutchinson, 707 So.2d 747 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). See also Bowman v. Kingsland Development, Inc., 432 So.2d 660 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). Here, plaintiff alleged that it was damaged in the amount of $44,982.72 paid by it under its insurance policy because of property damages caused to its insured's vehicle by the negligence of defendant. By defaulting and thus failing to deny this allegation, appellant is deemed to have admitted it. This admission converts what would have been an unliquidated amount into a liquidated one. The purpose of the requirement of a "due process" hearing after default is to permit the defendant to challenge plaintiffs claim for "unliquidat-ed" damage. Black's Law Dictionary defines an unliquidated claim as one "which has not been finally determined" and "[a] disputed claim." If defendant admits that the amount claimed is due, whether by a general admission or by default, he has, by not disputing the claim, "determined" it and is not thereafter entitled to a hearing to require plaintiff to again establish that amount to which defendant agrees he is liable.
If the default was inadvertently entered because of the excusable neglect of appellant, and hence no concession as to the amount of the claim was intended, then his remedy, assuming he can assert due diligence and a meritorious defense, is to move to set aside the default. In this case, there was no such motion. Appellant herein merely appealed the amount of damages determined from the specific demand in the complaint which was not contested by appellant.
Appellant is correct, however, as to the award of attorney's fees. Even assuming the request for attorney's fees was "well pleaded" in this property damage action, and we do not, no specific amount was set forth in the complaint and hence the claim for attorney's fees remains unliquidated. See Bowman, 432 So.2d at 663.
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; REMANDED with instructions to reconsider the issue of attorney's fees.
COBB, J., concurring and concurring specially, with opinion.
DAUKSCH, J., dissenting, with opinion.