Opinion ID: 1697927
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Offer of Judgment Statute

Text: The first issue is whether the offer of judgment statute applies to PIP suits. The statute provides: In any civil action for damages filed in the courts of this state, if a defendant files an offer of judgment which is not accepted by the plaintiff within 30 days, the defendant shall be entitled to recover reasonable costs and attorney's fees incurred by her or him . . . from the date of filing of the offer if the judgment is one of no liability or the judgment obtained by the plaintiff is at least 25 percent less than such offer, and the court shall set off such costs and attorney's fees against the award. § 768.79(1), Fla. Stat. (1999) (emphasis added). The district courts, emphasizing the plain meaning of the statute, have consistently held that a PIP suit is a civil action for damages. See Nichols, 851 So.2d at 745; Cahuasqui, 760 So.2d at 1104. But Nichols maintains that her suit is better characterized as an action for benefits or security. We find this characterization to be a distinction without a difference. The purpose of a PIP suit is to recover damages for breach of an insurance contract. In fact, in Nichols's initial complaint, and again in her amended complaints, she expressly referred to her suit as an action for damages. While the contractual breach may consist of a failure to pay insurance benefits or security, the plaintiff, if successful, nevertheless will receive court-ordered compensation for her loss, which is the very definition of damages. See, e.g., Black's Law Dictionary 416 (8th ed.2004) (defining damages as [m]oney claimed by, or ordered to be paid to, a person as compensation for loss or injury). As one court has said, [t]he right to damages may arise under tort law; it may arise under contract law; it may arise under property law. If the party seeks damages from another party, then the claim is covered by section 768.79's broad phrase, `civil action for damages.' Beyel Bros. Crane & Rigging Co. of S. Fla. v. Ace Transp., Inc., 664 So.2d 62, 64 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). Nothing in the offer of judgment statute exempts claims for contractual damages. We have long recognized that, where a statute is free from ambiguity, we must follow its plain meaning. As we have explained, [w]hen the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous and conveys a clear and definite meaning, there is no occasion for resorting to the rules of statutory interpretation and construction; the statute must be given its plain and obvious meaning. Clines v. State, 912 So.2d 550, 555-56 (Fla.2005) (quoting A.R. Douglass, Inc. v. McRainey, 102 Fla. 1141, 137 So. 157, 159 (1931)). This is one of those times. The phrase any civil action for damages unambiguously includes suits to recover damages for breach of a PIP insurance contract. We therefore conclude that the offer of judgment statute encompasses such cases.