DAVID G. POWELL, APPELLANT/CROSS APPELLEE,
v.
ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, JOHN C. COCKERHAM AND BOLINDA F. COCKERHAM, HIS WIFE, APPELLEES/CROSS APPELLANTS, AND STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1985-11-06
Nos. 84-398, 84-736
HERSEY, C.J., WALDEN and FLEET, JJ., and LEONARD, Associate Judge, concur.
479 So. 2d 149 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1985)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The trial court erred in failing to enter judgment for Powell and in granting attorney's fees to Cockerham, but should have granted fees to Powell.


Facts & Procedural History

Powell sued Allstate Insurance Company. The trial court's oral findings and judgment were inconsistent regarding Powell's claim, and it granted attorn…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Based upon our study of the record and briefs, in light of the oral presentation, we hold as follows:

1. The trial court erred when it failed to enter judgment for David G. Powell against Allstate Insurance Company. We feel that this occurred as a matter of oversight since the judgment in favor of Allstate as to the Powell claim is inconsistent with the explicit oral findings in record and the explicit findings in the judgment.

2. Inasmuch as Powell is the prevailing party, the trial court should have granted Powell’s motion for attorney’s fees pursuant to section 627.428, Florida Statutes (1983).

3. The trial court erred by granting John C. Cockerham attorney’s fees against Allstate Insurance Company. As we view the record and the trial court’s order, Cockerham was but a third party beneficiary under Powell’s Allstate policy. A third party claimant is not within the class of insureds who may recover attorney’s fees pursuant to section 627.428(1), Florida Statutes (1983). Industrial Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Prygrocki, 422 So. 2d 314 (Fla.1982).

Affirmed in part; reversed in part; and remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.

HERSEY, C.J., WALDEN and FLEET, JJ., and LEONARD, Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw