Comp judge improperly reduced attorneys fee: Court
Reprints
A workers compensation judge wrongly reduced by $682,000 the fees awarded to a lawyer representing a man who requires lifetime medical benefits following a work accident three decades ago that led to permanent paralysis, the Florida District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday.
The court reversed a workers comp judge’s decision awarding attorney Michael Rudolph $123,000 in fees for representing the man, who became a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic following the 1993 accident at a Home Depot facility.
Mr. Rudolph sought $805,000 for his work, which was to be shared among other attorneys who worked on the case. The requested fee was based on a $13,500,000 settlement.
The workers comp judge reduced the amount for Mr. Rudolph, saying the figure “shocks (his) conscience,” since it amounted to $4,000 an hour, and would be coming from the pocket of the injured worker, who requires lifetime medical care, the ruling states.
Mr. Rudolph argued the workers comp judge deviated from an agreed-upon amount in the case, and that the judge failed to consider that the “customary fee” was a percentage of the settlement and not based on an hourly rate.
The appeals court agreed, writing the stipulated fee amount was already “substantially less than what (state statute) deemed as presumptively fair.”
“A judge of compensation claims must rely on evidence instead of his own ‘subjective belief and personal experience’ in evaluating the reasonableness of an attorney’s fee claim,” the court wrote.
