Cases

The standard of review in a workers’ compensation appeal where the issue presented involves a reasonable hourly rate for attorney fees is whether competent and substantial evidence supports the JCC’s conclusion. Where claimant’s counsel opined that a reasonable hourly rate would be $265 and the employer/carrier’s counsel opined that a reasonable hourly rate would be $225, the JCC erred in concluding that a reasonable hourly rate was $200, absent other evidence on this issue.

 

It was error for the JCC to reduce the hours allegedly expended by the claimant’s attorney for purposes of determining an attorney’s fee when there was no evidence to rebut the claimant’s counsel’s testimony in that regard. The JCC had made reductions and deletions to entries in the claimant’s attorney’s time sheets which he deemed to be clerical/non-attorney tasks and for other reasons. This constituted error since there was no competent and substantial evidence in the record to support any of the JCC’s reductions or deletions. The employer/carrier neither cross-examined the claimant’s counsel regarding the reasonableness of the entries in the time sheets nor presented any evidence on the subject.