Leonardo Urguelles v. El Oasis Cafe and Technology Ins. Co.

PER CURIAM. In this workers’ compensation appeal, Claimant argues that the Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) erred when he reduced a stipulated Claimant-paid attorney’s fee submitted for his approval to ten percent of the monetary value of past benefits secured. Section 440.34(1), Florida Statutes (2012), provides that “any attorney’s fee” approved by a JCC must equal 20% of the first $5,000 secured by the attorney, 15% of the next $5,000, and 10% of the remaining benefits secured over $10,000 (the “20/15/10 formula”). The JCC indicated that he reduced the stipulated fee amount under the 20/15/10 formula based on his interpretation that the first $10,000 in benefits secured, to which the percentages of twenty and fifteen percent would apply, had been “exhausted” with the approval of another attorney’s fee on a lump-sum settlement (which were collected by another attorney altogether). The JCC did not, however, have the benefit of our recent decision in Cortes-Martinez v. Pal *1058 metto Vegetable Co., 159 So.3d 934 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015), where this Court held that each separate and distinct attorney’s fee is subject to the 20/15/10 formula. Because the reduction here was based on an incorrect interpretation of the application of the 20/15/10 formula, we REVERSE and REMAND for entry of an order approving the stipulated Claimant-paid attorney’s fee. WOLF, ROWE, and SWANSON, JJ., concur.