No Property Damage Fees

No Attorney’s Fees for Property Damage Claims, Even When We Win 

If we represent you in a claim against your insurance for property damage, we will agree to recover Statutory Fees only in cases where Statutory Fees are available.  For every insurance claim we don’t charge any attorney’s fees or costs unless we win.  For property claims, we also agree to seek Statutory Fees where available, which means that even when we win, no attorney fees are deducted from our clients recovery.  This provides our property damage clients with a chance to receive the full amount of a verdict with no deduction for attorney’s fees or costs. 

The following is an example of recovery based on contingency fee contract: 

Verdict: $100,000

Your Recovery: $60,000 (after deduction for 40% for attorney fees) 

The following is an example is an example of recovery based on statutory fee contract: 

Verdict: $100,000

Your Recovery: $100,000 (fees instead pursued from insurer only) 

As the above illustrates, our willingness and ability to accept statutory fees only not only allows our clients to pay us no fees or costs unless we win, it also allows our clients to have no fees or costs deducted from client’s recovery after we in.  The following are examples of recoveries made by STRUBLE, P.A. with the firm’s clients having no deduction in their recovery for attorney’s fees and costs, even after the claim was won.

Examples of STRUBLE, P.A. deducting no attorney’s fees after winning the claim for policyholders: 

*The insurance company, and not the property owner, paid our attorney’s fee and costs as a separate and additional damage as required by Florida Law.  

In addition to obtaining a verdict, our clients have also received claim payments with no deduction for attorney’s fees when the insurer was forced to issue the payments with no release, or with a release that does not include Statutory Fees. In this instance, like when there is a verdict, STRUBLE, P.A. deducts no attorney’s fees and costs from the payments and seeks recovery of Statutory Fees from the insurer only.  

When awarding STRUBLE, P.A. Statutory Fees, court Orders have noted that after we won our client’s case, we deducted nothing from our client’s recovery for attorney fees or costs and instead accepted whatever the court separately awarded our firm as reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, to be paid by the insurer. Courts also noted that even when the court denied requests for fees or costs, we still do not seek reimbursement from our clients.  Orders have identified this as a valuable service provided by STRUBLE, P.A. to property owners in their claims for property damage. The following are examples of Orders entered by Court’s while discussing STRUBLE, P.A.:

Trial Court Orders Discussing STRUBLE, P.A. 

Plaintiff received the $3,154,756 without Struble, P.A. taking a deduction for any attorney’s fees or any costs. 9/19/2021 Order

Struble, P.A. did not take a percentage of the payments recovered and the Court finds that Struble, P.A. provides a service that is not available in most places at most times. 11/13/2019 Order

Struble, P.A. has earned a good reputation in the local legal community and a well-deserved excellent trial reputation. Having earned a reputation of being willing to go to trial encourages better settlement offers and results for their clients. 5/24/22 Order

Matthew Struble has tried approximately forty such cases and Christine Dies has tried approximately a dozen such cases. In this case, Defendant claimed the damages were below the deductible and issued no payment. Struble, P.A. represented Plaintiffs on a contingency basis and recovered $130,772 above the deductible for contractual damages and an additional $35,000 for extra-contractual damages. Struble, P.A. did not deduct attorney’s fees or costs from the payment and instead agreed to accept statutory fees awarded by the Court.  5/28/2022 Order

Mr. Struble is recognized as a go to attorney for plaintiff first party property cases in Brevard County. Many attorneys in Brevard County refer plaintiff first party property cases to him, co-counsel with him, and even hire him for themselves. Mr. Struble has tried numerous cases in first party property litigation to verdict and is an experienced trial attorney. The fee is contingent upon the success in the case, and further, Mr. Struble gives 100% of a jury award to his clients. As such, his clients are made whole, and his attorneys fees and costs are solely subject to the Court. Mr. Struble will not ask his clients for the reimbursement of costs, even if the Court denies a cost.  11/5/2021 Order

Plaintiff received the funds with no reduction for attorney’s fees or costs.Matthew Struble, who has been practicing for 11 years, is a Florida Bar Board Certified Civil Trial attorney who has tried upwards of 40 cases and has litigated cases for insureds and insurance companies. 2/17/2022 Order

The Court finds that Struble, P.A. has an excellent reputation in the local legal community. There are very few local firms that handle first party insurance claims and no other firms do so exclusively or at the level of Struble, P.A.  7/5/2022 Order

New Law Limiting Statutory Fees 

We successfully resolved hundreds of claims for our clients with no deduction for attorney’s fees, by seeking Statutory Fees from the insurer only pursuant to Fla. Stat. 627.428 (“Old Law”).  Even under the Old Law, for an attorney to utilize the law for their client’s benefit, they had to obtain a verdict or force the insurer to pay the claim without a release of statutory fees. This requires trial experience and the ability to handle property claims through trial and appeal.  Without this experience, an insurance company is less likely to issue payments in this manner.  A court Order noted that “STRUBLE, P.A. has earned a good reputation in the local legal community and a well-deserved excellent trial reputation. Having earned a reputation of being willing to go to trial encourages better settlement offers and results for their clients.”

If you are interviewing an attorney, you should consider asking your attorney for past examples of the law firm’s jury verdicts and Orders awarding Statutory Fees.  If attorneys did not successfully recover Statutory Fees under the Old Law, it is even more unlikely they can utilize the law to maximize your net recovery under the New Law. 

Now, due to statutory amendments, it is more difficult to recover Statutory Fees on property damage claims.  First, in 2021, Fla. Stat. 627.70152 amended the Old Law to remove or reduce recovery of Statutory Fees depending on the amount of the recovery compared to the claim amount.  Second, in 2022, another amendment to the Old Law made it difficult to obtain enhanced fees previously available for difficult claims.  

Still Committed to Providing Property Owners a Recovery with No deduction for Attorney’s Fees 

Under the Old Law, we successfully resolved hundreds of claims without charging our clients attorney’s fees, by separately recovering Statutory Fees.  Even under the New Law, we remain committed to providing property owners with the option to have no attorney’s fees deducted from the claim payments. 

Under the New Law, if $100,000 in property damage was claimed, and the jury awards only $18,000, there would be no Statutory Fees.  Thus, hundreds of attorney hours incurred, and costs incurred would not be recoverable from the insurer.  In this event, our client will receive the $18,000 with no deduction for attorney’s fees or costs, because we will still accept Statutory Fees only, which are $0 in this example.  If the jury awards $40,000, under the New Law we would only recover a fraction of our attorney’s fees.  In this event, our client will receive the $40,000 with no deduction for attorney’s fees, because we will still accept Statutory Fees only.  It is our trial experience including over 40 trials of such cases that provides us with the ability to continue handling cases in this manner.  

When a Contingency Fee Percentage is Applied 

If we represent you in a property damage claim, our retainer will provide that we agree to accept Statutory Fees from the insurer only.  Under both the Old Law, and the New Law, an alternative contingency fee percentage is provided in the retainer, in the event the insurer makes an offer that requires our clients to sign a release of the property damages and also a release of Statutory Fees. STRUBLE, P.A. applies a contingency fee percentage plus costs when the insurance company makes a global offer that includes Statutory Fees and costs.  In this event, 30% for attorney’s fees plus costs is deducted from the global settlement amount.  Our clients can decide whether to accept such a settlement or reject it and pursue another settlement or verdict that may not require a reduction for attorney’s fees and costs. 

Interviewing Law Firms for Property Damage Claims 

If you are interviewing law firms for your property damage claim, you should ask how many times the firm has taken such claims to trial and resolved such claims exclusive of attorney’s fees and costs.  Unique to property damage claims, and unlike other claims such as personal injury claims, Florida law provides that when an insurer wrongfully denies claim payments owed, the insurer must pay attorney’s fees as a separate and additional damage.  This can allow you to net the full amount of your claim, with no deduction for attorney’s fees or costs.  Without this, you would be unable to obtain all of the funds needed to repair your property and compensate you for the claim.  To achieve this, your attorney must obtain a judgment or force the insurer to confess judgment by issuing payment exclusive of attorney’s fees. The attorneys at STRUBLE, P.A. have achieved such a resolution for our clients, where no attorney’s fees or costs were deducted from the insurance company’s payment to our clients, even when we won, over 200 times.  

If you are an attorney or claims professional interviewing law firms to assist a client with a property damage claim, you should likewise ask the firm how many times the firm has taken such claims to trial and resolved such claims exclusive of attorney’s fees and costs.  If the law firm did not consistently do so under the Old Law, it is unlikely it will do so under the more difficult New law.  Under the Old Law, STRUBLE, P.A. won claims for its clients without deducting any attorney’s fees or costs over 200 times.