AmerUs Life Insurance Co. v. Lait

2 So. 3d 203 (2009)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
A
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

AmerUs Life Insurance Co. v. Lait

Florida Supreme Court
2 So. 3d 203 (2009)

  • Written by Liz Nakamura, JD

Facts

AmerUs Life Insurance Company (AmerUs) (plaintiff) filed an action against Michael Lait (defendant). The trial court entered a final judgment in favor of AmerUs and ordered that Lait was to pay AmerUs’s attorney’s fees and costs. The trial court reserved jurisdiction to determine the exact amount of fees-and-costs owed. Eight months later, AmerUs filed a motion to determine the amount of fees-and-costs owed. Lait moved to dismiss, arguing that AmerUs’s motion was untimely because it was filed more than 30 days after entry of the final judgment, in violation of the statutory filing deadline for post-judgment fees-and-costs motions. The trial court dismissed AmerUs’s motion as untimely, effectively barring AmerUs from recovering fees-and-costs from Lait. AmerUs appealed. On appeal, the appellate court affirmed. However, because the appellate court’s decision conflicted with another appellate court’s decision in a similar case, the appellate court then certified a question to the Florida Supreme Court about whether the 30-day statutory filing deadline still applied if the trial court established the parties’ entitlement to attorney’s fees and costs in its final judgment but reserved jurisdiction to determine the exact amount of fees-and-costs owed at a later date.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Quince, C.J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 811,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Civil Procedure

Key Terms