Evan Zuckerman (Hollywood, FL) (First Party Property/Appeal) prevailed at the Fourth Direct Court of Appeals, obtaining an opinion affirming the validity of a proposal for settlement with an incorporated release that pre-dated the Florida Supreme Court’s revision of to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442 eliminating a party’s ability to condition proposal acceptance on the execution of non-monetary conditions. The underlying case arose following the trial court’s granting of Citizens’ motion for entitlement to fees predicated upon a proposal for settlement after first obtaining a final judgment in its favor on Plaintiff’s complaint for breach of contract relating to an assignment of benefits agreement.
Empire Pro appealed the trial court’s decision, alleging that the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision (In re Amendments to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442, 345 So. 3d 845, 846 (Fla. 2022)), eliminated a party’s right to enforce a pre-revision proposal that contained non-monetary conditions such as releases. We argued that proposals which were valid at the time of service remain enforceable notwithstanding the rule’s revision. The Fourth District Court of Appeals agreed, issuing a per curiam opinion affirming the trial court’s decision.