Opinion
No. 98-1382.
Opinion filed August 4, 1999.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Alan L. Postman, Judge, L.T. No. 94-20681.
Kubicki Draper and Elizabeth M. Rodriguez, for appellant.
Marlow, Connell, Valerius, Abrams, Alder Newman and William G. Edwards, for appellees.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and NESBITT and GODERICH, JJ.
The third-party defendant, Pacer Technology [Pacer], appeals from a final order denying its motion for attorney's fees pursuant to the offer of judgment statute. § 768.79(7)(a), Fla. Stat. (1993). We reverse finding that the trial court abused its discretion by determining that Pacer's offer was not made in good faith.
A review of the record shows that the third-party plaintiffs presented no evidence that met their burden of proving that Pacer's offer was not made in good faith. See Allstate Ins. Co. v. Manasse, 715 So.2d 1079, 1081-82 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). Further, Pacer presented affidavits that supported its position that the offer was, in fact, made in good faith and that the offer bore a reasonable relationship to a realistic assessment of liability. See Manasse, 715 So.2d at 1082; Eagleman v. Eagleman, 673 So.2d 946, 948 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996).
Reversed and remanded for a determination of the amount of reasonable attorney's fees.