A Florida appeals court ruled that Progressive's auto policy never promised to cover an opponent's attorney fees, keeping the insurer off the judgment.
On July 29, 2026, Florida's Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court and kept Progressive Select Insurance Company (Progressive) out of an attorney's fee judgment that an injured man's estate had hoped the carrier would pay.
The fight started with a car crash. The insured held a Progressive auto liability policy with bodily injury coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. Before any suit was filed, Progressive offered the full $100,000 to the injured man, who turned it down. He sued the insured and later served a $160,000 settlement proposal, which was also rejected. The case went to trial.
A jury sided with the injured man. The trial court entered judgment against the insured, crediting Progressive's earlier payment of the bodily injury limits, then added a separate judgment for attorney's fees and costs, set off by the rejected $160,000 proposal. Progressive paid the cost portion voluntarily, so only the attorney's fee portion was left to argue over. The estate tried to add Progressive to that fee judgment under a Florida statute that lets a claimant put an insurer on a judgment against its policyholder.
The appeal turned on the policy's exact words. Progressive's additional payments section promised "all expenses we incur in the settlement of any claim or in the defense of an insured person in any lawsuit." The same paragraph then carved out an exception: "This does not include attorney fees awarded or assessed against an insured person."
The estate leaned on another line, covering "reasonable expenses, including loss of earnings up to $200 per day, incurred at our request." It argued that broad language captured the fee award.
The court was not persuaded. A specific provision controls over a general one, it reasoned, and the "reasonable expenses" line described the everyday costs an insured runs up while helping the defense, like attending a deposition or trial. It did not silently agree to pay a fee award going to the other side.
The court also distinguished a 2017 Florida Supreme Court decision, noting that the earlier insurer's policy had no express fee carve-out. Progressive's did.
Because the policy did not cover the fees, the statute gave the estate no way to add Progressive. The court affirmed.
