Becker Prevails on Behalf of Daddy Yankee in Appellate Court

February 28, 2018

By: Jon Polenberg


Becker & PoliakoffLed by Business Litigation shareholder Jon Polenberg, Florida’s Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals backed a lower court’s decision Wednesday to deny a bid for $1.7 million in attorneys’ fees from a concert promoter who won his defamation suit against Daddy Yankee, ruling that though the reggaeton superstar rejected a pretrial offer to settle, he should not have to pay for the concert promoter’s costs.

Jon told the Daily Business Review that “the court’s opinion is “instructive” for lawyers looking to make use of the attorney–fee statute. “The law is a sanction against a party who unreasonably rejects a proposal to settle,” he said. “Courts construe the offer, including the release, carefully to be sure that any rejection of that offer is reasonable — and it’s reasonable if it’s ambiguous.”