WILSON REALTY, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
SARA DAVID, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Florida appellate court affirmed denial of specific performance for real property sale but vacated attorney's fees award because the trial court lacked jurisdiction to award fees after notice of appeal was filed without appellate court permission.
A trial court loses jurisdiction to award attorney's fees in a contract dispute once a notice of appeal is filed, unless the appellate court grants permission under Rule 9.600(b).
[1] A trial court loses jurisdiction to award attorney's fees after a notice of appeal is filed unless the appellate court grants permission under Rule 9.600(b), even if the…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“It cannot be argued that the trial court was proceeding on a matter which was unrelated to the final judgment because appellee's right to a fee was predicated on that judgment.”
Court explaining why the attorney's fees award was jurisdictionally defective despite being technically separate from the judgment on the merits.
Wilson Realty sought specific performance of a real property sales contract against Sara David. The contract provided that the prevailing party would …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Attorney'S Fees Provision cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
After consideration of the record and briefs and hearing oral argument we have concluded that there is competent, substantial evidence to support the trial court’s final judgment denying specific performance of a contract for sale of real property as sought by appellant. However, we find it necessary to set aside the award of attorney’s fees to appellee.
The contract between the parties provided that if litigation arose from the contract relationship the successful party would be entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees. When the court entered judgment for appellee jurisdiction was reserved to award attorney’s fees at a later time. A hearing on attorney’s fees was subsequently held, but it occurred after appellant had filed its notice of appeal to this court of the final judgment. Consequently, at the time of the hearing the trial court had no jurisdiction to proceed without first obtaining the permission of the appellate court pursuant to Rule 9.600(b), Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, which was not done. It cannot be argued that the trial court was proceeding on a matter which was unrelated to the final judgment because appellee’s right to a fee was predicated on that judgment.
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed; the order awarding attorney’s fees is vacated; and the case is remanded for the purpose of conducting a new hearing directed toward the award of attorney’s fees to appellee.
GRIMES, C. J., and BOARDMAN and SCHEB, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (14 total)
-
Carola D. Allen v. Est. of Ellen C. Dutton, 384 So. 2d 171 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)…er of April 19, 1979. Ordinarily a trial court lacks jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees after a party has filed a notice of appeal from a final judgment, without first obtaining permission from the appellate court. Wilson Realty, Inc., v. David, 369 So. 2d 75 (Fla.2d DCA 1979); Rule 9.600(b), Fla.R.App.P. However, it has been held that the trial court may proceed to award costs not included in the final judgment even after a notice appealing the final judgment has been filed. Roberts v. Askew, 260 So. 2d…
-
Bailey v. Bailey, 392 So. 2d 49 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)…the latter case, the attorneys’ fees award is inextricably tied to the pending appeal. While it cannot be accurately said that the fee award interferes with the appellate jurisdiction under these circumstances, but see Wilson Realty, Inc. v. David, 369 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), it can be said that the fee award is premature. The holding in Wilson Realty, Inc. v. David, supra, is suspect in light of Roberts v. Askew, supra, n. 3. In Roberts, the court stated that the trial court has jurisdiction to ente…
-
Hudson v. Hofmann, 471 So. 2d 117 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985)…Inc., 287 So. 2d 376 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973), cert. denied, 296 So. 2d 51 (Fla.1974). Once the notices of appeal were filed, the lower court was divested of jurisdiction to proceed with matters related to the final judgment. Wilson Realty, Inc. v. David, 369 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). Here, the postjudgment order was related to the original final judgment in that it awarded the specific assessment to which the respondents were held entitled under the final judgment. Since respondents did not request a relinqui…
Previewing 3 of 14 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence