METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, PETITIONER,
v.
MARSHA L. LYONS AND THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, CRIMINAL DIVISION (03), RESPONDENTS
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Metropolitan Dade County challenged a trial court order awarding court-appointed counsel $25,000 in legal fees, exceeding the statutory maximum of $8,500. The court granted the petition and quashed the order, holding that the trial court lacked authority to exceed statutory fee limits even in complex cases.
The trial court lacks authority to award legal fees in excess of the statutory maximum of $8,500, as the statute is mandatory and not directory, and no common law right to recover attorney's fees exists. The complexity of the case cannot justify exceeding the statutory limit.
[1] A trial court may not award attorneys' fees in excess of statutory limits, even in cases involving exceptional circumstances or extraordinary attorney effort.
[2] The right to recover attorneys' fees as part of costs did not exist at common law and is governed by statute.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The right to recover attorneys' fees as part of the costs in an action did not exist at common law”
Establishes the foundational principle that no common law authority exists for awarding attorney's fees, limiting trial court discretion to statutory grants only.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAttorney Marsha Lyons was court-appointed to represent indigent defendant Robert Patton, who was charged with capital crimes and other offenses in thr…
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PER CURIAM.
This is a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a trial court order directing Metropolitan Dade County to compensate a court-appointed counsel in a criminal case. We have jurisdiction to entertain this petition. Art. V, § 4(b)(3), Fla. Const.; Dade County v. Goldstein, 384 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980); Dade County v. Grossman, 354 So. 2d 131 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Dade County v. McCrary, 260 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972); Dade County v. Strauss, 246 So. 2d 137 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 253 So. 2d 864 (Fla.1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 924, 92 S.Ct. 1793, 32 L.Ed.2d 125 (1972).
The facts relevant to this petition are undisputed. The trial court, in the order under review, awarded $25,000 in legal fees to an attorney, Marsha Lyons, for representing an indigent criminal defendant pursuant to a court appointment. The defendant, Robert Patton, had been charged with a capital crime and various other offenses in three separate charging documents filed before the trial court, to wit: an indictment, an information, and a probation violation affidavit. All agree that the maximum legal fee which the trial court was authorized to award counsel under Section 925.035, Florida Statutes (1981), was $8,500.
The trial court and the parties herein cite no legal authority, aside from the above statute, for awarding legal fees to counsel in this case. This is not surprising because there is no such authority, as plainly “[t]he right to recover attorneys’ fees as part of the costs in an action did not exist at common law....” Dade County v. Strauss, supra at 141. The fact that counsel may have devoted an extraordinary amount of time in representing the defendant in an extremely complex case cannot, as urged, change this result. The Florida Supreme Court has so held with unmistakable clarity in Metropolitan Dade County v. Bridges, 402 So. 2d 411 (Fla.1981), as follows:
“We hold that section 925.036 is constitutional, that its language is mandatory and not directory, that, therefore, the trial court may not award in excess of the statutory limits....”
Id. at 412.
“We also hold that this section is mandatory and not directory and that the trial court erred in construing it by adding the language which would permit the trial court to award fees higher than those specified by statute where the court determined exceptional circumstances to exist.”
Id. at 413.
It therefore follows that the order under review cannot stand as it constitutes a departure from essential requirements of law. Mackenzie v. Hillsborough County, 288 So. 2d 200 (Fla.1973).
The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the order under review is quashed, and the cause is remanded to the trial court with directions to award Marsha Lyons no more than $8,500 in legal fees herein.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Lyons v. Metro. Dade Cnty., 507 So. 2d 588 (Fla. 1987)…um fee for the representation of $8,500, as set forth in section 925.036, Florida Statutes (1981), respondent Metropolitan Dade County petitioned for a writ of certiorari with the Third District Court of Appeal. In Metropolitan Dade County v. Lyons, 462 So. 2d 487 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), the district court quashed the trial court’s order and remanded with instructions to limit the fees to $8,500. We find the Third District’s opinion in conflict with our later decision of Makemson v. Martin County, 491 So. 2d 1109…
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Nicholas G. Schommer and James v. Lobozzo, Jr., 489 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986)…to award greater fees, even where there are exceptional circumstances. Okeechobee County v. Jennings, 473 So. 2d 1314, 1317 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Martin County v. Makemson, 464 So. 2d 1281, 1283 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Metropolitan Dade County v. Lyons, 462 So. 2d 487 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); Marion County v. DeBoisblanc, 410 So. 2d 951 (Fla. 5th DCA), petition for review denied, 419 So. 2d 1196 (Fla.1982). These cases have all been grounded upon the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling over four and one-half years ago in M…
Authorities Cited
- Metro. Dade Cnty. v. Bridges, 402 So. 2d 411 (Fla. 1981)
- Bogle v. State, 246 So. 2d 137 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)
- MacKenzie v. Hillsborough Cnty., 288 So. 2d 200 (Fla. 1973)
- Dade Cnty. v. Goldstein, 384 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
- Strauss v. Dade Cnty., 253 So. 2d 864 (Fla. 1971)
- Dade Cnty. v. Honorable Rhea P. Grossman, 354 So. 2d 131 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- Hayes v. Cady, 406 U.S. 924 (U.S. 1972)
- Avila-Diaz v. United States, 406 U.S. 924 (U.S. 1972)
- Dade Cnty. v. McCRARY, 260 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972)