JAMES C. GIBSON, APPELLANT,
v.
GARTH COURTOIS AND SALLY COURTOIS, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1987-06-26
No. 86-2368
SCHEB, A.C.J., and SCHOONOVER and SANDERLIN, JJ., concur.
509 So. 2d 962 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1987) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Holding

The court held that a party cannot recover attorney's fees based on a contractual provision in an offer that was never accepted and thus never formed a contract.


Facts & Procedural History

Appellant sought attorney's fees based on a provision in a purchase offer for appellees' home. The trial court had previously ruled that the offer was…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a postjudgment order which denied appellant’s motion for attorney’s fees. We affirm.

Appellant’s motion was based upon an attorney’s fees provision in a contractual offer to purchase appellees’ home. In its final judgment in the underlying action, the trial court ruled that appellant had revoked that offer before appellees had accepted it. Accordingly, the trial court ordered appel-lees to return the escrow deposit given with the offer to appellant. This court affirmed that final judgment. See Courtois v. Gibson, 485 So. 2d 429 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986).

Because the contract upon which appellant’s motion for attorney’s fees was predicated never came into existence, there was no basis on which to award attorney’s fees. Therefore, the trial court was correct in denying appellant’s motion. Weiner v. Tenenbaum, 452 So. 2d 986 (Fla. 3d DCA), pet. for rev. dismissed, 458 So. 2d 274 (Fla.1984); Leitman v. Boone, 439 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). In following Weiner and Leitman, we recognize that we are in conflict with Sousa v. Palumbo, 426 So. 2d 1072 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983).

SCHEB, A.C.J., and SCHOONOVER and SANDERLIN, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Gibson v. Garth Courtois and Sally Courtois, 539 So. 2d 459 (Fla. 1989)
    …KOGAN, Justice. We have for review the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal in Gibson v. Courtois, 509 So. 2d 962 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987). The district court recognized that its decision was in direct and express conflict with Sousa v. Palumbo, 426 So. 2d 1072 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. On April 5, 1984, Gibson submitt…
    1 / 2
  • Gibson v. Garth Courtois and Sally Courtois, 509 So. 2d 962 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
  • Irv David v. Richman, 528 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)
    …ed between the parties, and an award of attorney’s fees is precluded. See Weiner v. Tenenbaum, 452 So. 2d 986 (Fla. 3d DCA), review dismissed, 458 So. 2d 274 (Fla.1984); Leitman v. Boone, 439 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); accord Gibson v. Courtois, 509 So. 2d 962 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Douglass v. Jones, 422 So. 2d 352 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). We are aware that this holding conflicts with the Fourth District Court’s decision in Sousa v. Palumbo, 426 So. 2d 1072 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983); therefore, we certify the follow…

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