GOVERNING BOARD OF THE ST. JOHNS RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT, APPELLANT,
v.
LAKE PICKETT LIMITED, ETC., APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed trial court's denial of court costs to water management district that recovered a civil penalty judgment, holding that section 57.041 mandates recovery of court costs as a matter of right to the prevailing party.
A party that recovers judgment in a legal proceeding is entitled as a matter of right to recover lawful court costs under section 57.041, Florida Statutes, and the trial court has no discretion to deny such costs.
[1] Section 57.041, Florida Statutes, mandates that a party recovering judgment is entitled as a matter of right to recover all lawful court costs and charges, and a trial co…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The party recovering judgment shall recover all his legal costs and charges which shall be included in the judgment”
Section 57.041, Florida Statutes, establishing the mandatory right to recover court costs
The Governing Board of the St. Johns River Water Management District obtained a judgment imposing a monetary civil penalty against Lake Pickett Limite…
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COWART, Judge.
Appellant Water Management District recovered a judgment1 imposing a mone tary civil penalty against appellee developer but the trial court denied appellant’s post-judgment motion to tax court costs and assess investigative costs and attorney’s fees which denial is the subject of this appeal.
Section 373.129, Florida Statutes, authorizes water management districts to commence and maintain proper and necessary actions and proceedings in court for certain purposes including in subparagraph (6) investigative costs, court costs, and attorney’s fees.
Appellant looks through section 373.-129(6), Florida Statutes, which permits the pursuit of proper legal action, to section 57.041, Florida Statutes, which provides that “[t]he party recovering judgment shall recover all his legal costs and charges which shall be included in the judgment” and argues that section 57.041 mandates that every party who recovers a judgment in a legal proceeding is entitled as a matter of right to recover lawful court costs and that a trial judge has no discretion under that statute to deny court costs to the party recovering judgment. We agree and reverse with directions that if appellant finally recovers judgment against appellee, appellant’s lawful court costs and charges be included in the judgment. The appealed order is otherwise affirmed.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; AND REMANDED.
COBB and DANIEL, JJ., concur. . The judgment is the subject of a separate appeal.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
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Oriental Imports, Inc. v. Rosario Alilin and E. Roger Alilin, M.D., 559 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…ntitled as a matter of right to recover lawful court costs and that a trial judge has no discretion under that statute to deny court costs to the party recovering the judgment. Governing Bd. of St. Johns River Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Lake Pickett Ltd., 543 So. 2d 883 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989). This rule is also followed by other courts. Dragstrem v. Butts, 370 So. 2d 416 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); Warren Hunnicutt, Jr., Inc. v. Gleason, 462 So. 2d 878 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); A.M. Mfg., Inc. v. Baratz, 518 So. 2d 421 (Fla. 4th D…
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Granoff v. Seidle, 915 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)…03); Oriental Imports, Inc. v. Alilin, 559 So. 2d 442, 443 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)); Tacher, 845 So. 2d at 334 (stating that an award of section 57.041 costs is not discretionary); Governing Bd. of St. Johns River Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Lake Pickett Ltd., 543 So. 2d 883, 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989) ("Election 57.041 mandates that every party who recovers a judgment in a legal proceeding is entitled as a matter of right to recover lawful court costs and that a trial judge has no discretion under [*678] that statute to d…
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Velva Dewachter v. Michaela G. Scott, M.D., 657 So. 2d 962 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)…y final judgement in Dr. Scott’s favor. We also agree with Dr. Scott’s argument on cross-appeal that as the prevailing party she is entitled to recover court costs. See Governing Board of St. Johns River Management Dist. v. The Lake Pickett, Ltd., 543 So. 2d 883, 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989) (every party who recovers a judgment in a legal proceeding is entitled as a matter of right to recover lawful court costs). Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s denial of court costs to Dr. Scott. We do, however, affirm…
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