METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, PETITIONER,
v.
ROBIN W. FABER, ET AL., RESPONDENTS
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Florida appellate court denied county's certiorari petition challenging an order requiring payment of reasonable attorney's fees exceeding the statutory $1,000 cap for court-appointed counsel in dependency and termination proceedings, following precedent in Board of County Comm'rs v. Scruggs.
A county must pay reasonable attorney's fees for court-appointed counsel in dependency and termination of parental rights proceedings even when such fees exceed the statutory $1,000 maximum.
[1] Reasonable attorney's fees for court-appointed counsel in dependency and termination of parental rights proceedings are not limited by statutory fee caps.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDade County was ordered to pay reasonable attorney's fees to a court-appointed lawyer for the mother in a dependency and termination of parental right…
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SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.
Dade County seeks certiorari review of an order requiring it to pay a reasonable attorney’s fee to the court appointed lawyer for the mother in a dependency and termination of parental rights proceeding in an amount in excess of the $1,000 maximum provided by section 39.415, Florida Statutes (1989). On the basis of our agreement with the reasoning and result of Board of County Comm’rs v. Scruggs, 545 So. 2d 910 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989), we deny the petition.1
We certify to the supreme court that this case involves a question of great public importance as to the availability of reasonable attorney’s fees for court appointed lawyers in dependency and termination proceedings.
Certiorari denied, questioned certified.
. Apart from its argument on the merits, the petitioner claims a deviation from the procedure for the allowance of fees approved in Carr v. Dade County, 250 So. 2d 865 (Fla.1971). We doubt that Carr, which essentially involved an interplay between the then-existing criminal court of record where the attorney had performed his services, but which had no authority to enter a money judgment, and the circuit court, which did have that power, has any present-day application. Even if it does, however, we find that none of the alleged procedural deficiencies adversely affected the county's substantial rights.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Monroe Cnty. v. Garcia, 695 So. 2d 823 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)…se quashed because the record did not reflect [*826] extraordinary circumstances or unusual representation). The trial court’s authority to exceed the statutory maximum in a non-capital case is supported further by Metropolitan Dade County v. Faber, 564 So. 2d 185 (Fla. 3d DCA), cause dismissed, 570 So. 2d 1305 (Fla.1990),5 in which this court applied Makemson and White to support a fee award in excess of the statutory maximum to a court-appointed attorney in a dependency and termination of parental rights pr…
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Gaila M. Anderson v. E.T., 862 So. 2d 839 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)…f $1000 at the trial level, just as the statute at issue in Scruggs. Furthermore, other cases appear to consider Scruggs as having extended Makemson to termination of parental rights cases. See Garcia, 695 So. 2d at 826; Metro. Dade County v. Faber, 564 So. 2d 185 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). Thus, it follows that a court-appointed attorney in a termination of parental rights case may receive compensation above the statutory cap if his or her case is extraordinary or unusual under Makemson. In White v. Board of Count…
Authorities Cited
- State of Fla. ex rel. Anthony Esperti v. The Honorable J. H. Willson, 250 So. 2d 865 (Fla. 1971)
- Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Hillsborough Cnty. v. Scruggs, 545 So. 2d 910 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)