SHARON L. WOODS, APPELLANT,
v.
UNITED INDUSTRIES, CORP., 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.
Attorney's fees are awardable under section 448.08 for unpaid severance pay, but the trial court retains discretion on whether to award them.
[1] Severance pay may be considered "unpaid wages" for the purpose of awarding attorney's fees under section 448.08, Florida Statutes.
[2] A trial court retains discretion in determining whether to award attorney's fees to a prevailing party, even when statutory authority exists.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant sued her former employer for severance pay and other damages, obtaining a directed verdict in her favor. The trial court awarded costs but d…
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 Action For Unpaid Wages cases and more on FLexlaw
SMITH, Judge.
Appellant, the plaintiff below, appeals the denial of her motion for attorney’s fees following entry of a directed verdict for damages in her favor. ’We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
Appellant filed a three count complaint against her former employer for severance pay and other damages. The trial court granted a directed verdict in favor of appellant and reserved jurisdiction to consider appellant’s motion for costs and attorney’s fees. Appellant sought fees on the authority of section 448.08, Florida Statutes, which provides that a court may award to a prevailing party, in an action for “unpaid wages,” the costs of the action and a reasonable attorney’s fee. We affirmed the directed verdict. United Industries, Inc. v. Woods, 593 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992). After receiving argument on the question, the trial court granted appellant’s motion for costs but denied attorney’s fees. The trial court declined to follow Ferry v. XRG International, Inc., 492 So. 2d 1101 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), where severance pay was deemed wages for purposes of section 448.08, apparently on the ground that the Ferry court had not strictly construed this attorney’s fee statute because such a construction was not mentioned by the trial court in its ruling or argued on appeal. See, Ferry, 492 So. 2d at 1104 n. 1. By contrast, appellee in the case at bar has argued for a strict construction of section 448.08.
We find that the trial court misconstrued Ferry, and that attorney’s fees are awardable under section 448.08 in the action for unpaid severance pay under the facts of this case.1 However, section 448.08 vests with the trial court the ultimate discretion as to whether attorney’s fees should be awarded. Because it is not clear whether the trial court would have awarded fees to appellant had it felt it had the authority to do so, we remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings on this issue.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
WIGGINTON and MINER, JJ., concur. . The facts are fully discussed in our opinion ruling on the merits found at 593 So. 2d 244.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Erling Speer v. Mason, 769 So. 2d 1102 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)…2d 905 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Strasser v. City of Jacksonville, 655 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)(annual leave credits and vacation pay); D.G.D., Inc. v. Berkowitz, 605 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)(unpaid commissions); Woods v. United Indus. Corp., 596 So. 2d 801 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)(severance pay); Ivens Corp. v. Cohen, 593 So. 2d 529 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)(employee bonuses). This court, in Ferry, upheld an attorney’s fee award under section 448.08 in an action by an employee to recover one year’s salary as a t…
-
Elder v. Islam, 869 So. 2d 600 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)…See Strasser v. City of Jacksonville, 655 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 1st DCA-1995) (relating to annual leave credits and vacation pay); D.G.D., Inc. v. Berkowitz, 605 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)(relating to unpaid commissions); Woods v. United Indus. Corp., 596 So. 2d 801 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)(relating to severance pay). Based upon the facts of the instant case and the relevant case law, we find no error in the trial court’s conclusion that the stock options and royalties referred to in Islam’s “Compensation Package” w…
-
Ultimate Makeover Salon & SPA, Inc. v. DiFRANCESCO, 41 So. 3d 335 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)…Fla. Stat. (1979).”). When a trial court misconstrues the scope of its discretion in ruling on a section 448.08 attorney fee award, the proper remedy is to remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings. Woods v. United Indus., Corp., 596 So. 2d 801, 802 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (“Because it is not clear whether the trial court would have awarded fees to appellant had it felt it had the authority to do so, we remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings on this issue.”). Here, the tr…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Ferry v. XRG Int'l, Inc., 492 So. 2d 1101 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986)
- United Indus. Corp. v. Woods, 593 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)