MICHAEL ZELMAN, PETITIONER,
v.
METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, RESPONDENT
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The court held that the trial court erred in reducing court-appointed attorney fees based on a lawyer's pro bono obligation, as reasonable compensation is required.
[1] An award of attorney's fees for court-appointed appellate representation in a capital case should not be reduced based on the theory that appointed counsel has a pro bono…
[2] Reasonable compensation for appointed counsel in capital cases should be determined using the factors delineated in the Rules of Professional Conduct.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePetitioner sought review of an attorney fee award for court-appointed appellate representation in a capital case. The trial court had reduced the hour…
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PER CURIAM.
Michael Zelman petitions for a writ of certiorari to review an award of attorney’s fees for his court appointed appellate representation of a defendant in a capital case. The award was made on remand from this court’s decision in Zelman v. Metropolitan Dade County, 586 So. 2d 1286 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991).1
At the time this case was previously before us, the circuit court’s administrative order did not establish a specific hourly rate for capital appeals in court appointed cases. In the absence of an express hourly rate, we remanded for a new hearing to set a reasonable hourly rate using the factors delineated in Rule of Professional Conduct 4-1.5.
The order now before us establishes reasonable hourly rates for the work Zelman performed. However, the order states in part, “In determining these rates reasonable, this Court has taken into consideration that every attorney has a common law professional obligation to provide services for indigents. White [v. Board of County Commissioners, 537 So. 2d 1376,] at 1379 [ (Fla.1989) ].” This appears to indicate that the trial court reduced what would otherwise have been the reasonable hourly rate on the theory that such a reduction satisfied the lawyer’s pro bono obligation.
It is our view that White calls for reasonable compensation in capital cases, and that the reasonable rate should not be reduced on the theory that appointed counsel is, or should be, working on a pro bono basis.
Accordingly we grant certiorari, quash the order under review, and remand for a new hearing. In so doing we do not say that the trial court is obliged to award the private sector rates advocated by Zelman. The trial court may legitimately take into account the rates customarily paid for comparable work in both appointed and private ly retained cases, as well as the other factors enumerated in Rule 4-1.5.
Certiorari granted.
. Zelman also has filed a motion to enforce the mandate of the previous appeal. The motion has been consolidated with the petition for certiorari.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Cited By
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Sheppard & White, P.A. v. The City OF Jacksonville, 751 So. 2d 731 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)…services and $50 per hour for in-court services, causing a second reversal and remand for a new hearing to set a reasonable hourly rate using the factors set forth in rule 4-1.5, Rules Regulating the Florida Bar. Zelman v. Metropolitan Dade County, 622 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)(Zelman II). On remand, the trial court made an identical fee award based on the $40/$50 hourly rates and, in Zelman III, 645 So. 2d at 58, the court ruled that a $40-$50 hourly rates “is not close to a reasonable fee for the diffi…
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Metro. Dade Cnty. & Univ. Baptist Church v. Dusseau, 826 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)…3d DCA 1980). Accordingly, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari, quash the order of the Circuit Court, Appellate Division, and remand for further proceedings in accordance with this Court’s mandate. See Zel-man v. Metropolitan Dade County, 622 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993). . City of Deerfield Beach v. Vaillant, 419 So. 2d 624 (Fla. 1982).…
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Zelman v. Metro. Dade Cnty., 645 So. 2d 57 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994)…ourly rate,” the trial court — notwithstanding that opinion — fixed the rate at $40.00 per hour for out-of-court services and $50.00 per hour for in-court services. Not surprisingly, then, we quashed that order in Zelman v. Metropolitan Dade County, 622 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993) (Zelman II). We again remanded for a new hearing to set a reasonable hourly rate using the factors contained in Rule of Professional Conduct 4-1.5.2 Astonishingly enough, that [*58] hearing also resulted in an identical award of $…
Authorities Cited
- White v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Pinellas Cnty., 537 So. 2d 1376 (Fla. 1989)
- Zelman v. Metro. Dade Cnty., 586 So. 2d 1286 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)