JAMES ROBERT LOUTH, APPELLANT,
v.
MARIELLEN WILLIAMS F/K/A MARIELLEN POWER LOUTH, APPELLEE
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The trial court lacked jurisdiction to award appellate attorney's fees for a proceeding before an appellate court.
Following a divorce and appeals, the wife sought attorney's fees in the trial court for defending a prohibition proceeding in the appellate court. The…
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PATTERSON, Judge.
James Louth appeals from a trial court order awarding appellate attorney’s fees to his former wife, Mariellen Williams. We reverse.
The parties were divorced by a final judgment dated January 19, 1990. That judgment was appealed to this court and affirmed without opinion in Louth v. Louth, 583 So. 2d 679 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991). The wife then sought attorney’s fees in the trial court for fees she incurred defending the husband’s motion for rehearing of the final judgment. The husband applied for a writ of prohibition in this court, asserting that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider the wife’s motion for fees. This court denied the petition in Louth v. Isom, 616 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 626 So. 2d 206 (Fla.1993). Although the wife appeared in that proceeding, she made no motion for appellate attorney’s fees pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.400.
Thereafter, the wife filed a motion for attorney’s fees in the trial court. Her motion sought fees incurred in the prohibition proceeding in this court. The trial court granted the motion and awarded fees by order dated October 7, 1993. That order is the subject of this appeal.
The husband argues, and we agree, that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to make an award of appellate attorney’s fees under the circumstances presented here. The sole jurisdiction to determine entitlement to appellate fees lies with the appellate courts. See Horn v. Horn, 73 So. 2d 905 (Fla.1954); Boyer v. Boyer, 588 So. 2d 615 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991), review denied, 599 So. 2d 654 (Fla.1992); Wood v. Price, 546 So. 2d 88 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 553 So. 2d 1166 (Fla.1989); Gieseke v. Gieseke, 499 So. 2d 839 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986). Therefore, we reverse the order of the trial court awarding appellate attorney’s fees.
Reversed.
RYDER, A.C.J., and QUINCE, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Sugarman v. Galbut, 693 So. 2d 640 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)…appeals litigated here. In each of those appeals counsel for the guardian filed a motion for attorney’s fees. These motions were considered and denied by this court. The trial court was therefore without authority to grant them.2 Louth v. Williams, 643 So. 2d 69 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994); Schere v. Z.F., Inc., 578 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Garcia v. Garcia, 570 So. 2d 357 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Scutti v. Daniel E. Adache & Assoc. Architects, P.A., 515 So. 2d 1023 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987); Gieseke v. Gieseke, 499 So.…
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Louth v. Mariellen Williams, 657 So. 2d 1239 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)…ehearing, which asked the trial court to reconsider the award of appellate attorney’s fees. This motion was denied. Louth appealed. This court held that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to award appellate attorney’s fees. Louth v. Williams, 643 So. 2d 69 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994). In addition to the foregoing, Williams also filed a motion for attorney’s fees for services rendered in connection with Louth’s motion for rehearing. The trial court granted this motion for fees, even though the appeal on the ap…
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H Greg Auto Pompano, Inc. v. Raskin (Fla. 3d DCA 2020)
Authorities Cited
- Horn v. Horn, 73 So. 2d 905 (Fla. 1954)
- Gieseke v. Haydee Gieseke, 499 So. 2d 839 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986)
- Wood v. Price, 546 So. 2d 88 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)
- Boyer v. Boyer, 588 So. 2d 615 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)
- Louth v. Honorable Claudia R. Isom, 616 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993)