EDWARD GRAEF, JR., AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF EDWARD GRAEF, APPELLANT,
v.
ANDREW STEPHEN HEGEDUS; BYRON ELIOT VERKAUF; FLORIDA LAND DESIGN AND ENGINEERING, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION; CITY OF TAMPA, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION; BYRON E. VERKAUF, D.D.S., P.A.; AND DAMES & MOORE, INC., APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 2002-10-11
No. 2D01-4236
SALCINES and KELLY, JJ., concur.
827 So. 2d 394 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2002) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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.

Synopsis

Edward Graef, as personal representative of his father's estate, appealed a trial court judgment awarding attorney's fees to defendant Dames & Moore pursuant to an offer of judgment. The appellate court reversed, holding that Dames & Moore's motion for attorney's fees was untimely because it was not filed within thirty days of the summary judgment, which had been determined final in a prior appeal under the law of the case doctrine.


Holding

The court held that the June 9, 1999 summary judgment was the 'entry of judgment' under the law of the case doctrine, as this issue had been implicitly addressed when the appellate court accepted jurisdiction over the earlier appeal. Therefore, Dames & Moore was required to file its motion for attorney's fees within thirty days of that date, and the untimely-filed motion could not be granted.


Headnotes

[1] Under the law of the case doctrine, questions of law that have been actually decided on appeal must govern the case through all subsequent stages of the proceedings.

[2] The law of the case doctrine applies to questions of law that were implicitly addressed or necessarily considered in a prior appeal.

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Key Quotes

“Under the "law of the case" doctrine, questions of law that have actually been decided on appeal must govern the case in both the trial and appellate courts through all subsequent stages of the proceedings.”

Establishes the governing legal principle that binds the trial court to prior appellate decisions on questions of law.

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Facts & Procedural History

A summary judgment was entered in favor of Dames & Moore on June 9, 1999, and recorded on June 17, 1999. Graef appealed that summary judgment, and thi…

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Opinion of the Court
PARKER, Judge.

PARKER, Judge.

Edward Graef, Jr., as Personal Representative of the Estate of Edward Graef (Graef), appeals the trial court’s final judgment awarding attorney’s fees to defendant Dames & Moore, Inc., pursuant to an offer of judgment. Because Dames & Moore’s motion for attorney’s fees was untimely filed, we reverse.

Earlier in this case, Graef appealed the summary judgment entered in favor of Dames & Moore on June 9, 1999, and recorded in the public records on June 17, 1999. This court accepted jurisdiction in that appeal and affirmed the summary judgment on the merits. See Graef v. Dames & Moore, Inc., 758 So. 2d 677 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) (table).

In this appeal, Dames & Moore contends that the June 9, 1999, summary judgment was not a “final judgment.” Therefore, according to Dames & Moore, it was not required to file its motion for attorney’s fees within thirty days of the June 9, 1999, summary judgment. See § 768.79(6), Fla. Stat. (1991) (requiring the party seeking fees pursuant to an offer of judgment to file its motion for attorney’s fees within thirty days after the entry of judgment or after voluntary or involuntary dismissal).

We disagree.

Under the “law of the case” doctrine, questions of law that have actually been decided on appeal must govern the case in both the trial and appellate courts through all subsequent stages of the proceedings. Dep’t of Transp. v. Juliano, 801 So. 2d 101, 105 (Fla.2001); Dade County Classroom Teachers’ Ass’n v. Rubin, 238 So. 2d 284, 289 (Fla.1970); Dicks v. Jenne, 740 So. 2d 576, 577 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).

This includes questions of law that were implicitly addressed or necessarily considered. Juliano, 801 So. 2d at 106; Rubin, 238 So. 2d at 289; Dicks, 740 So. 2d at 578. In this case, this court “necessarily considered” whether the June 9, 1999, summary judgment constituted the “entry of judgment” when this court considered whether it had jurisdiction to hear the earlier appeal. When this court accepted jurisdiction over the earlier appeal, it “implicitly addressed” the issue of the finality of the June 9, 1999, summary judgment and determined that it was sufficiently final to constitute the “entry of judgment.” Thus, the June 9,1999, summary judgment is the “entry of judgment” and, under the doctrine of the law of the case, this issue cannot be relitigated in the trial court or in this appeal.1

Because Dames & Moore did not file its motion for attorney’s fees within thirty days of the June 9, 1999, order, its motion for fees was untimely filed. The trial court erred in awarding attorney’s fees under this untimely motion. Therefore, we reverse.

Reversed.

SALCINES and KELLY, JJ., concur. . We note that Dames & Moore did not contest the finality of the June 9, 1999, summary judgment until after mandate issued from this court in the earlier appeal.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Graef v. Dames & Moore Grp., Inc., 857 So. 2d 257 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
    …ed as the law of the case, however, that the June 9, 1999, order on summary judgment was sufficiently final to constitute entry of final judgment for the purposes of subsequent litigation in both the trial and appellate courts. See Graef v. Hegedus, 827 So. 2d 394, 395-96 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) (reversing an award of attorney’s fees to Dames & Moore based upon an offer of judgment because its motion for fees under section 768.79, Florida Statutes (1991), was filed more than thirty days after entry of final judgme…
  • Fleming v. Demps, 918 So. 2d 982 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)
    …n the earlier appeal, or those issues that the earlier decision implicitly addressed or necessarily considered, are foreclosed by the law of the case doctrine. See Fla. Dep’t ofTransp. v. Juliano, 801 So. 2d 101, 105-06 (Fla.2001); Graef v. Hegedus, 827 So. 2d 394, 395 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002); Toledo v. Hillsborough County Hosp. Auth., 747 So. 2d 958, 960-61 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). Concerning the lack of an opportunity to be heard prior to entry of the final judgment, “[d]ue process requires that a party be given the…

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