THE QUIN GROUP, INC., ETC., APPELLANT,
v.
2020 PONCE, LLC, ETC., APPELLEE
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The Quin Group appealed a trial court order authorizing the reimbursement of costs to a non-party contractor (Beauchamp Construction Co.) for reviewing and producing documents in response to a subpoena. The appellate court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the trial court's orders were not final, as no specific amount of costs had been determined.
The appellate court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the trial court's orders were not final orders, as no specific amount of costs had been determined. The court noted that if the final invoice includes attorney's fees, The Quin Group would have an opportunity to object and appeal from any resulting final order.
[1] An order awarding costs is not final and appealable until the amount of the award is determined.
[2] A court may award costs for a non-party's review of documents for privilege issues prior to production.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The orders before us are not final because the amount of any award of costs has not been determined.”
Establishes the basis for dismissal—lack of a final order required for appellate jurisdiction
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Quin Group, a purchaser in a condominium contract dispute with 2020 Ponce LLC, subpoenaed documents from Beauchamp Construction Co., the general c…
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In this circuit court case involving a contract for the purchase of an office condominium unit from a developer (2020 Ponce), the purchaser (The Quin Group) subpoenaed the general contractor (Beau-champ Construction Co., a non-party) to produce various records. The contractor filed objections that included a request for the reimbursement of the contractor’s general counsel at $150 an hour to remove or identify privileged documents in the estimated 35 boxes of construction documents.
The trial court instead authorized “costs” at $40 per hour for an “employee” of Beauchamp to “use good faith in reviewing documents and limiting time needed to review said documents.” Part of the handwritten order (and it is unclear who may have done the writing) stated “The purpose of reviewing the documents is to review for privilege issues prior to production.” Based on the inclusion of that sentence in the order, The Quin Group maintains that any award to Beauchamp for such a review would be an award of attorney’s fees, not costs, prohibited under the applicable rules and such cases as Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund, Inc. v. Landa-Posada, 984 So.2d 641 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008).
Neither the order for reimbursement of costs for the review and production of documents nor a subsequent order denying The Quin Group’s motion for reconsideration and rehearing fixed an amount to be awarded. At oral argument, counsel for The Quin Group argued that the parties had estimated that the task might take ten hours, so that the amount in controversy was essentially agreed.
Although we are tempted to “secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination,” 1 of this $400.00 dispute in a prompt and decisive fashion, our limited jurisdiction precludes us from doing so. The orders before us are not final because the amount of any award of costs has not been determined.- See Kling Corp. v. Hola Networks Corp., 127 So.3d 833 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013). Nor do we find any other basis for jurisdiction.
Because this record reflects that the Beauchamp employee performing the document review and production is a non-lawyer, it seems unlikely that the final invoice for costs remitted to The Quin Group by Beauchamp will include attorney’s fees. But if the invoice does include such time or charges, The Quin Group will have an opportunity to raise its objections and to appeal from any resulting final order.
Appeal dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Attorney's Title Ins. Fund, Inc. v. Landa-Posada, 984 So. 2d 641 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008)
- Kling Corp. v. Hola Networks Corp., 127 So. 3d 833 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)