MAUREEN CLANCY, ML, LLC, AND CLANCY COMPANY, INC., APPELLANTS,
v.
STEPHEN SMITH AND DOROTHY SMITH, APPELLEES
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The court affirmed that appellees were entitled to attorneys' fees for discovery disputes but reversed the fee award because the trial court failed to make findings regarding the reasonableness of hourly rates and hours expended, requiring remand for proper factual findings.
A trial court must make specific findings concerning the reasonableness of hourly rates and the number of hours expended before awarding attorneys' fees.
[1] An award of attorneys' fees must be supported by specific findings concerning the reasonableness of the hourly rate and the number of hours reasonably expended, and the m…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“an order awarding fees without making specific findings about the hourly rate, and the number of hours reasonably expended was fundamentally flawed”
The court cited Parton v. Palomino Lakes Property Owners Association to establish the requirement for specific findings in fee awards.
Appellees filed a motion for protective order and responded to a motion to compel discovery in a dispute with appellants.…
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We affirm the trial court’s determination that Appellees were entitled to an' award of attorneys’ fees and costs for having to file a motion for protective order and for having to respond to a motion to compel” discovery. However, it was error for the trial court to award attorneys’ fees without making findings concerning the' reasonableness of either the hourly rate or the number of hours expended. See Parton v. Palomino Lakes Prop. Owners Ass’n, Inc., 928 So.2d 449, 453 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (holding that an order awarding fees without making specific findings about the hourly rate, and the number of hours reasonably expended was fundamentally flawed); Morton v. Heathcock, 913 So.2d 662, 669 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005) (requiring fee awards to be supported by evidence detailing the nature and extent of the services performed and by expert testimony regarding the reasonableness of the fee); Nants v. Griffin, 783 So.2d 363, 366 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001) (holding that the moving party should submit time sheets and der tailed billing statements to establish the amount'of work performed and the time to perform each task). Accordingly, we reverse the award of attorneys’ fees and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opihion.
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.
WOLF, KELSEY, and JAY, JJ., CONCUR.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Morton v. Heathcock, 913 So. 2d 662 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005)
- Nants v. Griffin, 783 So. 2d 363 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
- Parton v. Palomino Lakes Prop. Owners Ass'n, Inc., 928 So. 2d 449 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)