JOSEPH S. SCIANDRA AND LISA SCIANDRA, APPELLANTS,
v.
PENNYMAC CORP., APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed an award of $11,309 in attorney's fees to PennyMac in a foreclosure action because PennyMac failed to present expert testimony regarding the reasonableness of its attorney's hourly rate and hours expended.
A prevailing party in a foreclosure action must present independent expert testimony to support an award of attorney's fees, and absent such testimony, the fee award must be reversed.
[1] A prevailing party seeking attorney's fees must present independent expert testimony regarding the reasonableness of the attorney's hourly rate and hours expended; absent…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“if a prevailing party fails to present independent expert testimony to support an award of fees at the trial level, but the record is not completely devoid of evidence as to the rate and hours of the prevailing party's trial counsel, we would remand for a further determination as to the amount of the prevailing party's fees”
The court explained the general rule for remand when expert testimony is lacking, but noted PennyMac stipulated to simple subtraction of the fees from the judgment.
Joseph and Lisa Sciandra were defendants in a foreclosure action brought by PennyMac Corp. The trial court awarded PennyMac $11,309 in attorney's fees…
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Joseph and Lisa Sciandra appeal a final judgment of foreclosure in favor of Penny-Mac Corp. The Sciandras argue that the trial court improperly awarded attorney’s fees of $11,309 to PennyMac because Pen-nyMac failed to present expert testimony as to the reasonableness of their attorney’s hourly rate and hours expended. We agree. See Sourcetrack, LLC v. Ariba, Inc., 34 So.3d 766, 768 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010) (first citing Snow v. Harlan Bakeries, Inc., 932 So.2d 411, 412 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); then citing Yakubik v. Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs, 656 So.2d 591, 592 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)).
We thus reverse the award of attorney’s fees, and remand with instructions to reduce the amount of the final judgment of $657,262.35 by $11,309 to $645,953.35.1 We affirm the final judgment of foreclosure in all other respects.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded with instructions.
CASANUEVA and SALARIO, JJ., Concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Robert F. Raff & Bernice R. Raff v. Citimortgage, Inc., 272 So. 3d 859 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)…ee for its services. She was asked, "Can you tell me how much you are asking for?" The witness responded, "$3,717.50." As Citimortgage now concedes, this testimony was insufficient to support the award of fees. See Sciandra v. PennyMac Corp., 227 So. 3d 164, 164 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017) ("[T]he trial court improperly awarded attorney's fees of $11,309 to PennyMac because PennyMac failed to present expert testimony as to the reasonableness of their attorney's hourly rate and hours expended."). Therefore,…
Authorities Cited
- Rodriguez v. David Campbell, M.D., 720 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)
- Sourcetrack, LLC v. Ariba, Inc., 34 So. 3d 766 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010)
- Snow v. Harlan Bakeries, Inc., 932 So. 2d 411 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
- Yakubik v. Bd. OF Cnty. Comm'rs OF LEE Cnty., 656 So. 2d 591 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)