ANNA PUETT
v.
FLORIDA ORANGES, LLC D/B/A HOWEY MANSION, LLC D/B/A THE HOWEY MANSION, AND BLUSH BY BRANDEE GAAR, LLC
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A party recovering judgment is entitled to recover all lawful costs under section 57.041(1), Florida Statutes, and the trial court has no discretion to deny such costs.
[1] Under section 57.041(1), Florida Statutes, a party recovering judgment is entitled to recover all lawful legal costs and charges as a matter of right, and the trial court…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the party recovering judgment shall recover all his or her legal costs and charges”
Section 57.041(1), Florida Statutes, as quoted by the court to establish the mandatory nature of cost awards
Anna Puett brought a premises liability claim against Florida Oranges, LLC, Howey Mansion, LLC, and Blush by Brandee Gaar, LLC. The trial court grante…
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FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
ANNA PUETT, Appellant,
V.
FLORIDA ORANGES, LLC d/b/a HOWEY MANSION, LLC d/b/a The HOWEY MANSION, and BLUSH BY BRANDEE GAAR, LLC,
Appellees.
Case Nos. 5D2025-1149 5D2025-1766 5D2025-1892
LT Case No. 2021-CA-000202
On appeal from the Circuit Court for Lake County, Michael G. Takac, Judge.
David Luck, of Morgan & Morgan, Miami, and Alexander M. Clem, of Morgan & Morgan, Orlando, for Appellant.
Mark D. Tinker and Brandon J. Tyler, of Cole, Scott & Kissane, P.A., Tampa, for Appellees, Florida Oranges, LLC, and Howey Mansion, LLC.
Elizabeth A. Myers, of Smith Bigman Brock, P.A., Daytona Beach, for Appellee, Blush By Brandee Gaar, LLC.
August 7, 2026
PER CURIAM.
This consolidated appeal involves Case Nos. 5D2025-1149, 5D2025-1766, and 5D2025-1892, all of which arose from the same premises liability claim. The trial court granted summary judgment for Howey Mansion, LLC, (“Howey Mansion"), and Blush by Brandee Gaar, LLC, (“Blush”). But it denied Howey Mansion's request for attorney's fees and costs.
We affirm all the trial court's rulings, save one. Specifically, we affirm the summary judgments for Howey Mansion and Blush. We also affirm the denial of Howey Mansion's motion for attorney's fees. But we reverse the denial of Howey Mansion's motion for costs under section 57.041, Florida Statutes.
As to the summary judgments, the trial judge correctly entered the judgments because the evidence was “so one-sided" that Howey Mansion and Blush were entitled to “prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252 (1986). Likewise, the trial court rightly denied Howey Mansion's motion for attorney's fees under its joint proposal of settlement with Florida Oranges because only one of the joint offerors obtained a judgment and because the joint proposal required Puett to settle with both offerors.
However, we reverse the trial court's denial of costs to Howey Mansion. Section 57.041(1) provides that the “party recovering judgment shall recover all his or her legal costs and charges." (emphasis added). The statutory language is “unambiguous." Hendry Tractor Co. v. Fernandez, 432 So. 2d 1315, 1316 (Fla. 1983). Meaning, the statute “demands that the party recovering judgment be awarded costs." Id. Howey Mansion recovered judgment. It's entitled to lawful costs. See Porath v. Nugent, 408 So. 3d 783, 784 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025) (“Where costs are sought based on section 57.041(1), a trial court has no discretion to deny the party obtaining judgment its lawful costs." (quoting Roberts v. Third Palm, LLC, 300 So. 3d 1216, 1217 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020))).
AFFIRMED in part; and REVERSED in part; and REMANDED.
JAY, C.J., and EDWARDS and HARRIS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (U.S. 1986)
- Hendry Tractor Co. v. Fernandez, 432 So. 2d 1315 (Fla. 1983)
- Rhoda Mann v. Animal Aid, Inc., 335 So. 3d 743 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024)
- Porath v. Nugent, 408 So. 3d 783 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025)