MARGARET GREEN A/K/A PEGGY M. GREEN, INDIVIDUALLY, AND IN HER CAPACITY AS GENERAL PARTNER OF BIG OAKS RANCH LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, AND IN HER CAPACITY AS TRUSTEE OF THE QUENTIN L. GREEN LIVING TRUST DATED FEBRUARY 19, 2015, AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF QUENTIN L. GREEN
v.
RICHARD B. GREEN AND RAYMOND M. GREEN, IN THEIR CAPACITY AS LIMITED PARTNERS OF, AND DERIVATIVELY FOR, BIG OAKS RANCH LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, ET AL

Fla. 5th DCA | 2026-08-14
No. 2025-2267
Lambert, J., Jay, C.J., MacIver, J., Orth, William
2026 FL 10449 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2026)

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Holding

An award of attorney's fees and costs predicated on a reversed or vacated judgment must itself be reversed, and the matter must be remanded for reconsideration of both entitlement and amount based on the actual prevailing party status determined by the merits appeal.


Headnotes

[1] An award of attorney's fees and costs predicated upon a judgment that is reversed or vacated on appeal must itself be reversed, and the matter must be remanded for recons…

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Key Quotes

“The test to determine the prevailing party provides that the party that prevailed on the significant issues tried before the court is the prevailing party entitled to an award of attorney's fees.”

Court citing Corley v. Rivertown, Inc. to establish the standard for determining prevailing party status in attorney's fees awards.

Facts & Procedural History

Margaret Green appealed a final judgment awarding attorney's fees and costs to Richard B. Green and Raymond M. Green in consolidated cases involving B…

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Opinion of the Court

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

Case No. 5D2025-2267 LT Case Nos. 2017-CP-001518 2020-CA-001953

MARGARET GREEN a/k/a PEGGY

M. GREEN, INDIVIDUALLY AND IN

HER CAPACITY AS GENERAL

PARTNER OF BIG OAKS RANCH

LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, et al., Appellant,

v.

RAYMOND M. GREEN and

RICHARD B. GREEN, IN THEIR

CAPACITY AS LIMITED PARTNERS

OF, AND DERIVATIVELY FOR, BIG

OAKS RANCH LIMITED

PARTNERSHIP, et al, Appellees.

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Seminole County. William Orth, Judge.

Christopher N. Bellows, Ryan Kocse, and Chazz Freeman, of Holland & Knight, LLP, Miami, and Alan Lawson, Jason Gonzalez, Eric Reed, Mathew Gutierrez, and Caroline May Poor, of Lawson Huck Gonzalez, LLC, Tallahassee, and Meredith Pitts Smith, of Copeland, Covert and Smith, PLLC, Altamonte Springs, for Appellant.

T. Todd Pittenger and Kelly J.H. Garcia, of Gray Robinson, P.A., Orlando, for Appellees.

August 14, 2026

LAMBERT, J.

Appellant challenges the final judgment awarding attorney's fees and court costs to Appellees that were predicated upon the trial court having determined that Appellees were the prevailing party in the consolidated cases below. At the time that Appellant filed this attorney's fees and costs appeal, her appeal of the underlying judgments rendered in the consolidated cases was pending before this court.

We recently issued an opinion in the consolidated merits appeal affirming the judgments in part, reversing them in part, and remanding the matter for further consideration.1 The reversal has resulted in Appellant now being the prevailing party on a significant issue in the cases involving the distribution of homestead property.

Based on this outcome, we reverse the instant final judgment awarding attorney's fees and court costs; and the matter is remanded for reconsideration by the trial court of both the entitlement and the amount of attorney's fees and costs to be awarded. See Marty v. Bainter, 727 So. 2d 1124, 1125 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (“Consequently, an award of attorney's fees and costs predicated on a reversed or vacated final judgment also must be reversed." (citations omitted)); Corley v. Rivertown, Inc., 863 So. 2d 1244, 1246 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)(“The test to determine the prevailing party provides that the party that prevailed on the significant issues tried before the court is the prevailing party entitled to an award of attorney's fees.” (citing Prosperi v. Code, Inc., 626 So. 2d 1360, 1363 (Fla. 1993); Moritz v. Hoyt Enters., Inc., 604 So. 2d 807, 810 (Fla. 1992))); Bd. of Regents v. Winters, 918 So.

2d 313, 315 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (holding that a determination of the reasonable amount of attorney's fees usually takes into account the results obtained in the litigation).

Our reversal is without prejudice to either party appealing a subsequent final judgment on attorney's fees and court costs entered by the trial court following our remand.

REVERSED without prejudice and REMANDED for further proceedings.

JAY, C.J., and MACIVER, J., concur.

Footnotes
1 Green v. Green, 51 Fla. L. Weekly D1519 (Fla. 5th DCA July 24, 2026).

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