TRAVELERS HOME AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY AND SCOTT ALBEE
v.
WEST BOCA COLLISION, INC. A/A/O ROSEMARY SOTO
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A trial court's inherent authority to sanction an attorney for bad faith conduct requires express findings of bad faith or equivalent language describing specific acts of bad faith that caused unnecessary attorney's fees, and such findings were absent here.
[1] A trial court's exercise of its inherent authority to sanction an attorney for bad faith conduct requires express findings of bad faith or use of equivalent language desc…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“an express finding of bad faith conduct [which] must be supported by detailed factual findings describing the specific acts of bad faith conduct that resulted in the unnecessary incurrence of attorneys' fees”
Rule for imposing attorney's fees as sanction for litigation conduct, from Moakley v. Smallwood
Appellants Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company and Scott Albee were sanctioned by the trial court with a $3,200 attorney's fees order against …
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PER CURIAM.
We reverse the order requiring appellant and appellant’s attorney to pay $3,200 in attorney’s fees as a sanction for litigation conduct.1 While a court has inherent authority to impose attorney’s fees against an attorney for bad faith conduct, the court must make “an express finding of bad faith conduct [which] must be supported by detailed factual findings describing the specific acts of bad faith conduct that resulted in the unnecessary incurrence of attorneys’ fees.” Moakley v. Smallwood, 826 So. 2d 221, 227 (Fla. 2002). “Although the magic words ‘bad faith’ are not necessary, the trial court must use equivalent language to describe the sanctionable conduct.” Hicks v. Hicks, 284 So. 3d 576, 579 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019). While the order in this case detailed conduct that the court found “improper,” the court did not find bad faith or use any “equivalent language.” See id.
2
We have examined the attorney’s conduct and cannot conclude that it constituted the type of vexatious litigation conduct that would warrant exercising the court’s inherent sanction authority.
Reversed with directions to vacate the sanction order assessing attorney’s fees.
GERBER and LEVINE, JJ., concur. WARNER, J., dissents without opinion.
* * * Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Moakley v. Smallwood, 826 So. 2d 221 (Fla. 2002)
- Ruppel v. Gulf Winds Apts., Inc., 508 So. 2d 534 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
- Hicks v. Hicks, 284 So. 3d 576 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019)