STUART WILSON, APPELLANT,
v.
JOYCE WILSON, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1978-10-03
No. 77-2289
Before PEARSON, BARKDULL and KEHOE, JJ.
362 So. 2d 1030 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1978) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases
Topics
Self-Serving Testimony Attorney'S Fees Award Competent Substantial Evidence

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Self-Serving Testimony cases and more on FLexlaw

Opinion of the Court
KEHOE, Judge.

KEHOE, Judge.

Appellant seeks review of a final judgment awarding attorney’s fees to appellee, as a result of a modification proceeding instituted by appellee in October of 1976. The parties were divorced in 1970. The record reflects that the only evidence in regard to the amount of attorney’s fees was the testimony of appellee’s counsel. The general rule is that the self-serving nature of the testimony given by an attorney who performs services for which an attorney’s fee is sought precludes a trial court from making an award based solely on that attorney’s testimony. See, e. g., Benitez v. Benitez, 337 So. 2d 408 (Fla.4th DCA 1976); and Ortiz v. Ortiz, 211 So. 2d 243 (Fla.3d DCA 1968). In our opinion, this general rule is applicable in the present case; accordingly, because the final judgment entered by the trial court was not supported by competent substantial evidence, the final judgment is reversed.

Reversed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Feldman v. Zena K. Feldman, 390 So. 2d 1231 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
    …reversed upon holdings that (1) the failure of the wife to offer expert testimony to establish the reasonableness of the attorneys’ fees vitiates the award, Alexander Muss & Sons, Inc. v. Nelson, 366 So. 2d 532 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); Wilson v. Wilson, 362 So. 2d 1030 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Segal v. Segal, 353 So. 2d 894 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977); Lee v. Gilbert, Silverstein & Heilman, P. A., 350 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977); (2) the trial court, although well within its authority to order, as it did, the husband to tran…
  • Ruffenach v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Tr. Co. for Ameriquest Mortg. Sec. Inc., 431 So. 3d 1055 (Fla. 6th DCA 2026)
    …ule on the basis that the self-serving nature of testimony given by an attorney who performed services for which attorney's fees are sought precludes a trial court from making an award based solely on that attorney's testimony. See Wilson v. Wilson, 362 So. 2d 1030, 1030 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Mullane, 372 So. 2d at 168–69; Benitez v. Benitez, 337 So. 2d 408, 409 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). The Third and Fourth Districts both reasoned that the self-serving nature of testimony given by an attorney who performed services…
  • Palmetto Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. DAY, 512 So. 2d 332 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)
    …ward was based entirely on the testimony of the receiver’s attorney. Plainly, this was fatal to the order under review. See Lewis v. Gramil Corp., 94 So. 2d 174, 177 (Fla.1957); Tanner v. Tanner, 391 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Wilson v. Wilson, 362 So. 2d 1030 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Creative Property Management, Inc. v. General Elec. Credit Corp. of Ga., 314 So. 2d 807, 808 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975); Aerovias Internacional Balboa, S.A. v. Torres, 176 So. 2d 586, 587 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965); see also Feemster v. Schurkma…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw