CopyCited 40 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida
...oes not by itself create a tort where a tort otherwise does not exist. Concerning the award of attorneys' fees, we hold that they are not recoverable by statute. The trial court found that the Tenants were eligible for attorneys' fees under sections
83.48 [2] and
83.49(3)(c), [3] Florida Statutes (1977). The district court correctly held these two sections inapplicable. Section
83.48 requires the litigation to be "with respect to the rental agreement." In the instant case, the Tenants' action was not bottomed on the rental agreement but rather the FHA regulatory agreement....
...lord. No liability was urged or claimed or adjudicated against the Landlord predicated upon any obligation, covenant or promise under the rental agreements. The gravamen of the Tenants' claim was embedded solely in terms of the regulatory agreement. Section 83.48 is applicable only where a landlord under a rental agreement is entitled by its terms to recover attorneys' fees from a tenant....
...econd) of Torts § 536 (1977) as their independent torts. At oral argument, Tenants conceded the absence of fraud and deceit and instead relied upon Restatement § 536 as well as the "torts" of "violation of a federal statute" and "restitution." [2] 83.48 Attorney's fees....
CopyCited 22 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1990 Fla. App. LEXIS 119, 1990 WL 1219
...We see nothing wrong with that and disagree with the mutuality of remedy premise. Attorney's fees are in derogation of the common law, Great American Indemnity Company v. Williams,
85 So.2d 619 (Fla. 1956), and by analogy were not normally obtainable in landlord tenant cases prior to the adoption of Section
83.48, Florida Statutes (1981), which provides: If a rental agreement contains a provision allowing attorney's fees to the landlord, when he is required to take any action to enforce the rental agreement, the court may also allow reasonable attorney's fees to the tenant when he prevails.......
CopyCited 19 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2001 WL 331984
...In contract cases, and in the majority of statutes addressing attorney's fees, a person establishes an entitlement to attorney's fees by prevailing in the litigation. See, e.g., §
57.105, Fla. Stat. (1999) (providing sanctions for raising unsupported claims or defenses); §
83.48, Fla.Stat....
CopyCited 9 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 13391, 2010 WL 3488714
...medy in contract cases. As the Committee on Judiciary Staff Analysis noted, before 1988, "[v]arious chapters of the Florida Statutes provide[d] that with regard to particular types of contracts, the prevailing party [was] entitled to attorneys fees, Section
83.48, Florida Statutes, (residential rental agreements), or that if a contract provided prevailing party attorney's fees to one party, the other party [was] also entitled to prevailing party attorneys fees, Section
718.125, Florida Statutes,...
CopyCited 5 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 7393, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 874
...n documentary evidence regarding appellee's purported ownership interest in the property, and the award of attorney's fees. We affirm the trial court in total but discuss only the award of court costs which contains an item for attorney's fees under section 83.48, Florida Statutes (1983). The rental agreement between the parties was executed on June 6, 1983. Section 83.48, Florida Statutes (1983), effective June 22, 1983, [1] provides: Attorney's fees....
...When *520 that problem is presented a correct analysis compares the effective date of the statute with the date of the contract containing the provision for attorney's fees. However, for several reasons, we are not concerned with that problem in this case. First, in this case the statute, section 83.48, Florida Statutes, provides for the attorney's fees but we are not involved with a contractual provision relating to attorney's fees....
...in the particular litigation, but compares the effective date of the statute providing for court costs with the date of the accrual of the cause of action in the litigation as to which the court costs, including attorney's fees, are an adjunct. [5] Section 83.48, Florida Statutes, which treats attorney's fees as an item of court costs, became effective June 22, 1983, long before the cause of action in this case accrued to the appellee tenant....
...pellee's award of attorney's fees as costs under the statute below is affirmed and his motion for attorney's fees on appeal is granted. AFFIRMED. COBB and COWART, JJ., and DANIEL, C.W., Associate Judge, concur. NOTES [1] Prior to the 1983 amendment, section 83.48, Florida Statutes (1981) provided for an award of attorney's fees to a tenant only when the rental agreement contained a provision allowing attorney's fees to the landlord....
...must be presented by the party claiming them as part of his proof of damages in the case. See Mystery Fun House, Inc. v. Magic World, Inc.,
417 So.2d 785 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). However, when attorney's fees are recoverable as costs, such as here under section
83.48, Florida Statutes, or under section
713.29, Florida Statutes (which provides for attorney's fees to be taxed as part of costs to the prevailing party in a mechanic's lien case), attorney's fees may be taxed as costs in a motion which ne...
CopyCited 5 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
...dent tort was neither alleged nor proved. We are bound by a long-standing and unbroken line of authority to reverse the punitive damage award. [6] B. Attorneys' Fees The trial court awarded the tenants attorneys' fees under the authority of Sections
83.48 and
83.49(3)(c), Florida Statutes (1977). They provide: "§
83.48 Attorney's Fees If a rental agreement contains a provision allowing attorney's fees to the landlord when he is required to take any action to enforce the rental agreement, the court may allow reasonable attorney's fees to the tenant wh...
..."§
83.49(3)(c) If either party institutes an action in court of competent jurisdiction to adjudicate his right to the security deposit, the prevailing party is entitled to receive his court costs plus a reasonable fee for his attorney... ." (emphasis supplied). First, with respect to Section
83.48, Guthartz admits that the rental agreements *604 contain a clause "allowing attorney's fees to the landlord," but argues that Section
83.48 is inapplicable, because the tenants' action was not, as required, "with respect to the rental agreement," but instead was based on the FHA regulatory agreement of which the tenants were third-party beneficiaries, but which was no part of the rental agreements....
...Hatch,
288 So.2d 564 (Fla.2d DCA 1974). Applying that rule of strict construction to the present case, and finding that the tenants' act was not one "with respect to the rental agreement," we must agree that the attorneys' fee award was not authorized by Section
83.48, Florida Statutes (1977)....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...We see nothing wrong with that and disagree with the mutuality of remedy premise. Attorney's fees are in derogation of the common law, Great American Indemnity Company v. Williams,
85 So.2d 619 (Fla. 1956), and by analogy were not normally obtainable in landlord tenant cases prior to the adoption of Section
83.48, Florida Statutes (1981), which provides: If a rental agreement contains a provision allowing attorney's fees to the landlord when he is required to take any action to enforce the rental agreement, the court may also allow reasonable attorney's fees to the tenant when he prevails......
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2007 WL 3355154
...ng attorney's fees to D.W. Sutton ("Sutton"). We conclude that the judgment must be reversed. The Scruggs filed a second amended complaint for eviction and ejectment against Sutton. For the eviction count, the Scruggs requested attorney's fees under section 83.48, Florida Statutes (2004)....
...constructive trust in Sutton's favor. The judgment was appealed and affirmed by this Court. See Scruggs v. Sutton,
932 So.2d 206 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006) (table). Sutton filed his motion for attorney's fees asserting that he was the prevailing party under section
83.48....
...The Scruggs opposed the motion because Sutton never pled a claim for attorney's fees except in the prayer for relief in count II of his counterclaim seeking a resulting trust. The trial court granted Sutton's motion for attorney's fees finding that attorney's fees are defined as costs in section 83.48 and a prevailing party under the statute is entitled to costs without pleading entitlement thereto....
...ive defenses in response to the Scruggs' complaint. Sutton argued, however, that he was the prevailing party because he successfully defended the eviction action, and that, as the prevailing party, he was entitled to costs. He pointed out that under section 83.48, Florida Statutes, "the party in whose favor a judgment or decree has been rendered may recover reasonable court costs, including attorney's fees, from the nonprevailing party." The trial court accepted this argument, ruling that "[t]he...
...Tyler,
890 So.2d 246 (Fla.2004) (absent an independent statutory or contractual basis, attorney's fees are not recoverable in declaratory relief or quiet title actions). The fact that Sutton requested fees in his count for a resulting trust is insufficient to support an award of fees under section
83.48 for defeating the eviction action....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 7674, 2010 WL 2131652
...and reserved jurisdiction to determine entitlement to attorney's fees. Appellant filed a motion seeking a determination of her entitlement to attorney's fees and costs. [2] She claimed fees based on a provision in the sale agreement and pursuant to section 83.48, Florida Statutes (2007)....
...AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED. JACOBUS, J., concurs. GRIFFIN, J., dissents with opinion. GRIFFIN, J., dissenting. I respectfully dissent because I conclude that we lack jurisdiction to review the order denying attorney's fees to Gaccione under section 83.48, Florida Statutes....
...Gaccione filed suit for breach of a residential lease agreement and prevailed. During the hearing that resulted in the appealed order, Gaccione asserted two theories for entitlement to recover attorney's fees: a separate purchase and sale contract between the parties and section 83.48, Florida Statutes. Section 83.48, which is part of the chapter dealing with landlord/tenant issues, is one of a handful of Florida statutes that authorizes the recovery of a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party as an element of costs: In any civil action b...
...ement to Attorney's Fees and Costs be and the same is hereby denied as to attorney's fees, the Court reserving ruling as to Court Costs pending further proceedings in this case." In my view, this order is interlocutory as to the claim for fees under section 83.48 because the fees are considered part of costs. The decision by the trial court not to award attorney's fees pursuant to section 83.48 is not reviewable until the court properly enters a cost order....
...The majority seems to suggest that attorney's fees awardable as a taxable cost pursuant to statute are not really a taxable cost. However, Xanadu of Cocoa Beach, Inc. v. Lenz,
504 So.2d 518 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987), the very case on which the majority relies for the principle that section
83.48, Florida Statutes, authorizes recovery of Gaccione's attorney's fees even though he did not plead a claim for fees under the statute, is premised on the fact that it is a cost....
...must be presented by the party claiming them as part of his proof of damages in the case. See Mystery Fun House, Inc. v. Magic World, Inc.,
417 So.2d 785 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). However, when attorney's fees are recoverable as costs, such as here under section
83.48, Florida Statutes, or under section
713.29, Florida Statutes (which provides for attorney's fees to be taxed as part of costs to the prevailing party in a mechanic's lien case), attorney's fees may be taxed as costs in a motion which ne...
...Chatlos,
236 So.2d 761 (Fla.1970); Allen v. Dutton,
384 So.2d 171 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). Classification of fees as a cost affects when and how it has to be claimed and when and how it is to be reviewed. The fact that the judge is not going to change his mind about the ruling on the section
83.48 fee claim does not make it final....
...What makes it final is inclusion of the ruling on this element of costs in a costs order. Because this claim for fees is an element of costs, the denial has to be reviewed, along with all the other costs, after a costs order has been entered. *1012 The majority decision to hear and resolve the appeal of the claim under section 83.48 may seem expedient, but I have no doubt that it will have consequences beyond this case....
...aited to take the appeal from the costs order. NOTES [1] Appellee contends that we lack jurisdiction to address that aspect of the order denying fees under the statute because the court reserved jurisdiction to determine the amount of costs. Because section 83.48, Florida Statutes, arguably treats fees as costs, Appellee contends that the order is not final until the trial court sets the amount of costs....
...Cantele,
837 So.2d 371, 375 (Fla.2002) (emphasis added). We think entitlement to attorney's fees presents a distinct question from taxable costs, irrespective of how it is labeled in the statute. See Scruggs v. Sutton,
970 So.2d 853, 854 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007) (litigant must plead for fees under section
83.48 even though labeled costs)....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
entitlement to attorney’s fees pursuant to section
83.48, Florida Statutes. Because there is no landlord/tenant
CopyPublished | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 1990 WL 160917
authority for the County’s actions. See Fla.Stat.Ann. §
83.48 (West 1987). We note that parties in both state
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...The rental agreement involved here contains a provision allowing attorney's fees to landlord when he is required to institute suit for the collection of rent. There is no provision authorizing attorney's fees to tenant under any circumstances. In the case of residential rentals, Section 83.48, Florida Statutes (1979) converts a provision which permits the landlord to recover his attorney's fees from a defaulting tenant into a reciprocal right to attorney's fees in a tenant who prevails in litigation involving his tenancy....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
Because the award of attorney’s fees pursuant to section
83.48, Florida Statutes (2021), is permissive and
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
provision). CONNER and ARTAU, JJ., concur. 1 See §
83.48, Fla. Stat. (2022) (“In any civil action brought
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
in this landlord/tenant action: one is Florida Statute
83.48 and the other is the lockout statute, FS
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
2d DCA 2022) (holding that the reference in section
83.48, Florida Statutes (2022), to a “judgment” requires
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
339 So. 3d 456, 458–59 (Fla. 2d DCA 2022) (“Section
83.48[, Florida Statutes (2022)] does not provide
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 18630
are entitled to a reasonable attorney’s fee, Section
83.48, Florida Statutes (1981), the amount of which
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
Attorney Fees and Costs, seeking fees under section
83.48, Florida Statutes (2021). 2 The trial court
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
because the lease contained no fee provision and section
83.48, Florida Statutes (2022), prohibits fee awards
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 21858
(emphasis supplied). First, with respect to Section
83.48, Gu-thartz admits that the rental agreements
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida
So. 3d 820, 822 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). 4 Section
83.48 provides: Attorney fees.—In any civil
