Reviewing Attorney’s Fees: Absent Abuse of Discretion Can I Get Relief in West Palm Beach?

Was the other side recently awarded attorney’s fees  in your West Palm Beach probate dispute? Are you considering appealing the awards? Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators will tell you, the appeals court will not reverse an award of attorney’s fees absent an abuse of discretion. Do you know what that means? Check out a case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeals to learn more.

Attorney’s Fees on Review

• There are only two real ways to get attorney’s fees and they are narrowly construed.
• The first is if you are awarded these by statutes, this is common in some trust disputes, civil rights disputes against the government as well as marriage dissolution cases when one party has all the financial power.
• The other way is through an agreement by the parties, in other words a contract.
• But when you review attorney’s fees on appeal it is usually not the entitlement itself you are fighting but really the valuation of fees.
• West Palm Beach courts will hold an evidentiary hearing to determine the proper amount of fees.
• What happens if you disagree with their findings?
• Yes, you are entitled to an appeal but will it be successful?
• The standard on review is “abuse of discretion” which means that the appellate court will not disturb a trial court’s findings unless they were an abuse of the inherent power (i.e. discretion) held by the trial court.
• Do you know your odds?

Freiman v. Nat’l City Mortgage

• This was an appeal from a foreclosure proceeding but the court did not disturb the underlying merits only the attorney’s fees issue.
• The court awarded the bank forty three thousand dollars in attorneys fees.
• On appeal even the bank acknowledged it had failed to meets its evidentiary burden to prove attorney’s fees.
• The court reversed the award and found that there was an abuse of discretion when the trial court allowed the bank to argue an entitlement to over forty thousand in attorney’s fees without even a shred of evidence that the fees exceed four thousand dollars.
• Do you have grounds to succeed on an appeal for improper awarding of attorney’s fees?

Want to learn more?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.