Florida Sample Letter to Former Client regarding Hearing Scheduled on Client's Outstanding Attorney's Fees
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FAQ
The End of One-Way Attorney's Fees Senate Bill 2A made a clear statement by revising Florida Statute Sections 627.428 and 626.9373, expressly stating that ?there is no right to attorney fees? in a suit arising under a residential or commercial property insurance policy.
A pro se litigant, meaning a party who is not an attorney and who is representing himself or herself, is not entitled to attorney's fees for his or her own time spent appealing a case.
In Florida, attorney's fees are generally recoverable by the winning party if they are allowed by agreement such as in a written contract or by law in a statute. This protocol is commonly called the American Rule because it modified its cousin, the English Rule, which awarded fees to the winner in all civil cases.
Pro se litigants cannot get attorneys fees or other compensation for the time they spent litigating meritorious cases. That type of imbalance between the two parties is a due process issue.
As originally enacted, Section 57.105 authorized an award of attorney's fees against a party and that party's attorney when the court found ?a complete absence of a justiciable issue of either law or fact raised by the complaint or defense of the losing party.? §57.105 (1), Fla. Stat. (1995).
This statute and rule can be a very effective strategic tool in litigation. Lastly, Florida case law recognizes the Wrongful Act Doctrine, which allows a party to claim attorneys' fees as damages in separate lawsuit that were caused by the wrongful conduct of another party.
