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Baron v. Fieldstone

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District
Jun 25, 1991
581 So. 2d 649 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)

Summary

concluding attorney fees were improperly assessed against the plaintiff's counsel where counsel acted in good faith based on his client's representations

Summary of this case from Wolfe v. Foreman

Opinion

No. 90-2414.

June 25, 1991.

Appeal from the Circuit Court, Dade County, Celeste H. Muir, J.

Baron Cliff and Nancy J. Cliff, Miami, for appellants.

Keith, Mack, Lewis, Allison Cohen and Keith T. Grumer, Miami, for appellees.

Before HUBBART, COPE and GODERICH, JJ.


This is an appeal by counsel for the plaintiff in a breach of contract action from an adverse trial court order which assesses attorney's fees under Section 57.105, Florida Statutes (1989), and requires said counsel to pay a portion of said fees. We reverse the order under review upon a holding that counsel acted in good faith based on representations from his client, the plaintiff, which tended to establish that the plaintiff was a third-party beneficiary of a contract of appraisal entered into by the defendant and plaintiff's debtor. The plaintiff told counsel that the defendant was well aware that the subject appraisal was being done for the plaintiff's benefit so as to facilitate a loan by the plaintiff to the plaintiff's debtor. This evidence, together with other evidence indicating that the defendant breached this contract by underappraising the collateral in question, gave counsel a viable theory of liability upon which to proceed against the defendant.

Although the trial court ultimately rejected this theory and entered a summary judgment for the defendant, the theory was nonetheless nonfrivolous in nature, and counsel acted in good faith based on representations from his client to support this theory. This being so, attorney's fees were improperly assessed against plaintiff's counsel. Muckerman v. Burris, 553 So.2d 1300 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), rev. denied, 567 So.2d 435 (Fla. 1990); Richardson v. Helms, 502 So.2d 1372 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Snow v. Rosse, 455 So.2d 615 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984).

Reversed.


Summaries of

Baron v. Fieldstone

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District
Jun 25, 1991
581 So. 2d 649 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)

concluding attorney fees were improperly assessed against the plaintiff's counsel where counsel acted in good faith based on his client's representations

Summary of this case from Wolfe v. Foreman

reversing an award of attorney's fees on the basis that "counsel acted in good faith based on representations from his client" in accordance with Section 57.105, Florida Statutes

Summary of this case from Endacott v. Int'l Hospitality, Inc.
Case details for

Baron v. Fieldstone

Case Details

Full title:RICHARD BARON AND NANCY J. CLIFF, A PARTNERSHIP DOING BUSINESS AS BARON…

Court:District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: Jun 25, 1991

Citations

581 So. 2d 649 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991)

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