Opinion
No. 93-01311.
March 4, 1994.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pinellas County; Philip A. Federico, Judge.
Guy M. Burns and Rebecca A. Henson, Johnson, Blakely, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel Burns, Tampa, for appellant.
Kalju Nekvasil, Goodman Nekvasil, Safety Harbor, for appellees.
The prevailing party in an arbitration proceeding appeals the trial court's ruling that any award of attorney's fees should be decided by the arbitrator, not the court.
This issue was addressed recently in Lee v. Smith, Barney, Harris Upham Co., 626 So.2d 969 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993), in which this court held that the determination of attorney's fees in arbitration was controlled by Florida law and, thus, should be made by the court, not the arbitrator.
Accordingly, this case is reversed and remanded to the trial court for consideration of the attorney's fees issue.
DANAHY, A.C.J., and QUINCE, J., concur.