Hoopes v. Hoopes
| Decision Date | 01 June 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-0319,88-0319 |
| Citation | 525 So.2d 1015,13 Fla. L. Weekly 1300 |
| Parties | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1300 Betty HOOPES, Appellant, v. Davidson HOOPES, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
William D. Anderson, Jr., of William D. Anderson, Jr., P.A., Stuart, for appellant.
Rick Rodgers of Rick Rodgers, P.A., Jensen Beach, for appellee.
The first issue we review is the court's award of attorney's fees to the wife in the dissolution of marriage proceedings below.
The wife agreed to pay her attorneys a reasonable fee to be set by the court with a minimum of $135 per hour. At the hearing on attorney's fees the wife's attorney elicited expert testimony to the effect that $150 per hour was a reasonable hourly rate under the circumstances. It was also established that in excess of sixty-three hours had been expended on the case. There was no evidence in opposition. It was established that $1,800 had been paid as temporary attorney's fees. The court awarded additional fees of $6,500 for total attorney's fees of $8,300.
Florida has adopted the federal lodestar methodology for the determination of attorney's fees. Florida Patient's Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145 (Fla.1985). Under this methodology the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation is multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate which produces a "lodestar" which is the objective basis for the award of attorney's fees. Once the lodestar is obtained the court may add or subtract from the fee based upon a "contingency risk" factor and the "results obtained."
The Rowe methodology is applicable to dissolution of marriage cases, see Pollack v. Pollack, 517 So.2d 707 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987), but the contingency risk factor is not to be applied because contingent fee arrangements in domestic relation matters are generally deemed unethical. See Hill v. Hill, 415 So.2d 20, 24 (Fla.1982); Fla. Bar Rule 4-1.5(D)(3)(a) (1987).
The "results obtained" factor was positive rather than negative on the facts of this case. Accordingly, the uncontroverted testimony establishing a lodestar figure of $9,450 ($150 per hour X 63 hours) established the minimum fee allowable in this case. Because the fee awarded was less than the minimum established by application of the Rowe methodology to the evidence presented, we reverse and remand for a redetermination of attorney's fees based upon the evidence and applying the foregoing analysis.
The second issue we review is whether the trial court erred in failing to award service tax on a portion of the attorney's fees. Section 57.071(3), Florida Statutes (1987), provides...
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Faust v. Faust
...of a "contingency risk" factor or a "results obtained" factor, for the reasons discussed in this opinion and in Hoopes v. Hoopes, 525 So.2d 1015, 1016 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). 7 We observe that the trial court in a marriage dissolution proceeding has the further obligation under Dresser to dete......
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...attorneys' fees. In Pollack v. Pollack, 517 So.2d 707 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987), rev. denied, 528 So.2d 1183 (Fla.1988), and Hoopes v. Hoopes, 525 So.2d 1015 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988), we held that the Rowe lodestar requirements applied to dissolution of marriage proceedings and allowances of suit mone......
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Siegel v. Siegel
...Pirino v. Pirino, 558 So.2d 171 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990): Faust v. Faust, 553 So.2d 1275 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). See also, Hoopes v. Hoopes, 525 So.2d 1015 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). The expert witness testified that Rowe permits a trial judge to apply a multiplier factor in domestic cases, even though n......
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Oldham v. Oldham
...court must use the methodology outlined in Florida Patient's Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145 (Fla.1985). Hoopes v. Hoopes, 525 So.2d 1015, 1016 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). The issue in this case is whether, in setting a reasonable fee in a domestic case, a court may properly take into co......