Case Title: L. Ross, Inc. v. RW Roberts Const. Co.

Citation: 481 So. 2d 484

Docket Number: 66607

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1986-01-16T00:00:00Z

Document:
481 So. 2d 484 (1986)
L. ROSS, INC., a Florida Corporation, Petitioner,
v.
R.W. ROBERTS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC., Transamerica Insurance Company, B.E. McCall and Thomas Adair, Respondents.
No. 66607.

Supreme Court of Florida.
January 16, 1986.
Charles Evans Davis and Frederick B. Karl, Jr. of Fishback, Davis, Dominick, Bennett, Owens & Watts, Orlando, for petitioner.
William L. Mims, Jr. of Sanders, McEwan, Mims & Martinez, Orlando, for respondents.
SHAW, Justice.
We have before us by petition for review L. Ross, Inc. v. R.W. Roberts Construction Co., 466 So. 2d 1096 (Fla.5th DCA 1985), due to express and direct conflict with American Cast Iron Pipe Co. v. Foote Brothers Corp., 458 So. 2d 409 (Fla.4th DCA 1984). We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution.
The salient facts were stated by the district court as follows:
L. Ross, Inc., 466 So. 2d  at 1097. The district court affirmed the trial court and refused to apply retroactively the statutory amendment repealing the twelve and one-half percent limitation to a cause of action that was already in existence at the time of the effective date of the amendment. The district court acknowledged conflict with American Cast Iron.
*485 Presented with virtually indistinguishable facts, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in American Cast Iron found the statutory amendment applicable because it construed the statute as remedial rather than substantive in that it did not create a new right or take away a vested right, but rather affected only the amount of attorney's fees that could be recovered. Remedial statutes are excepted from the general rule against retrospective application of statutes. Village of El Portal v. City of Miami Shores, 362 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 1978). We agree with Judge Cowart's well-reasoned opinion in L. Ross, however. The right to attorney fees is a substantive one, as is the burden on the party responsible for paying the fee. A statutory amendment affecting the substantive right and concomitant burden is likewise substantive.
As stated by Judge Cowart:
L. Ross, 466 So. 2d  at 1097-98.
For the reasons stated above, we approve the decision under review and disapprove American Cast Iron.
It is so ordered.
BOYD, C.J., and ADKINS, OVERTON, McDONALD and EHRLICH, JJ., concur.