Title: Keller v. Keller

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

308 So. 2d 106 (1974)
Christal Clark KELLER, Petitioner,
v.
Henry Adolph KELLER, Jr., Respondent.
No. 45045.

Supreme Court of Florida.
December 4, 1974.
Rehearing Denied February 25, 1975.
Frank M. Marks, of Koeppel, Stark, Marks & Newmark, Miami, for petitioner.
Daniel Neal Heller of Heller & Kaplan, Miami, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
We review by writ of conflict certiorari the per curiam opinion decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, in the case of Keller v. Keller, 287 So. 2d 351.
On its face the majority per curiam opinion of the District Court when considered in relation to the more detailed explanation of the case in the dissenting opinion and pertinent portions of the record proper reflected conflict with other pertinent decisions invoking our jurisdiction. That a dissenting opinion may be the predicate for conflict certiorari, see Commerce National Bank in Lake Worth v. Safeco Ins. Co. (Fla. 1973), 284 So. 2d 205.
*107 The conflict of decisions consists in the obvious abuse of discretion which is reflected in the niggardly amount of alimony awarded contrary to the rationale of other pertinent decisions. The dissenting opinion points out the wife's situation justifying a larger award of alimony. It reads in part:
We compared the alimony awarded in this case with the awards allowed in other cases, including Dash v. Dash, supra; McGuire v. McGuire (Fla.App. 1962), 140 So. 2d 354; In Re Brown (Fla.App. 1971), 246 So. 2d 166, and Firestone v. Firestone (Fla. 1972), 263 So. 2d 223, as well as the principles of law enunciated in those cases.
In Dash v. Dash the Third District Court quoted with approval from Calligarich v. Calligarich (Fla.App. 1971), 256 So. 2d 60, wherein the court reversed on appeal of the wife lump sum alimony of $3,600 to be paid at $200 per week, saying:
In the Calligarich case the court concluded permanent alimony should be awarded, subject to later modification in the event of sufficient change in the circumstances of the parties.
The Third District Court of Appeal in Dash v. Dash quoted from Firestone v. Firestone, supra, as follows:
In the Firestone case we said:
The Third District Court in the Dash case quoted from Klein v. Klein (Fla.App. 1966), 122 So.2d 205:
In Dash the Court said:
Contrasting the instant case with the Firestone case, we note that both wives were youthful; both had given birth to a son and both had enjoyed a high standard of living due to the very wealthy status of their spouses.
Taking into account the financial and other factual circumstances of the parties as reflected in the dissenting opinion and in the record proper before us, we conclude from a comparison of alimony awards in the cited cases and the legal principles announced therein that abuse of discretion was committed by the meagerness of the lump sum alimony to the petitioner. Judge Pearson's dissent sets forth the justification for a more realistic permanent award of alimony which we adopt.
After we accepted jurisdiction in this case we were at liberty to review the record, including transcript evidence. We note that the trial judge questioned a material witness, Gladys Butts, the nurse of the infant child of the parties, concerning the fitness of petitioner, the mother, to have custody of the child, and apparently without the knowledge of petitioner's counsel. For example in his initial question to Gladys Butts the transcribed report reflects the judge stated: "We are here by ourselves."
There is an acrimonious dispute between the parties and their respective counsel as to whether there was consent or oral stipulation on the part of petitioner's counsel that the judge could proceed ex parte to question the nurse. However, it is not necessary to our decision to resolve that dispute. Suffice it to say that a reading *109 of the reported testimony elicited from the nurse by the trial judge ex parte discloses that in the form taken it is very damaging to the wife's claims for custody of the child and support for herself and the child. While we highly respect the trial judge and his integrity, we are unable to dismiss an inference that his ex parte questioning of the nurse may have weighted the scales against the wife's side of the case in his mind.
As best considered, the taking of this testimony ex parte was unusual, if not improper, in the absence of counsel whether or not agreed to by petitioner's counsel. It may well have cast petitioner's side of the case in an irretrievably bad light with the trial judge which might have been mitigated had petitioner's counsel been present and participated in the examination. Compare McGuire v. McGuire (Fla.App.2d 1962), 140 So. 2d 354, and In Re Brown (Fla.App.3d 1971), 246 So. 2d 166.
It is our view the conflict of decisions warrants our quashing the decision of the District Court with direction that the cause be remanded to the Circuit Court to reconsider the entire cause de novo including the taking of further evidence as may be necessary for its proper resolution.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, C.J., and ROBERTS, ERVIN, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ., concur.
On consideration of the Petition for Rehearing and Petition for Rehearing as to Attorneys' Fees filed by attorneys for respondent, Response to Petition for Rehearing, Motion to Strike Petitions for Rehearing and Reply to Response to Petition for Rehearing,
It is ordered that said Petitions for Rehearing are denied.
ADKINS, C.J., ROBERTS and McCAIN, JJ., and ERVIN, (Ret.), J., concur.
ENGLAND, J., concurs in part and dissents in part (attached hereto).
ENGLAND, Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part on rehearing).
Respondent filed timely petitions for rehearing challenging this Court's decision on the merits rendered in its per curiam opinion dated December 4, 1974 and its simultaneous award of attorney's fees for petitioner's counsel. I did not hear oral arguments or participate in the Court's initial deliberations in this case. My review of the record on appeal, for purposes of rehearing, suggests that I might have differed from the Court in its original disposition of this case on the merits.[1] On rehearing, however, I am constrained to consider only the narrow grounds for review set forth in Florida Appellate Rule 3.14(b). Applying that rule I find that respondent's case on rehearing is essentially a restatement of *110 his original arguments, and that no basis is presented to change the original decision of the Court as reflected in its ruling and opinion on the merits.[2]
With respect to the Court's order on legal fees, however, respondent suggests grounds to revisit the Court's original order which are both meritorious under the Rule 3.14(b) and persuasive. The Court set $10,000 as an attorney's fee for petitioner's appellate counsel, without the benefit of any record evidence on this subject before this Court. This fee was set under Florida Appellate Rule 3.16(e), which authorizes the assessment of attorney's fees by an appellate court or, on remand, by a trial court, provided in either event that such fees are allowable by law. I believe a trial court is better suited than an appellate court to develop evidence as to the factors which go into awarding attorney's fees,[3] and there is little reason to act here when the case has been returned to the trial court for a new evidentiary proceeding on the merits. In any event, no award should have been entered without a full adversary hearing either here or below.[4]
For these reasons, I would grant rehearing as to attorney's fees, vacate this Court's order of December 4 on that subject, and remand that issue for determination in the trial court along with the de novo review of the merits which has been directed.
[1]  The Court's original opinion makes no mention of respondent's assertion that this case is governed by Florida's "old" divorce law, rather than the 1971 "no-fault" divorce law on which the Court's decision is premised. This point of law was not analyzed by the trial court or the district court in their decisions, yet the "old" law would provide, based on the trial court's findings of fact, complete justification for petitioner's seemingly meager alimony award. The application of the new law's effective date (section 61.191(1), Fla. Stat.) to divorce cases commenced prior to July 1, 1971 has spawned controversy and diverse treatment in a number of cases. Carmel v. Carmel, 282 So. 2d 6 (3d Dist.Ct.App.Fla. 1973) (application of the new law's concept of rehabilitation not retroactive); Melin v. Melin, 265 So. 2d 414 (3d Dist.Ct.App.Fla. 1972) (alimony under new law held to apply retroactively). See also Ryan v. Ryan, 277 So. 2d 266, 273-74 (Fla. 1973); Belcher v. Belcher, 271 So. 2d 7, 9 n. 8 (Fla. 1972). The issue was squarely raised here. Under these circumstances, I believe the Court should have discussed and clarified that issue in this case.
[2]  An excellent summary of what is and what is not proper for rehearing is set forth by Judge Wigginton in State v. Green, 105 So. 2d 817, 818-819 (1st Dist.Ct.App.Fla. 1958).
[3]  See Ruhnau v. Ruhnau, 299 So. 2d 61, 66 (1st Dist.Ct.App.Fla. 1974).
[4]  Fee by fiat imposes a dual hardship on respondent. Not only is respondent denied the opportunity to challenge the amount of the fee award, he is denied the chance to argue that the state's new divorce law (1) does not authorize attorney's fees for appellate practice and (2) does not authorize an appellate court to set the award, in light of the change from "any court" to "the court" in section 61.16, Fla. Stat.