Title: Attorney Fees and Costs in Property Rights Disputes

Summary: Authorizes courts to award reasonable attorney fees & costs to prevailing defendant in certain civil actions.

Full Text:
An act relating to attorney fees and costs in property rights disputes; creating s. 57.106, F.S.; defining terms; authorizing courts to award reasonable attorney fees and costs to a prevailing defendant in certain civil actions under specified circumstance s; providing applicability;providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Section 57.106, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 57.106 Recovery of attorney fees and costs in certain disputes regarding property rights.-(1) For the purposes of this section, the term: (a) "Improvement" means an act done to increase the value or benefit of real property. (b) "Property rights" means zoning, future land use designations, easement rights, ingre ss and egress rights, environmental resource and impact permits, and those rights incident to land bordering upon navigable waters as described in s. 253.141. (2) In a civil action brought against the owner of a parcel of real property to resolve a dispu te concerning property rights, the court may award reasonable attorney fees and costs CS/HB 1167 2024 to the prevailing defendant if the improvements made to the property by the defendant property owner were made in substantial compliance with, or in reliance on, environm ental or regulatory approvals or permits issued by a political subdivision of the state or a state agency. (3) This section does not apply if the environmental or regulatory approval or permit was issued due to a material mistake of fact or law or was no tissued in compliance with law. Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.