Case Name: Andrew J. McKELVEY and Irwin Bard, Appellants, v. KISMET, INC., Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1983-04-19
Citations: 430 So. 2d 919
Docket Number: No. 82-499
Parties: Andrew J. McKELVEY and Irwin Bard, Appellants, v. KISMET, INC., Appellee.
Judges: Before HENDRY, BASKIN and FERGUSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 430
Pages: 919–926

Head Matter:
Andrew J. McKELVEY and Irwin Bard, Appellants, v. KISMET, INC., Appellee.
No. 82-499.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
April 19, 1983.
Philip M. Gerson, Miami, for appellants.
Young, Stern & Tannenbaum and Glen Rafkin, North Miami Beach, for appellee.
Before HENDRY, BASKIN and FERGUSON, JJ.

Opinion:
HENDRY, Judge.
This appeal challenges a cost judgment entered against appellants in their suit for repossession of collateral given as security for a loan, and unlawful detainer. The primary issue on appeal is whether the trial court was correct in assessing attorney's fees and costs against the appellants where one count of their complaint was voluntarily dismissed and the other was involuntarily dismissed with prejudice, but before a pending counterclaim was adjudicated. Concluding that the trial court assessed costs at the proper procedural juncture of the case, we affirm.
Appellants, sellers of a restaurant known as "Menage", filed suit seeking foreclosure of a security interest against the buyer of the restaurant, appellee Kismet, when Kismet defaulted on its payments to a secured creditor. The complaint was thereafter amended to add a second count alleging a claim for unlawful detainer. Kismet answered, counterclaimed, and moved to dismiss the complaint and the amendment. The motion to dismiss was denied as to Count I, foreclosure, but was granted with prejudice as to Count II, unlawful detainer, for failure to state a cause of action. Two appeals, one interlocutory and one final, and a writ of mandamus were taken from the order dismissing Count II. All appeals were dismissed by this court and an award of attorney's fees pursuant to section 57.-105, Florida Statutes, was granted to Kismet. While maintaining the appeals from the dismissal of Count II, appellants voluntarily dismissed Count I of the complaint with leave of the trial court. After attempts to appeal the dismissal of Count II proved unsuccessful, appellants moved to amend their pleadings and the appellee moved for attorney's fees and costs pursuant to a provision entitling the prevailing party to legal fees and costs in the event of litigation on the contract of sale. Appellants' motion to amend was denied, and the trial court granted appellee's motion for fees and costs, entering an order awarding the appellee $12,280.50. Appellee's counterclaim has at all times remained pending.
Appellants raise three issues on appeal, alleging that the trial court erred in: (1) awarding Kismet attorney's fees before it had prevailed in the trial court as evidenced by the remaining counterclaim; (2) awarding Kismet costs when the litigation had not terminated and the appellants had attempted to file an amended complaint to reinstate the claim they had voluntarily dismissed; and (3) denying appellants' motion to file an amended complaint.
Addressing the first two issues as one, we disagree with appellants' contentions and find that the trial court properly ruled that the litigation had terminated and that Kismet was the prevailing party.
Exercise of the right to voluntary dismissal terminates an action without prejudice, meaning that the action may be refiled at any time within the applicable statute of limitations. Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.420(a). Rule 1.420(a)(2) acknowledges that it is possible to voluntarily dismiss the main claim of an action and leave for independent adjudication a pending counterclaim. However, costs in a dismissed action are to be assessed and a judgment entered for the costs in that action. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(d) provides, inter alia:
(d) Costs. Costs in any action dismissed under this rule shall be assessed and judgment for costs entered in that action.
See Gordon v. Warren Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., 340 So.2d 1234 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976) (trial judge cannot defer assessment of costs in the original action pending the outcome of a subsequent lawsuit on the same cause of action). Thus, Rule 1.420(d) provides that costs are to be assessed immediately after a dismissal is entered and that any subsequent lawsuit on the same claim must be stayed until all of the costs award ed in the initial lawsuit are fully paid. If by contract or statute attorney's fees are made a part of the costs between the parties, these fees must also be assessed and a judgment entered in that action. Paley v. Cocoa Masonry, Inc., 354 So.2d 945 (Fla.2d DCA), cert. denied, 359 So.2d 1212 (Fla.1978); Bankers Multiple Line Insurance Co. v. Blanton, 352 So.2d 81 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977).
As Rule 1.420(d) provides that costs must be assessed as soon as a dismissal is entered ("Costs . shall be assessed"), and yet paragraph (a)(2) provides for a pending counterclaim to remain . for adjudication when the main action is dismissed, we must assume no contradiction inheres in the rules and that costs (including, in an appropriate case, attorney's fees) are to be assessed subsequent to dismissal even though a counterclaim remains for disposition. Therefore, assuming that Kismet was the "prevailing party" in the cause, the trial court correctly assessed and entered judgment for costs following the dismissal.
We conclude that Kismet was the prevailing party in the contract dispute since it won in the main action: Count II was involuntarily dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a cause of action and all appellate attempts to reverse the decision were unsuccessful, and Count I was voluntarily dismissed, and the term "prevailing party" is applicable to a defendant against whom a voluntary dismissal is taken. Moreover, pendency of the counterclaim does not alter this result, for even if appellants were to succeed on appellee's counterclaim, at most they will clearly win only a battle while still losing the war. See Kirou v. Oceanside Plaza Condominium Association, Inc., 425 So.2d 650 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). Accordingly, we find that Kismet was the "prevailing party" in this litigation for the purpose of recovery of attorney's fees and costs under the contract between the parties, and that costs and fees were properly assessed and judgment entered thereon following dismissal of appellants' action under Rule 1.420, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.
Appellants' final contention, that the trial court erred in denying their motion to file an amended complaint, is clearly without merit. A voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit terminates the action. Although a dismissal which is voluntary is without prejudice to the bringing of a new action, it precludes revival of the original action. Randle-Eastern Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Vasta, 360 So.2d 68 (Fla.1978); Lauda v. H.F. Mason Equipment Corp., 407 So.2d 392, 394 n. 6 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). Thus, since appellants' entire complaint had been dismissed, nothing remained to amend.
Affirmed.
. Count I of the counterclaim alleged various violations of federal banking laws, Count II alleged that Mr. McKelvey breached the contract of purchase and sale, Count III sounded in tort for fraud and misrepresentation, and Count IV requested declaratory relief.
. The dismissal of Count II with prejudice is not an issue on appeal.
. See, e.g., Dolphin Towers Condominium Association, Inc. v. Del Bene, 388 So.2d 1268 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980) (term "prevailing party" in statute allowing prevailing party in action by or against condominium association to recover reasonable attorney fees includes defendant against whom voluntary dismissal is taken); MacBain v. Bowling, 374 So.2d 75 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979) (voluntary dismissal will authorize an award of attorney's fees under section 57.105 where trial court finds that there is a complete absence of a justiciable issue of either law or fact); Gordon v. Warren Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., 340 So.2d 1234 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976) (where a mechanic's lien is voluntarily dismissed, party against whom claim was brought is the "prevailing party" and is entitled to recover attorney's fees and costs).