Case Name: Nicole LOPEZ, Petitioner, v. Sean HALL, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2018-01-11
Citations: 233 So. 3d 451
Docket Number: No. SC16-1921
Parties: Nicole LOPEZ, Petitioner, v. Sean HALL, Respondent.
Judges: LEWIS, CANADY, and POLSTON; JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 233
Pages: 451–456

Head Matter:
Nicole LOPEZ, Petitioner, v. Sean HALL, Respondent.
No. SC16-1921
Supreme Court of Florida.
[January 11, 2018]
Michael R. Yokan, Jacksonville, Florida; and Christopher W. Wickersham, Jr. of Law Offices of C.W. Wickersham, Jr., P.A., Jacksonville, Florida, for Petitioner
Earl M. Johnson, Jr. of The Law Offices of Earl M. Johnson, Jr., LLC, Jacksonville, Florida, for Respondent

Opinion:
LAWSON, J.
This case is before the Court for review of the decision of the First District Court of Appeal in Hall v. Lopez, 213 So.3d 1003 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017), which certified direct conflict with the Third District Court of Appeal's decisions in Ratigan v. Stone, 947 So.2d 607 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007), and Cisneros v. Cisneros, 831 So.2d 257 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002), and with the Fifth District Court of Appeal's decision in Dudley v. Schmidt, 963 So.2d 297 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007), regarding whether an award of attorney's fees pursuant to section 57.105, Florida Statutes (2013), is permissible in dating, repeat, and sexual violence injunction proceedings under section 784.046, Florida Statutes (2013). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we approve the First District's holding that section 57.105 does not prohibit awarding attorney's fees in a section 784.046 action.
BACKGROUND
Nicole Lopez filed a petition for injunction for protection against repeat and dating violence under section 784.046, Florida Statutes, against Sean Hall, and received a temporary injunction. After the circuit court extended the injunction protection until further order, Hall moved for attorney's fees and sanctions under section 57.105, Florida Statutes, claiming that Lopez perjured herself in her petitions. Lopez later voluntarily dismissed her action. The trial court then denied Hall's motion for attorney's fees, holding that section 784.046 contains no provisions authorizing an award of section 57.105 attorney's fees on any basis. Hall appealed, and the First District reversed the trial court's ruling, holding that an award of section 57.105 attorney's fees is not prohibited in an action under 784.046 and certifying direct conflict with Ratigan, Cisneros, and Dudley. Hall, 213 So.3d at 1007.
ANALYSIS
We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. See Borden v. East-European Ins. Co., 921 So.2d 587, 591 (Fla. 2006). We first examine the statute's plain meaning, resorting to rules of statutory construction only if the statute's language is ambiguous. Holly v. Auld, 450 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla. 1984).
Section 57.105 provides the grounds and procedure for obtaining attorney's fees against a party and its attorney for bringing unsupported claims and defenses:
Upon the court's initiative or motion of any party, the court shall award a reasonable attorney's fee, including prejudgment interest, to be paid to the prevailing party in equal amounts by the losing party and the losing party's attorney on any claim or defense at any time during a civil proceeding or action in which the court finds that the losing party or the losing party's attorney knew or should have known that a claim or defense when initially presented to the court or at any time before trial:
(a) Was not supported by the material facts necessary to establish the claim or defense; or
(b) Would not be supported by the application of then-existing law to those material facts.
§ 57.105(1), Fla. Stat. (2018) (emphasis added).
The statutory language unambiguously states that it applies to "any claim or defense at any time" during any "civil proceeding or action" where a party or its attorney "knew or should have known" that they pursued baseless claims or defenses. The statute's plain language makes clear that it supplies a way to sanction a party and its attorney in civil actions for baseless claims or defenses and that it applies to civil proceedings or actions, without exception. Moreover, while section 784.046 includes no mention of attorney's fees and costs, it does not purport to prohibit an award pursuant to section 57.105. See § 784.046.
Accordingly, whether section 57.105 applies in a section 784.046 proceeding turns on whether such a proceeding is a "civil proceeding or action." See § 57.105(1). And it is. See H.K. ex rel. Colton v. Vocelle, 667 So.2d 892, 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) ("Section 784.046 creates a civil cause of action for a protective injunction . "); see also Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.040 ("There shall be one form of action to be known as 'civil action.' "). Because section 57.105's language plainly states that its provisions apply to "civil proceeding^] or action[s]," and a proceeding under section 784.046 is a civil proceeding, we hold that section 57.105 may be applied to section 784.046 actions where all other requirements of section 57.105 are met.
However, we acknowledge that practical problems may occur in certain circumstances when parties attempt to apply section 57.105 to actions under section 784.046. Section 57.105 provides a notice requirement, which gives parties and their attorneys a 21-day time period after receipt of service of a section 57.105 motion to withdraw or correct a baseless claim or defense before the motion can be filed with the court. Section 784.046 allows a petitioner to receive an ex parte temporary injunction, effective for 15 days at most, and requires that a full hearing occur on a date "no later than the date the temporary injunction ceases to be effective," unless good cause is shown. § 784.046(6)(c). Because of the statutory timeline provided in section 784.046, it will be impossible for a party to obtain a ruling upon a section 57.105 motion in a situation where a temporary injunction is granted and a full hearing must occur at most 15 days later, prior to the end of the 21-day-notice period. ,
Although Lopez argues that the inability to comply with the notice requirement of section 57.105 in this situation requires us to hold that section 57.015 does not apply to section -784.046 proceedings, we disagree for three reasons. First, as already discussed, Lopez's reading is contrary to the plain language of the statutes at issue. Second, it is possible in numerous circumstances to comply with the notice requirement of section 57.105 in a section 784.046 action. For example, as happened in this case, when a judge extends a temporary injunction order there will be time for the party seeking section 57.105 fees to meet the 21-day notice required before filing the motion. Finally, were we to read the statutes at issue as Lopez suggests, we would be limiting the trial court's ability to award fees on its own initiative under section 57.105(1), contrary to the plain language of that statute.
CONCLUSION
For these reasons, we approve the First District's decision in Hall and hold that section 57.105 may be applied to repeat, dating, and sexual violence injunction pro- eeedings under section 784.046. We further disapprove the Third District's decisions in Ratigan and Cisneros and the Fifth District's decision in Dudley to the extent they can be read to preclude the application of section 57,105 under proper circumstances in section 784.046 proceedings.
It is so ordered,
LEWIS, CANADY, and POLSTON; JJ., concur.
PARIENTE, J., dissents with an opinion, in which LABARGA, C.J., and QUINCE, J,, concur.
. While the 2013 version of the Florida Statutes applies to the case at issue and is therefore the version cited in this opinion, the current 2017 version of the Florida Statutes is materially the same for both section 784.046 and section 57.105 as well as the versions referenced in the certified conflict cases.
. "A motion by a party seeking sanctions under this section must be served but may not be filed with or presented to the court unless, within 21 days after service of the motion, the challenged paper, claim, defense, contention, allegation, or denial is not withdrawn or appropriately corrected." § 57.105(4).