Court Opinion

ID: 9471632
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:37:24.229031+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:30.396050
License: Public Domain

RONEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the award to appellee of attorney’s fees for services on this appeal. This Court has previously held that Section 59.46(2) of the Florida Code, which prescribes the filing time for recovery of attorney’s fees on appeal, must be followed in a federal diversity action involving Florida law. Blasser Brothers, Inc. v. Northern Pan American Line, 628 F.2d 376, 386 (5th Cir.1980). Here, plaintiff-appellee did not comply with Section 59.46(2).
Blasser is not distinguishable on the basis that a different statutory grant of attorney’s fees was involved in that case. Although the Florida legislature has described the nature of attorney’s fees in different ways, it has decreed in Section 59.46(2) that a universal procedure be adhered to when asserting the right to those fees on appeal. Section 59.46(2) draws no distinction between attorney’s fees as part of the judgment and attorney’s fees as costs. This state statute is applicable to the present action and should be followed in a federal court.