Attorneys’ Fees on Appeal: Basic Rules and New Requirements

Learning about attorneys’ fees on appeal is important because the rules have changed recently. Some courts are stricter about following the rules, and there are new opportunities for fee recovery. It’s important to know that fees must be requested during the appeal by filing a separate motion with the appellate court and serving it within a specific time frame. This is different from how fees are usually requested after a case is won at trial. Trial lawyers should communicate with appellate lawyers early on to determine if there is a basis for a fee claim. In order to get attorneys’ fees on appeal, you need to file a motion on time, even if the law says the court “shall” award fees. If someone files a motion for fees, you have to respond within 10 days or you might lose the right to argue against the fees. You don’t have to win attorneys’ fees at the trial court level to get them on appeal. Florida’s rules for filing a motion for attorneys’ fees don’t give a reason for why you should get fees – you have to have a separate reason, like a law or a contract. If you’re asking for fees based on a contract or law, you have to say that in the motion, and if it’s a contract, you have to attach it or give a reference. The deadline for serving the motion for fees is connected to the deadline for filing the reply brief, but you can also ask for fees in other types of appeals. There’s been a change in the law about who can get attorneys’ fees on appeal, and different appeals courts might have different rules. If you win your case, you can ask for money to cover your lawyer’s fees. But you have to win the appeal too in order to get that money. However, a recent court decision now says that even if you lose the appeal, you can still get money for your lawyer’s fees as long as you win the important parts of the case in the end. A recent court decision may lead to some new rules about who has to pay legal fees after an appeal. This could mean that both sides in a case might get money for their legal fees, even if they lost the appeal. The final decision about who gets paid might be up to the trial court instead of the appeals court. This could change how legal fees are awarded in the future. F.S. §57.105 can be used to award attorneys’ fees against a party taking a frivolous appeal. A frivolous appeal is one that has very little chance of succeeding and is clearly wrong when you look at the record. In the past, fees couldn’t be awarded against the appellee, but now they can be. This means both the person who filed the appeal and the person who is responding to the appeal can be responsible for paying attorneys’ fees if their position on the appeal is deemed frivolous. This change came after the 1999 amendments to §57.105. If a lawyer wants to get paid for working on an appeal, they need to make sure their contract with the client clearly states that they will be paid for appellate representation. A recent case showed that if the contract doesn’t specifically say the lawyer will get paid for appeals, they might not get paid for their work on an appeal. So, it’s important for lawyers and their clients to spell out exactly what the lawyer will be paid for in their contract. Appellate attorneys can’t ask the trial court for money for their work on an appeal, but they can ask the appellate court. If the appellate court sends the decision back to the trial court, the trial court will decide how much money the attorneys should get. If the attorneys don’t like the decision, they can ask the appellate court to review it. But they have to follow the rules and deadlines, or they might not get another chance to ask for more money. Also, winning an appeal doesn’t mean you’ll get your money back for all the costs of the appeal. And the rules for getting your money back for costs are different from the rules for getting your money back for attorney fees. It’s important for appellate attorneys to know about these rules so they can help their clients. Attorneys’ fees in Florida family law cases are controlled by different standards than other cases. If you want to claim fees for an appeal, you have to file a petition with the clerk within 14 days of the appellate opinion. Fees can only be awarded if there is a legal basis for the claim, like a statute or contract, or if the attorney’s work creates a common fund to pay the fee. The court will assess fees against the losing party and their attorney if their claims or defenses were not supported by the facts or the law. If you want to challenge an attorneys’ fee award, you have to do it separately from other issues in the case. And that’s basically it for attorneys’ fees in Florida appeals. Tracy Raffles Gunn is a lawyer in Tampa who specializes in handling cases that are appealed to higher courts. She is recognized for her expertise in this area of law and is even certified by The Florida Bar. She is actively involved in committees and associations related to appellate practice. This column is written on behalf of a section that she is a part of.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/attorneys-fees-on-appeal-basic-rules-and-new-requirements/