BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF PALM BEACH COUNTY, APPELLANT,
v.
V. TED BRABHAM, APPELLEE
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The Fourth District Court of Appeal quashed a trial court's order awarding counsel fees to a court-appointed attorney because the trial court disregarded all three expert witnesses' testimony on the reasonableness of hours claimed, departing from the essential requirements of law.
A trial court abuses its discretion by disregarding the testimony of all expert witnesses on the reasonableness of hours claimed by a court-appointed attorney without explanation or justification.
[1] A trial court abuses its discretion in a counsel fees proceeding by disregarding the testimony of all expert witnesses on the reasonableness of hours claimed without prov…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the trial court has discretion not to follow the estimates set by the experts, but that discretion is subject to further judicial scrutiny”
The court explained the standard for reviewing a trial court's rejection of expert testimony in counsel fees cases.
The Board of County Commissioners of Palm Beach County sought review of a trial court order requiring it to compensate court-appointed attorney V. Ted…
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PER CURIAM.
The Board of County Commissioners of Palm Beach County seeks review of an order requiring it to compensate a court appointed attorney pursuant to section 925.036, Florida Statutes. A petition for certiorari is the appropriate method of seeking review of an order which awards counsel fees to court-appointed attorneys in a criminal case. Beers v. Palm Beach County, 415 So. 2d 846 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982).
Accordingly, we treat this appeal as a petition for certiorari.
The record reveals that the trial court disregarded the testimony of the three expert witnesses on the issue of the reasonableness of the hours claimed by respondent. In Beers we noted that the trial court has discretion not to follow the estimates set by the experts, but that discretion is subject to further judicial scrutiny. Our scrutiny of the record here leads us to the conclusion that given the facts before it, the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law by disregarding the expert testimony of all three expert -witnesses on the issue of the reasonableness of the hours claimed by respondent, Accordingly, we grant the petition, quash the trial court’s order, and remand for the trial court to enter an order consistent with this opinion.
GLICKSTEIN, DELL and GUNTHER, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Smith v. State, 415 So. 2d 846 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- In re Matter of Attorney's Fees Awarded IN State OF Fla. v. Dale M. Warman. Mitchell J. Beers, 415 So. 2d 846 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)