TT OF LONGWOOD, INC., D/B/A CORY FAIRBANKS, ETC, PETITIONER,
v.
JOHNNIE L. BRIGGS, ETC., RESPONDENT
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Rabbit Hill Homeowners Association challenged a final judgment awarding costs and attorney's fees to the Corys, arguing the fees were improper because not pleaded. The court affirmed, finding the Association waived its right to object by recognizing and acquiescing to the Corys' fee claim without objection.
Attorney's fees may be awarded despite failure to plead the claim when the opposing party has notice of the opponent's fee entitlement and by its conduct recognizes, acquiesces to, or fails to object to the failure to plead.
“a claim for attorney's fees ... must be pled,' '[w]here a party has notice that an opponent claims entitlement to attorney's fees, and by its conduct recognizes or acquiesces to that claim or otherwise fails to object to the failure to plead entitlement, that party waives any objection to the failure to plead a claim for attorney's fees”
Establishes the dual rule: attorney's fee claims must be pleaded, but the requirement is waived if opposing party has notice and fails to object.
Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe record contains competent substantial evidence that the appellant recognized and acquiesced to appellees' claim for attorney's fees during the pro…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
PER CURIAM.
We grant the Petition, issue the writ of certiorari, and quash the circuit court’s order, concluding that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law causing material injury throughout the remainder of the proceedings, effectively leaving no adequate remedy of law. It is apparent from the record that the order under review erroneously grants merits discovery prior to class certification. As this court explained in Policastro v. Stelk, 780 So. 2d 989, 991 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001):
Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.220(d)(1) provides for discovery prior to class certification. The rule does not contemplate merits discovery prior to class certification; rather, the rule permits discovery “concerning whether the claim or defense is maintainable on behalf of a class.” Until discovery on this limited issue is completed, the trial court may postpone the determination of class certification.
CERTIORARI GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED.
SAWAYA, and LAWSON, JJ., concur. EVANDER, J., concurs specially, with opinion.
EVANDER, J.,
concurring specially.
I agree that we should grant the petition for writ of certiorari. Respondent has simply failed to demonstrate how the requested information is necessary for resolution of his motion for class certification. See, e.g., Jackson v. Motel 6 Multipurpose, Inc., 130 F. 3d 999, 1004 (11th Cir.1997) (“while we cannot say that orders authorizing communication with potential class members may never precede class certification ... courts must strive to avoid authorizing injurious class communications that might later prove unnecessary.”).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Jackson v. Motel 6 Multipurpose, Inc., 130 F.3d 999 (11th Cir. 1997)
- Policastro v. Stelk, 780 So. 2d 989 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)