Florida Contract Law
Florida Attorney’s Fees Entitlement in Contracts
In Florida Hurricane Protection and Awning, Inc. v. Pastina, 35 Fla. L. Weekly D2024a (Fla. 4DCA 2010), the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal considered a case involving a Florida contract dispute. In this case, a Florida homeowner hired a contractor to install window shutters on a home. The contract between the homeowner and the contractor contained an attorney’s fee provision that stated that the purchaser was responsible for all costs of collection and attorney’s fees. The contractor failed to complete the job and the homeowner filed a complaint for breach of contract against the contractor. Eventually, the homeowner prevailed in the breach of contract claim against the contractor and requested that the Court award attorney’s fees pursuant to the fee provision in the contract. The contractor opposed the demand for attorney’s fees arguing that legal fees could only be awarded in a collection action as stated in the contract and not for a breach of contract action by the homeowner.
The trial court sided with the homeowner on the basis of Florida Statute 57.105(7) which provides reciprocity for the award of attorney’s fees in a Florida contract. What Florida Statute 57.105 provides is that where there is a unilateral right to collect attorney’s fees in a contract for one party, the other party has a right to collect attorney’s fees if it should prevail. The trial court awarded attorney’s fees to the homeowner on the basis that the contract must provide reciprocity to collect attorney’s fees if it has an attorney’s fee provision. The contractor appealed this ruling.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal held that Florida Statute 57.105(7) as applied to this case only meant that if the homeowner prevailed in a collection action brought by the contractor that the homeowner would be entitled to attorney’s fees. That is to say, each side had the right to collect attorney’s fees in a collection action as provided in the contract. In this case, this was not a collection action but a breach of contract action by the homeowner. Thus there is no attorney’s fee provision that applies to this case and therefore the award of attorney’s fees to the homeowner was improper.
The lesson to be learned from this case is that Florida courts will strictly construe a Florida contract when attorney’s fees are at issue. If the ability to collect attorney’s fees is important, the parties must state with specificity the exact circumstances to which attorney’s fees will be awarded. Likewise, if a Florida contract lawyer wants to limit the exposure of attorney’s fees awards, he or she need only exclude a provision for attorney’s fees or reference a specific instance when they are awardable.
