Ganson v. State, Dept. of Admin.

554 So. 2d 522, 1989 WL 154851
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided December 22, 1989·No. 88-1568·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

554 So.2d 522 (1989)

Terri J. GANSON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF STATE EMPLOYEES' INSURANCE, Appellee.

No. 88-1568.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

December 22, 1989.
Rehearing Denied January 26, 1990.

*523 Kenneth D. Kranz, of Eric B. Tilton, P.A., Tallahassee, for appellant.

Augustus D. Aikens, Jr., Gen. Counsel, Dept. of Admin., Tallahassee, for appellee.

OPINION AND ORDER ON ATTORNEY FEE

BARFIELD, Judge.

By direction of this court the matter of attorney fees payable to appellant was submitted to Michael M. Parrish, Hearing Officer, for a recommendation on the amount of fee to be awarded. His Report and Recommendation follows.

*524 REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

By opinion filed July 7, 1989, reported at 554 So.2d 516, the District Court of Appeal, First District, reversed and remanded a final order of the Department of Administration. The opinion included the following disposition of Ganson's motion for costs and attorney fees:

Appellant's motion for attorney fees under section 120.57(1)(b)10, Florida Statutes (1987), based upon her assertion that the agency action which precipitated the appeal was a gross abuse of the agency's discretion, is granted. The parties may, within twenty days of the date this decision becomes final, file with this court a stipulation regarding the amount of reasonable attorney fees to be awarded. In the event the amount of the attorney fees cannot be agreed upon by the parties within the time allotted, the Department shall promptly refer the matter to Michael Parrish, the Division of Administrative Hearings hearing officer, for an immediate evidentiary hearing to determine the amount of reasonable attorney fees. The hearing officer's recommendations thereon shall be filed with this court within sixty days after this opinion shall have become final, at which time this court will enter an appropriate order awarding attorney's fees. Purvis v. Department of Professional Regulation, 461 So.2d 134 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Johnston v. Department of Professional Regulation, 456 So.2d 939 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).

The parties were unable to reach a stipulation regarding the amount of reasonable attorney fees to be awarded. On August 28, 1989, the Department of Administration referred the matter to Michael Parrish, a hearing officer of the Division of Administrative Hearings, to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine the amount of reasonable attorney fees. In order to accommodate scheduling difficulties of counsel, at the request of the parties the court extended the sixty-day period for the filing of the hearing officer's recommendations until October 13, 1989. (See Motion For Extension of Time filed September 7, 1989, and order granting same issued September 14, 1989.)

An evidentiary hearing was originally scheduled for September 15, 1989. At the request of counsel for the Department of Administration, the evidentiary hearing was continued until September 22, 1989. At the hearing on September 22, 1989, Ganson presented the testimony of Kenneth D. Kranz, Esquire, the attorney who performed all of the services for which fees are claimed. Ganson also offered numerous exhibits including the affidavits of two local attorneys (Vernon T. Grizzard, Esquire, and Fishel Philip Blank, Esquire), both of which included expert opinions regarding the reasonableness of the attorney fees sought by Ganson. The Department also called Mr. Kranz as a witness and offered four exhibits. [Rulings on all exhibits offered by all parties are contained in the appendix to this report and recommendation.] The Department did not call any expert witnesses to oppose the opinions expressed by Messrs. Kranz, Grizzard, and Blank.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the parties were allowed until September 29, 1989, within which to file memorandums of law, which have been carefully considered during the preparation of this report and recommendation.

The statutory provision pursuant to which the court has granted an award of attorney fees, Section 120.57(1)(b)(10), Florida Statutes (1987), reads as follows, in pertinent part:

When there is an appeal, the court in its discretion may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing party if the court finds that the appeal was frivolous, meritless, or an abuse of the appellate process or that the agency action which precipitated the appeal was a gross abuse of the agency's discretion.

Attorney Fees

Ganson's Proposal For Amount Of Attorney's Fees And Costs Of Litigation suggests that there may be some disagreement between the parties as to whether the court's award of attorney fees encompasses *525 all phases of this litigation, or is only an award of attorney fees for legal services on appeal. It would appear from the court's specific mention of Purvis v. Department of Professional Regulation, 461 So.2d 134 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), and Johnston v. Department of Professional Regulation, 456 So.2d 939 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), that the court envisioned an award of attorney fees "at the hearing level," as well as on appeal. And it also appears to be well settled that attorney fees may also be recoverable for the time spent litigating entitlement to attorney fees. See Bill Rivers Trailers, Inc. v. Miller, 489 So.2d 1139 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); B & L Motors, Inc. v. Big Inotti, 427 So.2d 1070 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). See also Albert Heisler v. Department of Professional Regulation, Construction Industry Licensing Board, 11 FALR 3309 (DOAH Final Order issued May 19, 1989). For purposes of this report and recommendation, I have assumed that the court's award of attorney fees encompassed all three phases of activity in this litigation; the "administrative phase" (from the commencement of the administrative claim until the Department's final order), the "appeal phase" (from the Department's final order until the appellate court opinion), and the "attorney fee phase" (from the appellate court opinion to the present). Accordingly, I have included in this report and recommendation discussion and recommendations as to the appropriate attorney fee award for all three phases of the litigation. Where it appears helpful to do so, issues regarding the three phases are discussed separately.

The methodology to be followed in determining the amount of reasonable attorney fees to be awarded to a prevailing party is set forth in Florida Patient's Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So.2d 1145 (Fla. 1985). There, the Florida Supreme Court decided to "adopt the federal lodestar approach for computing reasonable attorney fees" and, at pages 1150-51, set forth the following methodology:

The first step in the lodestar process requires the court to determine the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation. Florida courts have emphasized the importance of keeping accurate and current records of work done and time spent on a case, particularly when someone other than the client may pay the fee... . To accurately assess the labor involved, the attorney fee applicant should present records detailing the amount of work performed. Counsel is expected, of course, to claim only those hours that he could properly bill to his client. Inadequate documentation may result in a reduction in the number of hours claimed, as will a claim for hours that the court finds to be excessive or unnecessary. The "novelty and difficulty of the question involved" shou

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Ganson v. State, Dept. of Admin., 554 So. 2d 522, 1989 WL 154851 (Fla. Ct. App. 1989).

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