PYSZKA, KESSLER v. Mullin

602 So. 2d 956, 1992 WL 161718
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 14, 1992
Docket91-1758
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 602 So. 2d 956 (PYSZKA, KESSLER v. Mullin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
PYSZKA, KESSLER v. Mullin, 602 So. 2d 956, 1992 WL 161718 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

602 So.2d 956 (1992)

PYSZKA, KESSLER, MASSEY, WELDON, CATRI, HOLTON & DOUBERLEY, P.A., Petitioner,
v.
Claudia MULLIN, Respondent.

No. 91-1758.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

July 14, 1992.

*957 Elser, Greene & Hodor and Cynthia L. Greene, Miami, for petitioner.

Susan R. Cohen, Nancy Schleifer, Miami, for respondent.

Before BASKIN, JORGENSON and LEVY, JJ.

ON HUSBAND'S MOTION FOR REHEARING ON ATTORNEY'S FEES

BASKIN, Judge.

We deny John Mullin's motion for rehearing of this court's order awarding attorney's fees to his wife, Claudia Mullin. The facts of this case are set forth in Pyszka, Kessler, Massey, Weldon, Catri, Holton and Douberley, R.A. v. Mullin, 602 So.2d at 955, where this court granted certiorari review of an order denying John Mullin's law firm's motion for a protective order in the Mullins' dissolution of marriage action;[1] we ruled in favor of the firm. Claudia Mullin had filed a response to the petition for certiorari in compliance with this court's order. Fla.R.App.P. 9.100(f). Subsequently, she filed a motion for attorney's fees in this court. We granted her motion and remanded the cause to the trial court. Chertoff v. Chertoff, 553 So.2d 179 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Henning v. Henning, 507 So.2d 164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). John Mullin asks us to reconsider our ruling.

First, he contends that he was not a party to the certiorari proceeding and should not be compelled to pay the fee. We disagree. Although the petitioner law firm did not name the husband as a respondent in the petition caption, that omission does not conclude the matter. The caption is not dispositive of the husband's status in the certiorari proceeding: substantive law determines whether the husband may be named as a proper party respondent. See Buchanan v. City of Winter Park, 226 So.2d 860, 863 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969). "The writ of certiorari, by removing to a reviewing court, the record of a subordinate tribunal whose order is sought to be quashed, brings before the reviewing court all of the parties who appeared and were heard as parties to the proceeding in which the challenged order was made." In re Grubb, 116 Fla. 387, 389, 156 So. 482, 483 (1934); State Beverage Dept. v. Willis, 159 Fla. 698, 700, 32 So.2d 580, 582 (1947); see Brigham v. Dade County, 305 So.2d 756 (Fla. 1974); De Groot v. Sheffield, 95 So.2d 912, 915-916 (Fla. 1957); Orlando Trans. Co. v. Florida R.R. & Pub. Util. Comm'n, 160 Fla. 795, 809, 37 So.2d 321, 329 (1948); Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Florida Fine Fruit Co., 93 Fla. 161, 166, 112 So. 66, 68 (1927); cf. Battaglia Fruit Co. v. City of Maitland, 530 So.2d 940 (Fla. 5th DCA) (where city did not appear before zoning board it did not have standing to file certiorari petition in circuit court), cause dismissed, 537 So.2d 568 (Fla. 1988). Because the husband is a party to the dissolution action that engendered the order on review, he is within the jurisdiction of this court.[2]See In re Grubb, 116 Fla. at 389-390, 156 So. at 484.

As to the award of attorney's fees, the husband asserts that section 61.16, Florida Statutes (1991), is inapplicable to this proceeding. We disagree. Section 61.16 endeavors to prevent a party's inferior financial status from limiting the quality of that party's legal representation in a dissolution action. Standard Guar. Ins. Co. v. Quanstrom, 555 So.2d 828, 835 (Fla. 1990); Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So.2d 1197 (Fla. 1980). "The purpose of section 61.16 ... is to ensure that both parties ... have similar access to counsel and can thus fight the action on a nearly equal footing." Robbie v. Robbie, 591 So.2d 1006, 1009 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). Those policy reasons are pertinent to this proceeding. Because the certiorari petition was filed to obtain review of an order entered in the dissolution action, see De Groot, 95 So.2d at 916 ("It is clear that certiorari is in the nature of an appellate process."), certiorari review does not constitute a non-chapter 61 proceeding. The wife is entitled to attorney fees in such review proceedings. Kurtz v. Kurtz, 538 So.2d 892 *958 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989); see Sierra v. Sierra, 505 So.2d 432 (Fla. 1987). Consequently, the denial of a fee award on that basis is without merit. Compare Battista v. Battista, 585 So.2d 459 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Berger v. Berger, 573 So.2d 952 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) with Kass v. Kass, 560 So.2d 293 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990).

Contrary to the husband's assertions, the wife's failure to prevail in the certiorari proceeding does not preclude a fee award. The prevailing party standard does not govern in determining whether the court may award an attorney fee to a party in a dissolution action. Rosen v. Rosen, 576 So.2d 308 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Chertoff, 553 So.2d at 180; Travieso v. Travieso, 447 So.2d 940 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), quashed in part on other grounds, 474 So.2d 1184 (Fla. 1985); Mulford v. Sullivan, 560 So.2d 1364, 1366 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); see Sierra, 505 So.2d at 432; Finkelstein v. North Broward Hosp. Dist., 484 So.2d 1241, 1243 (Fla. 1986). Instead, "[o]ur case law implementing [section 61.16] requires a judge to consider the needs of the party seeking a fee and the financial resources of the parties to assure that both parties received adequate representation." Quanstrom, 555 So.2d at 835; Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So.2d at 1197.

Finally, the husband's argument that the fee award should be denied as a consequence of the wife's litigiousness is without merit. The record fails to demonstrate that the wife engaged in baseless litigation and incurred unnecessary expense in seeking discovery to determine her husband's interest in the law firm or in complying with this court's order to file a response to the petition. See Eisner v. Markovich, 585 So.2d 312 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Elenewski v. Elenewski, 528 So.2d 1354 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Meloan v. Coverdale, 525 So.2d 935 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Sutter v. Sutter, 578 So.2d 788 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) and cited cases.

Accordingly, we deny the husband's motion for rehearing.

JORGENSON, J., concurs.

LEVY, Judge (dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. This court's order, filed February 7, 1992, which granted the respondent's motion for an award of attorney fees in connection with these proceedings, should be vacated.

Clearly, under the facts of this case, and consistent with the case law of this state, the husband is not liable for any appellate fees incurred by the respondent in connection with these certiorari proceedings. The reasoning supporting this conclusion is correctly set forth by the husband's counsel in the "Husband's Motion for Rehearing" wherein it states, in pertinent part, as follows:

In August of 1991, the respondent, Claudia Mullin, filed a petition for dissolution of her marriage to John C. Mullin, Jr. Approximately four months prior to the filing of the dissolution proceeding, the husband became a non-equity "partner" in the law firm of Pyszka, Kessler, Massey, Weldon, Catri, Holton & Douberley, P.A., which was the petitioner in the appeal which gave rise to the order which forms the subject matter of this motion.
The appeal arose because the respondent caused a subpoena to be issued to the law firm, which employs the husband.

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602 So. 2d 956, 1992 WL 161718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pyszka-kessler-v-mullin-fladistctapp-1992.