On August 30, 2017, in
Chandler v. KCCS, Inc., No. 2D16-3091, the Florida Second DCA reversed a trial court’s
award of attorney’s fees to a party under section 57.105(1), Florida
Statutes, which allows the prevailing party to move for the award of such
fees if the losing party’s attorney knew or should have known that
a claim or defense was not supported by the facts or the law. The Second
DCA concluded that the award of fees was appropriate, but remanded the
case for further fact finding because the only evidence detailing the
work completed by the attorney consisted of an affidavit and related documents
that were neither introduced into evidence nor stipulated to at the hearing.
Quoting from
Saussy v. Saussy, 560 So. 2d 1385, 1386 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990), the Court opined that "[t]o
support a fee award, there must be the following: (1) evidence detailing
the services performed and (2) expert testimony as to the reasonableness
of the fee." Because there was some competent evidence supporting
the award, the Court concluded that the issue should be remanded for further
fact finding.
See
Colson v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B., 183 So. 3d 1038, 1040 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015) ("[W]here the record includes
some evidence supporting the fee . . . award, this court may remand for
further proceedings
