STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION DIVISION OF FLORIDA LAND SALES, CONDOMINIUMS, AND MOBILE HOMES IN RE: PETITION FOR ARBITRATION TERRA CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., Petitioner, v. Fees Case No. 2004-06-1876 Rel. Case No. 2004-04-5839 VERONICA M. KUSY, Respondent. / FINAL ORDER ON ATTORNEY S FEES AND COSTS A Final Order on Default was entered in the underlying case, Case No. 2004-04- 5839, on November 15, 2004. The final order granted the relief sought by the petitioner. The petitioner filed a motion for award of attorney s fees on December 28, 2004. Respondent was given an opportunity to respond to the motion for attorney s fees but failed to do so. In its motion for an award of fees, the petitioner seeks a total award of $1,333.68 in costs and attorney s fees based on $1,177.50 in attorney s fees and $156.18 in costs. The request is supported by an affidavit of petitioner s counsel that explains the amount of the legal fees requested. Counsel contends that attorneys and legal assistants have expended 0.83 hours for flat fee services at a flat fee rate of $150.00 per hour for the preparation of the pre-arbitration demand letter, and 8.7 hours at an effective blended rate of $118.10 per hour for all remaining services rendered for a total of $1,177.50. James Olsen, the attorney who filed the affidavit, stated that he had expended 6.16 1
hours at an hourly rate of $145.00 per hour or a total amount of $893.20 in attorney s fees. According to the time sheet attached to the affidavit, counsel is requesting $145.00 per hour for his services and $75.00 per hour for the services of a paralegal. The attorney for petitioner filed an affidavit stating that he had been an attorney for 18 years and had been practicing condominium law for 8 years. The fees of $145.00 and $150.00 per hour are quite reasonable for a person with Mr. Olsen s experience and are well within the range customarily charged for similar legal services. Pursuant to section 718.1255(4)(k), Florida Statutes, the prevailing party in an arbitration proceeding shall be awarded the costs of the arbitration and reasonable attorney s fees in an amount determined by the arbitrator. A party is a prevailing party if it succeeds on a significant issue in the arbitration and achieves some of the benefit sought in bringing the action. See Moritz v. Hoyt Enterprises, Inc., 604 So. 2d 807 (Fla. 1992). In this case, a default final order was entered granting the relief requested by the petitioner. Therefore, the petitioner is the prevailing party and is entitled to recover its attorney s fees. The only issue to be decided by the arbitrator is the reasonableness of the attorney s fees claimed by the petitioner. In Florida Patient s Compensation Fund v. Rowe, 472 So. 2d 1145, 1150 (Fla. 1985), the Supreme Court articulate[d] specific guidelines to be followed in setting attorney s fees and adopted the federal lodestar approach as a suitable foundation for an objective structure for setting reasonable fee awards. The lodestar figure is determined by multiplying the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation by a reasonable hourly rate for the services of the prevailing party s attorney. Id. at 1151. 2
The petitioner seeks compensation for the services of James E. Olsen, Esquire, at the rate of $145.00 and $150.00 per hour, and a paralegal at $75.00 an hour. Although the rates requested are reasonable, many of the tasks listed are not compensable because they occurred before the petition was filed, they occurred after the final order and were concerned with enforcement, they were unnecessary to the successful prosecution of this case, or they were clerical tasks for which fees are not awarded. Therefore, the total requested time at the blended rate will not be awarded. The petitioner filed one document in the underlying case: the petition for arbitration. Counsel for petitioner also prepared the pre-arbitration letter. The petition for arbitration in this case was filed on August 27, 2004. It alleged that respondent had a cat or cats in her unit in violation of the declaration of condominium and requested an order requiring the respondent to comply with the condominium documents and remove the cat or cats. The petition for arbitration was a routine petition for arbitration dealing with one issue. Petitioner seeks reimbursement for 2.5 hours of attorney s time and one hour of paralegal s time for reviewing the file and preparing the petition for arbitration. Petitioner will be reimbursed for 2.5 hours of attorney s time and 0.5 hours of paralegal s time; some of the paralegal s time was spent on clerical tasks. A total of 3.0 hours for the petition is an acceptable amount of time to spend on a routine petition. 1 1 See Eastfield Slopes Condominium Association, Inc. v. Velez, Arb. Case No 98-3853, Final Order on Motion for Attorney s Fees (October 21, 1998)(a reasonable amount of time for preparing a routine petition is two (2) hours); Glenwood Estates, Inc. v. Reynolds, Arb. Case No. 2003-04-5422, Final Order on Attorney s Fees and Costs (April 25, 2003)(time awarded for preparing petition was four (4) hours of combined attorney and paralegal time, which combined calculation was the equivalent of 2.7 hours of the attorney s time). 3
Petitioner will be awarded the requested $150.00 per hour for the.83 hours expended on the pre-arbitration letter, for a total of $124.50; the entries from July 9, 2004, until August 26, 2004, are for activities before the preparation of the petition for arbitration and will not be reimbursed. The default was entered in this case on October 19, 2004, and the Final Order on Default was entered November 15, 2004. The petitioner filed nothing in the underlying case after the petition was filed, and nothing was required to be filed. Other than the preparation of the petition and the pre-arbitration notice, a minimal amount of time was required to be spent on this case. Therefore, petitioner shall be reimbursed for 2.5 hours of attorney s fees at $145.00 per hour ($362.50) and 0.5 hours of paralegal time at $75.00 an hour ($37.50) for preparing the petition for arbitration; $124.50 for preparing the pre-arbitration letter; 0.5 hours of attorney s time for reviewing the orders entered in this case ($72.50), and one hour of attorney s time ($145.00) and 0.5 hours of paralegal time ($37.50) for the preparation and submission of the motion for attorney s fees and supporting affidavit, for a total of $779.50 in legal fees to be reimbursed by respondent. Petitioner will be reimbursed for the $50.00 filing fee as a cost, but will not be reimbursed for postage and copying expenses. Therefore, based on the foregoing, it is ORDERED: The respondent shall, within 30 days, pay to the petitioner the total amount of $829.50, which represents reimbursement for $779.50 in attorney s fees, including paralegal fees, and $50.00 in costs. 4
Florida. DONE AND ORDERED this 1st day of March, 2005, at Tallahassee, Leon County, Diane A. Grubbs, Arbitrator Department of Business and Professional Regulation Arbitration Section 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1029 5
Certificate of Service I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing final order has been sent by U.S. Mail to the following persons on this 1st day of March, 2005: James E. Olsen, Esquire Wean & Malchow, P.A. 646 E. Colonial Drive Orlando, Florida 32803 Veronica M. Kusy 1004 Plantation Drive Unit F-5 Kissimmee, Florida 34741 Diane A. Grubbs, Arbitrator Right to Appeal As provided by section 718.1255, F.S., a party who is adversely affected by this final order may, within 30 days of the entry and mailing of this final order, file a complaint for a trial de novo in a court of competent jurisdiction in the circuit in which the condominium is located. This order does not constitute final agency action and is not appealable to the district courts of appeal. 6