Hosanna Cmty. Baptist Church, Inc. v. 24 HR Air Serv., Inc.

347 So.3d 428

HOSANNA COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH, INC., Appellant/Cross-Appellee,

v.24 HR AIR SERVICE, INC., Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 3D21-305

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Opinion filed July 13, 2022

Pierre Simon, LLC, and Faudlin Pierre (Fort Lauderdale), for appellant/cross-appellee.

Law Office of Alexander Alvarez, and Alexander Alvarez, Anamari C. Del Rio, and Mickey J. Bahr, for appellee/cross-appellant.

Before SCALES, HENDON, and GORDO, JJ.

On Partial Confession of Error

HENDON, J.

The plaintiff below, Hosanna Community Baptist Church, Inc. ("Church"), appeals the trial court's order awarding the Church $5,000 in attorney's fees against the defendant below, 24 HR Air Service, Inc. ("Contractor") ("Attorney's Fees Order"). The Contractor cross-appeals the trial court's order finding that the Church is entitled to recover attorney's fees from the Contractor ("Entitlement Order"). We affirm the Entitlement Order without further discussion. See Stockman v. Downs, 573 So. 2d 835, 837-38 (Fla. 1991) ("Where a party has notice that an opponent claims entitlement to attorney's fees, and by its conduct recognizes or acquiesces to that claim or otherwise fails to object to the failure to plead entitlement, that party waives any objection to the failure to plead a claim for attorney's fees."). We affirm, in part, and reverse, in part, the Attorney's Fees Order, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Following our review of the arguments raised by the Church on appeal, we conclude that (1) the trial court, as conceded by the Contractor, erred by disregarding, without justification, the parties’ stipulation as to the reasonable number of hours expended by the parties, and we remand with instructions for the trial court to enter a final order awarding attorney's fees consistent with the parties’ stipulation that the Church's counsel expended 58.79 reasonable hours litigating the action, see Lizardi v. Federated Nat'l Ins., 322 So. 3d 184, 188 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021) ("In rendering a fee award, trial courts are required to make specific findings to support their conclusions regarding the number of hours reasonably expended, the reasonable hourly rate, and appropriateness of the reduction or enhancement factors."); Mitchell v. Mitchell, 94 So. 3d 706, 707 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) ("It is well-settled that an award of attorney's fees must be supported by substantial competent evidence and contain express findings regarding the number of hours reasonably expended and a reasonable hourly rate for the type of litigation involved. These requirements are mandatory.") (internal citations omitted); (2) the trial court erred by disregarding, without justification, the parties’ stipulation as to costs for the Church's fee expert and the court reporter, and we remand with instructions for the trial court to enter a final order awarding as costs to the Church $2,000 for its expert fee witness and $120 for the court reporter; (3) the trial court erred by awarding $250 as an hourly rate for the Church's counsel without making express findings as...