5D04-1158 Van Diepen v. Brown

State: Florida

Court: Florida Fifth District Court

Docket No: 5D04-1158

Case Date: 01/21/2008

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT JANUARY TERM 2008

PATRICIA GAIL VAN DIEPEN, P.A., Appellant, v. PAMELA BROWN AND KAREN ROMAGOSA, Appellees. ________________________________/ Opinion filed January 25, 2008 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, J. David Walsh, Judge. J. Stephen McDonald and C. Ryan Morgan of Shuffield, Lowman & Wilson, P.A., Orlando, for Appellant. Frederick C. Morello and Michael G. Howard, of Frederick C. Morello, P.A., and Deborah M. Hallisky, Daytona Beach, for Appellee. EVANDER, J. We reverse the attorney's fee award entered in favor of appellees, Pamela Brown and Karen Romagosa, because the trial court's order fails to allow meaningful appellate review. Case No. 5D04-1158

Appellees each filed an eight-count complaint for breach of contract, failure to pay overtime pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 1 wrongful discharge, retaliatory discharge (under both federal and state whistle blower statutes), fraud, fraud in the inducement, and negligent misrepresentation. The cases were consolidated for discovery and trial. The jury returned a verdict in favor of appellant, Dr. Gail Van

Diepen, P.A., on all but the overtime claims. Both appellees prevailed on their FLSA claim for overtime pay and, accordingly, were entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees attributable to such claims. 2 After a contested evidentiary hearing, the trial court awarded attorney's fees of $40,015.00 to Brown and $32,030.00 to Romagosa. Van Diepen contends that the trial court's awards constituted an abuse of discretion because (1) appellees' counsel's billing statements failed to properly separate the time attributable to the overtime claims from the time expended on those claims on which appellees were unsuccessful; and (2) the billing statements contained numerous errors and inaccuracies, as admitted by appellees' counsel. The parties agree that federal law governs the disposition of this appeal because the appellees prevailed under the FLSA. The standard of review of an attorney's fee award is abuse of discretion. Loranger v. Stierheim, 10 F.3d 776 (11th Cir. 1994). The starting point in the determination of an attorney's fee award is to multiply the number of hours reasonably expended by a reasonable hourly rate. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433 (1983).
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29 U.S.C.,

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